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diff --git a/38492-0.txt b/38492-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a036b48 --- /dev/null +++ b/38492-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,25274 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Human Personality and its Survival of +Bodily Death, by Frederick W. H. Myers + +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: Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death + +Author: Frederick W. H. Myers + +Editor: Leopold Hamilton Myers + +Release Date: January 3, 2012 [EBook #38492] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HUMAN PERSONALITY *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + +HUMAN PERSONALITY + +AND ITS SURVIVAL OF +BODILY DEATH + +BY +FREDERIC W. H. MYERS + +EDITED AND ABRIDGED +BY HIS SON +LEOPOLD HAMILTON MYERS + + _Cessas in vota procesque, + Tros, ait, Aenea, cessas? Neque enim ante dehiscent + Adtonitœ magna ora domus._--VIRGIL. + + "_Nay!" quoth the Sybil, "Trojan! wilt thou spare + The impassioned effort and the conquering prayer? + Nay! not save thus those doors shall open roll,-- + That Power within them burst upon the soul._" + +_NEW IMPRESSION_ + +LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. +39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON FOURTH AVENUE & 30TH +STREET, NEW YORK BOMBAY, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS +1918 + +COPYRIGHT, 1906, BY +LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. + +_All rights reserved_ + +First Edition, December, 1906 +Reprinted, March, 1907 +October, 1909; April, 1913 +August, 1917; April, 1918 + +THE PLIMPTON PRESS +NORWOOD·MASS·U·S·A + + + + +_DEDICATED_ +TO +HENRY SIDGWICK +AND +EDMUND GURNEY + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + +EDITOR'S NOTE vii + +PREFACE ix + +GLOSSARY xiii + + +CHAP. + + I. INTRODUCTION 1 + + II. DISINTEGRATIONS OF PERSONALITY 26 + + III. GENIUS 55 + + IV. SLEEP 93 + + V. HYPNOTISM 116 + + VI. SENSORY AUTOMATISM 168 + + VII. PHANTASMS OF THE DEAD 212 + +VIII. MOTOR AUTOMATISM 254 + + IX. TRANCE, POSSESSION, AND ECSTASY 297 + + X. EPILOGUE 340 + +APPENDICES TO CHAPTER II 356 + +APPENDICES TO CHAPTER IV 364 + +APPENDICES TO CHAPTER V 378 + +APPENDICES TO CHAPTER VI 384 + +APPENDICES TO CHAPTER VII 400 + +APPENDICES TO CHAPTER VIII 430 + +APPENDICES TO CHAPTER IX 441 + +INDEX 453 + + + + +EDITOR'S NOTE + + +Nearly four years have elapsed since the first appearance of my Father's +book "Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death." It cost two +guineas and was published in two volumes, each of which was little under +700 pages in length. + +The price and dimensions of such a work made the future issue of a more +popular edition not improbable. Indeed, my Father himself indicated +briefly the lines on which an abridgment could best be made. In +accordance with his indications I have endeavoured to keep as closely as +possible to the original scheme and construction of the book. + +The task of abridging, however, must always be an ungrateful one. It is +inevitable that somewhere or other I should disappoint the reader who, +already acquainted with the unabridged edition, finds some admired +passage curtailed in favour of others that are to him of secondary +interest. This I cannot avoid. All I can hope to do is so to reconcile +the principles of _omission_ and _condensation_ as least to do violence +to the style while preserving as far as possible the completeness of the +exposition. + +One half of each volume in the unabridged edition consists of appendices +containing examples of the various kinds of phenomena discussed and +analyzed in the text. It has been possible to reduce considerably the +number of these cases without, I think, detracting much from the value +of the work for the purposes of the ordinary reader. Those cases, +however, which are included in this edition are quoted in full, an +abridged version having very little value. + +It must be remembered that the author in his preface insists that "the +book is an exposition rather than a proof," and the remark naturally +applies with even greater force to this abridgment. Here the cases must +be regarded simply as illustrative of the different types of the +evidence upon which _in its entirety_ the argument of the book +ultimately rests. + +The reader who may feel disposed to study this evidence will find +numerous references given in the foot-notes. The cases, however, to +which he is thus referred are scattered in many different publications, +some of which will probably be less easy of access than the unabridged +edition. In the many instances, therefore, where a case is quoted in +the latter its place therein is indicated by means of a number or a +number and letter in square brackets, thus [434 A]: these being in +accordance with the plan of arrangement observed in the larger book. + + * * * * * + +I wish to express my sincere thanks to Miss Alice Johnson, who very +kindly read over the whole of the proof of this abridgment. I have +profited largely by her advice as well as from that given me by Miss +Jane Barlow, to whom my thanks are also due. + +L. H. M. + + + + +PREFACE + + + [This unfinished preface consists of several passages written at + different times by the author, who died on January 17th, 1901. In + 1896 he arranged that the completion of his book should be in the + hands of Dr. Richard Hodgson in case of his death before its + publication. In the meantime he had entrusted the general + supervision of the press work and much of the detail in marshalling + the Appendices to Miss Alice Johnson (now Secretary of the Society + for Psychical Research), who was therefore associated with Dr. + Hodgson also in the editorial work needed for the completion of the + book, and much the greater part of the labour involved fell to her + share.] + + +The book which is now at last given to the world is but a partial +presentation of an ever-growing subject which I have long hoped to +become able to treat in more adequate fashion. But as knowledge +increases life rolls by, and I have thought it well to bring out while I +can even this most imperfect text-book to a branch of research whose +novelty and strangeness call urgently for some provisional +systematisation, which, by suggesting fresh inquiries and producing +further accumulation of evidence, may tend as speedily as possible to +its own supersession. Few critics of this book can, I think, be more +fully conscious than its author of its defects and its lacunæ; but also +few critics, I think, have yet realised the importance of the new facts +which in some fashion the book does actually present. + +Many of these facts have already appeared in _Phantasms of the Living_; +many more in the _Proceedings_ of the Society for Psychical Research; +but they are far indeed from having yet entered into the scientific +consciousness of the age. In future years the wonder, I think, will be +that their announcement was so largely left to a writer with leisure so +scanty, and with scientific equipment so incomplete. + +Whatever value this book may possess is in great measure due to other +minds than its actual author's. Its very existence, in the first place, +probably depends upon the existence of the two beloved friends and +invaluable coadjutors to whose memory I dedicate it now. + +The help derived from these departed colleagues, Henry Sidgwick and +Edmund Gurney, although of a kind and quantity absolutely essential to +the existence of this work, is not easy to define in all its fulness +under the changed circumstances of to-day. There was indeed much which +is measurable;--much of revision of previous work of my own, of +collaborative experiments, of original thought and discovery. Large +quotations purposely introduced from Edmund Gurney indicate, although +imperfectly, how closely interwoven our work on all these subjects +continued to be until his death. But the benefit which I drew from the +association went deeper still. The conditions under which this inquiry +was undertaken were such as to emphasise the need of some intimate moral +support. A recluse, perhaps, or an eccentric,--or a man living mainly +with his intellectual inferiors, may find it easy to work steadily and +confidently at a task which he knows that the bulk of educated men will +ignore or despise. But this is more difficult for a man who feels +manifold links with his kind, a man whose desire it is to live among +minds equal or superior to his own. It is hard, I say, for such a man to +disregard altogether the expressed or implied disapproval of those +groups of weighty personages to whom in other matters he is accustomed +to look up. + +I need not say that the attitude of the scientific world--of all the +intellectual world--then was very much more marked than now. Even now I +write in full consciousness of the low value commonly attached to +inquiries of the kind which I pursue. Even now a book on such a subject +must still expect to evoke, not only legitimate criticism of many kinds, +but also much of that disgust and resentment which novelty and +heterodoxy naturally excite. But I have no wish to exalt into a deed of +daring an enterprise which to the next generation must seem the most +obvious thing in the world. _Nihil ausi nisi vana contemnere_ will +certainly be the highest compliment which what seemed to us our bold +independence of men will receive. Yet gratitude bids me to say that +however I might in the privacy of my own bosom have 'dared to contemn +things contemptible,' I should never have ventured my amateurish +acquirements on a publication of this scale were it not for that slow +growth of confidence which my respect for the judgment of these two +friends inspired. Their countenance and fellowship, which at once +transformed my own share in the work into a delight, has made its +presentation to the world appear as a duty. + +My thanks are due also to another colleague who has passed away, my +brother, Dr. A. T. Myers, F.R.C.P., who helped me for many years in all +medical points arising in the work. + +To the original furnishers of the evidence my obligations are great and +manifest, and to the Council of the S.P.R. I also owe thanks for +permission to use that evidence freely. But I must leave it to the book +itself to indicate in fuller detail how much is owing to how many men +and women:--how widely diffused are the work and the interest which have +found in this book their temporary outcome and exposition. + +The book, indeed, is an exposition rather than a proof. I cannot +summarise within my modest limits the mass of evidence already gathered +together in the sixteen volumes of _Proceedings_ and the nine volumes of +the _Journal_ of the S.P.R., in _Phantasms of the Living_ and other +books hereafter referred to, and in MS. collections. The attempt indeed +would be quite out of place. This branch of knowledge, like others, must +be studied carefully and in detail by those who care to understand or to +advance it. + +What I have tried to do here is to render that knowledge more +assimilable by co-ordinating it in a form as clear and intelligible as +my own limited skill and the nature of the facts themselves have +permitted. I have tried to give, in text and in Appendices, enough of +actual evidence to illustrate each step in my argument:--and I have +constantly referred the reader to places where further evidence will be +found. + +In minor matters I have aimed above all things at clearness and +readiness in reference. The division of the book into sections, with +Appendices bearing the same numbers, will, it is hoped, facilitate the +use both of syllabus and of references in general. I have even risked +the appearance of pedantry in adding a glossary. Where many unfamiliar +facts and ideas have to be dealt with, time is saved in the end if the +writer explains precisely what his terms mean. + + * * * * * + +F. W. H. MYERS. + + + + +GLOSSARY + + NOTE.--The words and phrases here included fall under three main + heads:-- + + (1) Words common only in philosophical or medical use. + + (2) Words or phrases used in psychical research with some special + significance. + + (3) A few words, distinguished by an asterisk, for which the author + is himself responsible. + + +_Aboulia._--Loss of power of willing. + +_After-image._--A retinal picture of an object seen after removing the +gaze from the object. + +_Agent._--The person who seems to initiate a telepathic transmission. + +_Agraphia._--Lack of power to write words. + +_Alexia_ or _Word-blindness_.--Lack of power to understand words +written. + +_Anæsthesia_, or the loss of sensation generally, must be distinguished +from _analgesia_, or the loss of the sense of pain alone. + +_Analgesia._--Insensibility to pain. + +_Aphasia._--Incapacity of coherent utterance, not caused by structural +impairment of the vocal organs, but by lesion of the cerebral centres +for speech. + +_Aphonia._--Incapacity of uttering sounds. + +_Automatic._--Used of mental images arising and movements made without +the initiation, and generally without the concurrence, of conscious +thought and will. _Sensory automatism_ will thus include visual and +auditory hallucinations. _Motor automatism_ will include messages +written and words uttered without intention (automatic script, +trance-utterance, etc.). + +_Automnesia._--Spontaneous revival of memories of an earlier condition +of life. + +_Autoscope._--Any instrument which reveals a subliminal motor impulse or +sensory impression, _e.g._, a divining rod, a tilting table, or a +planchette. + +_Bilocation._--The sensation of being in two different places at once, +namely where one's organism is, and in a place distant from it. + +_Catalepsy._--"An intermittent neurosis producing inability to change +the position of a limb, while another person can place the muscles in a +state of flexion or contraction as he will." (Tuke's _Dictionary of +Psychological Medicine_.) + +_Centre of Consciousness._--The place where a percipient imagines +himself to be. The point of view from which he seems to himself to be +surveying some phantasmal scene. + +_Chromatism._--See _Secondary Sensations_. + +_Clair-audience._--The sensation of hearing an internal (but in some way +veridical) voice. + +_Clairvoyance_ (_Lucidité_).--The faculty or act of perceiving, as +though visually, with some coincidental truth, some distant scene. + +_Cænesthesia._--That consensus or agreement of many organic sensations +which is a fundamental element in our conception of personal identity. + +_Control._--This word is used of the intelligence which purports to +communicate messages which are written or uttered by the _automatist_, +_sensitive_ or _medium_. + +_*Cosmopathic._--Open to the access of supernormal knowledge or emotion. + +_Cryptomnesia._--Submerged or subliminal memory of events forgotten by +the supraliminal self. + +_*Dextro-cerebral_ (opposed to _*Sinistro-cerebral_) of left-handed +persons as employing preferentially the _right_ hemisphere of the brain. + +_Diathesis._--Habit, capacity, constitutional disposition or tendency. + +_Dimorphism._--In crystals the property of assuming two incompatible +forms: in plants and animals, difference of form between members of the +same species. Used of a condition of alternating personalities, in which +memory, character, etc., present themselves at different times in +different forms in the same person. + +_Discarnate._--Disembodied, opposed to _incarnate_. + +_Disintegration of Personality._--Used of any condition where the sense +of personality is not unitary and continuous: especially when secondary +and transitory personalities intervene. + +_Dynamogeny._--The increase of nervous energy by appropriate stimuli, +often opposed to _inhibition_. + +_Ecmnesia._--Loss of memory of a period of time. + +_*Entencephalic._--On the analogy of _entoptic_: of sensations, etc., +which have their origin within the brain, not in the external world. + +_Eugenics._--The science of improving the race. + +_Falsidical._--Of hallucinations _delusive_, _i.e._, when there is +nothing objective to which they correspond. The correlative term to +_veridical_. + +_Glossolaly._--"Speaking with tongues," _i.e._, automatic utterance of +words not belonging to any real language. + +_Hallucination._--Any sensory perception which has no objective +counterpart within the field of vision, hearing, etc., is termed a +hallucination. + +_Heteræsthesia._--A form of sensibility decidedly different from any of +those which can be referred to the action of the known senses. + +_Hyperboulia._--Increased power over the organism,--resembling the power +which we call _will_ when it is exercised over the voluntary +muscles,--which is seen in the bodily changes effected by +self-suggestion. + +_Hyperæsthesia._--Unusual acuteness of the senses. + +_Hypermnesia._--"Over-activity of the memory; a condition in which past +acts, feelings, or ideas are brought vividly to the mind, which, in its +normal condition, has wholly lost the remembrance of them." (Tuke's +_Dict._) + +_*Hyperpromethia._--Supernormal power of foresight. + +_Hypnagogic._--_Illusions hypnagogiques_ (Maury) are the vivid illusions +of sight or sound--"faces in the dark," etc.--which sometimes accompany +the oncoming of sleep. To similar illusions accompanying the _departure_ +of sleep, as when a dream-figure persists for a few moments into waking +life, I have given the name _*hypnopompic_. + +_Hypnogenous zones._--Regions by pressure on which hypnosis is induced +in some hysterical persons. + +_*Hypnopompic._--See _Hypnagogic_. + +_Hysteria._--"A disordered condition of the nervous system, the +anatomical seat and nature of which are unknown to medical science, but +of which the symptoms consist in well-marked and very varied +disturbances of nerve-function" (_Ency. Brit._). Hysterical affections +are not dependent on any discoverable lesion. + +_Hysterogenous zones._--Points or tracts on the skin of a hysterical +person, pressure on which will induce a hysterical attack. + +_Ideational._--Used of impressions which display some distinct notion, +but not of sensory nature. + +_Induced._--Of hallucinations, etc., intentionally produced. + +_Levitation._--A raising of objects from the ground by supposed +supernormal means; especially of living persons. + +_Medium._--A person through whom communication is deemed to be carried +on between living men and spirits of the departed. It is often better +replaced by _automatist_ or _sensitive_. + +_Message._--Used for any communication, not necessarily verbal, from one +to another stratum of the automatist's personality, or from an external +intelligence to the automatist's mind. + +_Metallæsthesia._--A form of sensibility alleged to exist which enables +some hypnotised or hysterical subjects to discriminate between the +contacts of various metals by sensations not derived from their ordinary +properties of weight, etc. + +_Metastasis._--Change of the seat of a bodily function from one place +(_e.g._, brain-centre) to another. + +_*Metetherial._--That which appears to lie after or beyond the ether: +the metetherial environment denotes the spiritual or transcendental +world in which the soul may be supposed to exist. + +_*Methectic._--Of communications between one stratum of a man's +intelligence and another. + +_Mirror-writing_ (_écriture renversée, Spiegel-schrift_).--Writing so +inverted, or, more exactly, _perverted_, as to resemble writing +reflected in a mirror. + +_Mnemonic chain._--A continuous series of memories, especially when the +continuity persists after an interruption. + +_Motor._--Used of an impulse to action not carrying with it any definite +idea or sensory impression. + +_Negative hallucination_ or _systematised anæthesia_.--Signifies the +condition of an entranced subject who, as the result of a suggestion, is +unable to perceive some object or to hear some sound, etc. + +_Number forms._--See _Secondary sensations_. + +_Objectify._--To externalize a phantom as if it were a material object; +to see it as a part of the waking world. + +_*Panmnesia._--A potential recollection of all impressions. + +_Paræsthesia._--Erroneous or morbid sensation. + +_Paramnesia._--All forms of erroneous memory. + +_Paraphasia._--The erroneous and involuntary use of one word for +another. + +_Percipient._--The correlative term to Agent; the person on whose mind +the telepathic impact falls; or, more generally, the person who +perceives any motor or sensory impression. + +_Phantasm and Phantom._--Phantasm and phantom are, of course, mere +variants of the same word; but since phantom has become generally +restricted to _visual_ hallucinations, it is convenient to take phantasm +to cover a wider range, and to signify any hallucinatory sensory +impression, whatever sense--whether sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste, +or diffused sensibility--may happen to be affected. + +_Phantasmogenetic centre._--A point in space apparently modified by a +spirit in such a way that persons present near it perceive a phantasm. + +_Phobies._--Irrational restricting or disabling preoccupations or fears; +_e.g._, _agoraphobia_, fear of open spaces. + +_Photism._--See _Secondary sensations_. + +_Point de repère._--Guiding mark. Used of some (generally inconspicuous) +real object which a hallucinated subject sometimes sees as the nucleus +of his hallucination, and the movements of which suggest corresponding +movements of the hallucinatory object. + +_Polyzoism._--The property, in a complex organism, of being composed of +minor and quasi-independent organisms. This is sometimes called +"colonial constitution," from animal _colonies_. + +_Possession._--A developed form of motor automatism, in which the +automatist's own personality disappears for a time, while there appears +to be a more or less complete substitution of personality, writing or +speech being given by another spirit through the entranced organism. + +_Post-hypnotic._--Used of a suggestion given during the hypnotic trance, +but intended to operate after that trance has ceased. + +_Precognition._--Knowledge of impending events supernormally acquired. + +_Premonition._--A supernormal indication of any kind of event still in +the future. + +_*Preversion._--A tendency to characteristics assumed to lie at a +further point of the evolutionary progress of a species than has yet +been reached; opposed to reversion. + +_*Promnesia._--The paradoxical sensation of recollecting a scene which +is only now occurring for the first time; the sense of the _déjà vu_. + +_*Psychorrhagy._--A special idiosyncrasy which tends to make the +phantasm of a person easily perceptible; the breaking loose of a +psychical element, definable mainly by its power of producing a +phantasm, perceptible by one or more persons, in some portion of space. + +_*Psychorrhagic diathesis._--A habit or capacity of detaching some +psychical element, involuntarily and without purpose, in such a manner +as to produce a phantasm. + +_Psycho-therapeutics._--"Treatment of disease by the influence of the +mind on the body." (Tuke's _Dict._) + +_Reciprocal._--Used of cases where there is both agency and percipience +at each end of the telepathic chain, so that A perceives P, and P +perceives A also. + +_*Retrocognition._--Knowledge of the past, supernormally acquired. + +_Secondary personality._--It sometimes happens, as the result of shock, +disease, or unknown causes, that an individual experiences an alteration +of memory and character, amounting to a change of personality, which +generally seems to have come on during sleep. The new personality is in +that case termed _secondary_, in distinction to the original, or +_primary_, personality. + +_Secondary sensations_ (_Secunddrempfindungen_, _audition colorée_, +_sound-seeing_, _synæsthesia_, _etc._).--With some persons every +sensation of one type is accompanied by a sensation of another type; as +for instance, a special sound may be accompanied by a special sensation +of colour or light (_chromatisms_ or _photisms_). This phenomenon is +analogous to that of _number-forms_,--a kind of diagrammatic mental +picture which accompanies the conception of a progression of numbers. +See Galton's _Inquiries into Human Faculty_. + +_Shell-hearing._--The induction of hallucinatory voices, etc., by +listening to a shell. Analogous to crystal-gazing. + +_Stigmatisation._--The production of blisters or other cutaneous changes +on the hands, feet, or elsewhere, by suggestion or self-suggestion. + +_Subliminal._--Of thoughts, feelings, etc., lying beneath the ordinary +_threshold_ (_limen_) of consciousness, as opposed to _supraliminal_, +lying _above_ the threshold. + +_Suggestion._--The process of effectively impressing upon the subliminal +intelligence the wishes of some other person. _Self-suggestion_ means a +suggestion conveyed by the subject himself from one stratum of his +personality to another, without external intervention. + +_*Supernormal._--Of a faculty or phenomenon which transcends ordinary +experience. Used in preference to the word _supernatural_, as not +assuming that there is anything outside nature or any arbitrary +interference with natural law. + +_Supraliminal._--See _Subliminal_. + +_Synæsthesia._--See _Secondary Sensations_. + +_Synergy._--A number of actions correlated together, or combined into a +group. + +_Telekinesis._--Used of alleged supernormal movements of objects, not +due to any known force. + +_*Telepathy._--The communication of impressions of any kind from one +mind to another, independently of the recognised channels of sense. + +_*Telæsthesia._--Any direct sensation or perception of objects or +conditions independently of the recognised channels of sense, and also +under such circumstances that no known mind external to the percipient's +can be suggested as the source of the knowledge thus gained. + +_*Telergy._--The force exercised by the mind of an agent in impressing a +percipient,--involving a direct influence of the extraneous spirit on +the brain or organism of the percipient. + +_Veridical._--Of hallucinations, when they correspond to real events +happening elsewhere and unknown to the percipient. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +INTRODUCTION + + Maior agit deus, atque opera la maiora remittit. + + --VIRGIL. + + +In the long story of man's endeavours to understand his own environment +and to govern his own fates, there is one gap or omission so singular +that, however we may afterwards contrive to explain the fact, its simple +statement has the air of a paradox. Yet it is strictly true to say that +man has never yet applied to the problems which most profoundly concern +him those methods of inquiry which in attacking all other problems he +has found the most efficacious. + +The question for man most momentous of all is whether or no he has an +immortal soul; or--to avoid the word _immortal_, which belongs to the +realm of infinities--whether or no his personality involves any element +which can survive bodily death. In this direction have always lain the +gravest fears, the farthest-reaching hopes, which could either oppress +or stimulate mortal minds. + +On the other hand, the method which our race has found most effective in +acquiring knowledge is by this time familiar to all men. It is the +method of modern Science--that process which consists in an +interrogation of Nature entirely dispassionate, patient, systematic; +such careful experiment and cumulative record as can often elicit from +her slightest indications her deepest truths. That method is now +dominant throughout the civilised world; and although in many directions +experiments may be difficult and dubious, facts rare and elusive, +Science works slowly on and bides her time,--refusing to fall back upon +tradition or to launch into speculation, merely because strait is the +gate which leads to valid discovery, indisputable truth. + +I say, then, that this method has never yet been applied to the +all-important problem of the existence, the powers, the destiny of the +human soul. + +Nor is this strange omission due to any general belief that the problem +is in its nature incapable of solution by any observation whatever which +mankind could make. That resolutely agnostic view--I may almost say that +scientific superstition--"_ignoramus et ignorabimus_"--is no doubt held +at the present date by many learned minds. But it has never been the +creed, nor is it now the creed, of the human race generally. In most +civilised countries there has been for nearly two thousand years a +distinct belief that survival has actually been proved by certain +phenomena observed at a given date in Palestine. And beyond the +Christian pale--whether through reason, instinct, or superstition--it +has ever been commonly held that ghostly phenomena of one kind or +another exist to testify to a life beyond the life we know. + +But, nevertheless, neither those who believe on vague grounds nor those +who believe on definite grounds that the question might possibly be +solved, or has actually been solved, by human observation of objective +facts, have hitherto made any serious attempt to connect and correlate +that belief with the general scheme of belief for which Science already +vouches. They have not sought for fresh corroborative instances, for +analogies, for explanations; rather they have kept their convictions on +these fundamental matters in a separate and sealed compartment of their +minds, a compartment consecrated to religion or to superstition, but not +to observation or to experiment. + +It is my object in the present work--as it has from the first been the +object of the Society for Psychical Research, on whose behalf most of +the evidence here set forth has been collected,--to do what can be done +to break down that artificial wall of demarcation which has thus far +excluded from scientific treatment precisely the problems which stand in +most need of all the aids to discovery which such treatment can afford. + +Yet let me first explain that by the word "scientific" I signify an +authority to which I submit myself--not a standard which I claim to +attain. Any science of which I can here speak as possible must be a +_nascent_ science--not such as one of those vast systems of connected +knowledge which thousands of experts now steadily push forward in +laboratories in every land--but such as each one of those great sciences +was in its dim and poor beginning, when a few monks groped among the +properties of "the noble metals," or a few Chaldean shepherds outwatched +the setting stars. + +What I am able to insist upon is the mere Socratic rudiment of these +organisms of exact thought--the first axiomatic prerequisite of any +valid progress. My one contention is that in the discussion of the +deeper problems of man's nature and destiny there ought to be exactly +the same openness of mind, exactly the same diligence in the search for +objective evidence of any kind, exactly the same critical analysis of +results, as is habitually shown, for instance, in the discussion of the +nature and destiny of the planet upon which man now moves. + +Obvious truism although this statement may at first seem, it will +presently be found, I think, that those who subscribe to it are in fact +committing themselves to inquiries of a wider and stranger type than any +to which they are accustomed;--are stepping outside certain narrow +limits within which, by ancient convention, disputants on either side of +these questions are commonly confined. + +A brief recall to memory of certain familiar historical facts will serve +to make my meaning clearer. Let us consider how it has come about that, +whereas the problem of man's survival of death is by most persons +regarded as a problem in its nature soluble by sufficient evidence, and +whereas to many persons the traditional evidence commonly adduced +appears insufficient,--nevertheless no serious effort has been made on +either side to discover whether other and more recent evidence can or +cannot be brought forward. + +A certain broad answer to this inquiry, although it cannot be said to be +at all points familiar, is not in reality far to seek. It is an answer +which would seem strange indeed to some visitant from a planet peopled +wholly by scientific minds. Yet among a race like our own, concerned +first and primarily to live and work with thoughts undistracted from +immediate needs, the answer is natural enough. For the fact simply is +that the intimate importance of this central problem has barred the way +to its methodical, its scientific solution. + +There are some beliefs for which mankind cannot afford to wait. "What +must I do to be saved?" is a question quite otherwise urgent than the +cause of the tides or the meaning of the marks on the moon. Men must +settle roughly somehow what it is that from the Unseen World they have +reason to fear or to hope. Beliefs grow up in direct response to this +need of belief; in order to support themselves they claim unique +sanction; and thus along with these specific beliefs grows also the +general habit of regarding matters that concern that Unseen World as +somehow tabooed or segregated from ordinary observation or inquiry. + +Let us pass from generalities to the actual history of Western +civilisation. In an age when scattered ritual, local faiths--tribal +solutions of cosmic problems--were destroying each other by mere contact +and fusion, an event occurred which in the brief record of man's still +incipient civilisation may be regarded as unique. A life was lived in +which the loftiest response which man's need of moral guidance had ever +received was corroborated by phenomena which have been widely regarded +as convincingly miraculous, and which are said to have culminated in a +Resurrection from the dead. To those phenomena or to that Resurrection +it would at this point be illegitimate for me to refer in defence of my +argument. I have appealed to Science, and to Science I must go;--in the +sense that it would be unfair for me to claim support from that which +Science in her strictness can set aside as the tradition of a +pre-scientific age. Yet this one great tradition, as we know, has, as a +fact, won the adhesion and reverence of the great majority of European +minds. The complex results which followed from this triumph of +Christianity have been discussed by many historians. But one result +which here appears to us in a new light was this--that the Christian +religion, the Christian Church, became for Europe the accredited +representative and guardian of all phenomena bearing upon the World +Unseen. So long as Christianity stood dominant, all phenomena which +seemed to transcend experience were absorbed in her realm--were +accounted as minor indications of the activity of her angels or of her +fiends. And when Christianity was seriously attacked, these minor +manifestations passed unconsidered. The priests thought it safest to +defend their own traditions, their own intuitions, without going afield +in search of independent evidence of a spiritual world. Their assailants +kept their powder and shot for the orthodox ramparts, ignoring any +isolated strongholds which formed no part of the main line of defence. + +Meantime, indeed, the laws of Nature held their wonted way. As ever, +that which the years had once brought they brought again; and every here +and there some marvel, liker to the old stories than any one cared to +assert, cropped up between superstition on the one hand and contemptuous +indifference on the other. Witchcraft, Swedenborgianism, Mesmerism, +Spiritism--these especially, amid many minor phenomena, stood out in +turn as precursory of the inevitable wider inquiry. A very few words on +each of these four movements may suffice here to show their connection +with my present theme. + +_Witchcraft._--The lesson which witchcraft teaches with regard to the +validity of human testimony is the more remarkable because it was so +long and so completely misunderstood. The belief in witches long +passed--as well it might--as the culminant example of human ignorance +and folly; and in so comparatively recent a book as Mr. Lecky's "History +of Rationalism," the sudden decline of this popular conviction, without +argument or disapproval, is used to illustrate the irresistible melting +away of error and falsity in the "intellectual climate" of a wiser age. +Since about 1880, however, when French experiments especially had +afforded conspicuous examples of what a hysterical woman could come to +believe under suggestion from others or from herself, it has begun to be +felt that the phenomena of witchcraft were very much what the phenomena +of the Salpêtrière would seem to be to the patients themselves, if left +alone in the hospital without a medical staff. And in _Phantasms of the +Living_, Edmund Gurney, after subjecting the literature of witchcraft to +a more careful analysis than any one till then had thought it worth +while to apply, was able to show that practically all recorded +first-hand depositions (made apart from torture) in the long story of +witchcraft may quite possibly have been _true_, to the best belief of +the deponents; true, that is to say, as representing the conviction of +sane (though often hysterical) persons, who merely made the almost +inevitable mistake of confusing self-suggested hallucinations with +waking fact. Nay, even the insensible spots on the witches were no doubt +really anæsthetic--involved a first discovery of a now familiar clinical +symptom--the _zones analgésiques_ of the patients of Pitres or Charcot. +Witchcraft, in fact, was a gigantic, a cruel psychological and +pathological experiment conducted by inquisitors upon hysteria; but it +was conducted in the dark, and when the barbarous explanation dropped +out of credence much of possible discovery was submerged as well. + +_Mesmer._--Again, the latent possibilities of "suggestion,"--though not +yet under that name, and mingled with who knows what else?--broke forth +into a blaze in the movement headed by Mesmer;--at once discoverer and +charlatan. Again the age was unripe, and scientific opposition, although +not so formidable as the religious opposition which had sent witches to +the stake, was yet strong enough to check for the second time the +struggling science. Hardly till our own generation--hardly even now--has +a third effort found better acceptance, and hypnotism and +psycho-therapeutics, in which every well-attested fact of witchcraft or +of mesmerism finds, if not its explanation, at least its parallel, are +establishing themselves as a recognised and advancing method of +relieving human ills. + +This brief sketch of the development as it were by successive impulses, +under strong disbelief and discouragement, of a group of mental +tendencies, faculties, or sensibilities now recognised as truly existing +and as often salutary, is closely paralleled by the development, under +similar difficulties, of another group of faculties or sensibilities, +whose existence is still disputed, but which if firmly established may +prove to be of even greater moment for mankind. + +At no time known to us, whether before or since the Christian era, has +the series of _trance-manifestations_,--of supposed communications with +a supernal world,--entirely ceased. Sometimes, as in the days of St. +Theresa, such trance or ecstasy has been, one may say, the central or +culminant fact in the Christian world. Of these experiences I must not +here treat. The evidence for them is largely of a subjective type, and +they may belong more fitly to some future discussion as to the amount of +confidence due to the interpretation given by entranced persons to their +own phenomena. + +But in the midst of this long series, and in full analogy to many minor +cases, occurs the exceptional trance-history of Emmanuel Swedenborg. In +this case, as is well known, there appears to have been excellent +objective evidence both of clairvoyance or telæsthesia[1] and of +communication with departed persons;--and we can only regret that the +philosopher Kant, who satisfied himself of some part of Swedenborg's +supernormal[2] gift, did not press further an inquiry surpassed in +importance by none of those upon which his master-mind was engaged. +Apart, however, from these objective evidences, the mere subject-matter +of Swedenborg's trance-revelations was enough to claim respectful +attention. I cannot here discuss the strange mixture which they present +of slavish literalism with exalted speculation, of pedantic orthodoxy +with physical and moral insight far beyond the level of that age. It is +enough to say here that even as Socrates called down philosophy from +heaven to earth, so in a somewhat different sense it was Swedenborg who +called up philosophy again from earth to heaven;--who originated the +notion of science in the spiritual world, as earnestly, though not so +persuasively, as Socrates originated the idea of science in this world +which we seem to know. It was to Swedenborg first that that unseen world +appeared before all things as a realm of law; a region not of mere +emotional vagueness or stagnancy of adoration, but of definite progress +according to definite relations of cause and effect, resulting from +structural laws of spiritual existence and intercourse which we may in +time learn partially to apprehend. For my own part I regard +Swedenborg,--not, assuredly, as an inspired teacher, nor even as a +trustworthy interpreter of his own experiences,--but yet as a true and +early precursor of that great inquiry which it is our present object to +advance. + +The next pioneer--fortunately still amongst us--whom I must mention even +in this summary notice, is the celebrated physicist and chemist, Sir W. +Crookes. Just as Swedenborg was the first leading man of science who +distinctly conceived of the spiritual world as a world of law, so was +Sir W. Crookes the first leading man of science who seriously +endeavoured to test the alleged mutual influence and interpenetration of +the spiritual world and our own by experiments of scientific +precision.[3] Beyond the establishment of certain supernormal facts +Crookes declined to go. But a large group of persons have founded upon +these and similar facts a scheme of belief known as Modern Spiritualism, +or Spiritism. Later chapters in this book will show how much I owe to +certain observations made by members of this group--how often my own +conclusions concur with conclusions at which they have previously +arrived. And yet this work of mine is in large measure a critical attack +upon the main Spiritist position, as held, say, by Mr. A. R. Wallace, +its most eminent living supporter,--the belief, namely, that all or +almost all supernormal phenomena are due to the action of spirits of the +dead. By far the larger proportion, as I hold, are due to the action of +the still embodied spirit of the agent or percipient himself. Apart from +speculative differences, moreover, I altogether dissent from the +conversion into a sectarian creed of what I hold should be a branch of +scientific inquiry, growing naturally out of our existing knowledge. It +is, I believe, largely to this temper of uncritical acceptance, +degenerating often into blind credulity, that we must refer the lack of +progress in Spiritualistic literature, and the encouragement which has +often been bestowed upon manifest fraud,--so often, indeed, as to create +among scientific men a strong indisposition to the study of phenomena +recorded or advocated in a tone so alien from Science. + +I know not how much of originality or importance may be attributed by +subsequent students of the subject to the step next in order in this +series of approximations. To those immediately concerned, the feeling of +a new departure was inevitably given by the very smallness of the +support which they for a long time received, and by the difficulty +which they found in making their point of view intelligible to the +scientific, to the religious, or even to the spiritualistic world. In +about 1873--at the crest, as one may say, of perhaps the highest wave of +materialism which has ever swept over these shores--it became the +conviction of a small group of Cambridge friends that the deep questions +thus at issue must be fought out in a way more thorough than the +champions either of religion or of materialism had yet suggested. Our +attitudes of mind were in some ways different; but to myself, at least, +it seemed that no adequate attempt had yet been made even to determine +whether anything could be learnt as to an unseen world or no; for that +if anything were knowable about such a world in such fashion that +Science could adopt and maintain that knowledge, it must be discovered +by no analysis of tradition, and by no manipulation of metaphysics, but +simply by experiment and observation;--simply by the application to +phenomena within us and around us of precisely the same methods of +deliberate, dispassionate, exact inquiry which have built up our actual +knowledge of the world which we can touch and see. I can hardly even now +guess to how many of my readers this will seem a truism, and to how many +a paradox. Truism or paradox, such a thought suggested a kind of effort, +which, so far as we could discover, had never yet been made. For what +seemed needful was an inquiry of quite other scope than the mere +analysis of historical documents, or of the _origines_ of any alleged +revelation in the past. It must be an inquiry resting primarily, as all +scientific inquiries in the stricter sense now must rest, upon objective +facts actually observable, upon experiments which we can repeat to-day, +and which we may hope to carry further to-morrow. It must be an inquiry +based, to use an old term, on the uniformitarian hypothesis; on the +presumption, that is to say, that _if a spiritual world exists, and if +that world has at any epoch been manifest or even discoverable, then it +ought to be manifest or discoverable now_. + +It was from this side, and from these general considerations, that the +group with which I have worked approached the subject. Our methods, our +canons, were all to make. In those early days we were more devoid of +precedents, of guidance, even of criticism that went beyond mere +expressions of contempt, than is now readily conceived. Seeking evidence +as best we could--collecting round us a small group of persons willing +to help in that quest for residual phenomena in the nature and +experience of man--we were at last fortunate enough to discover a +convergence of experimental and of spontaneous evidence upon one +definite and important point. We were led to believe that there was +truth in a thesis which at least since Swedenborg and the early +mesmerists had been repeatedly, but cursorily and ineffectually, +presented to mankind--the thesis that a communication can take place +from mind to mind without the agency of the recognised organs of sense. +We found that this agency, discernible even on trivial occasions by +suitable experiment, seemed to connect itself with an agency more +intense, or at any rate more recognisable, which operated at moments of +crisis or at the hour of death. Edmund Gurney--the invaluable +collaborator and friend whose loss in 1888 was our heaviest +discouragement--set forth this evidence in a large work, _Phantasms of +the Living_, in whose preparation Mr. Podmore and I took a minor part. +The fifteen years which have elapsed since the publication of this book +in 1886 have added to the evidence on which Gurney relied, and have +shown (I venture to say) the general soundness of the canons of evidence +and the lines of argument which it was his task to shape and to +employ.[4] + +Of fundamental importance, indeed, is this doctrine of telepathy--the +first law, may one not say?--laid open to man's discovery, which, in my +view at least, while operating in the material, is itself a law of the +spiritual or _metetherial_ world. In the course of this work it will be +my task to show in many connections how far-reaching are the +implications of this direct and supersensory communion of mind with +mind. Among those implications none can be more momentous than the light +thrown by this discovery upon man's intimate nature and possible +survival of death. + +We gradually discovered that the accounts of apparitions at the moment +of death--testifying to a supersensory communication between the dying +man and the friend who sees him--led on without perceptible break to +apparitions occurring after the death of the person seen, but while that +death was yet unknown to the percipient, and thus apparently due, not to +mere brooding memory, but to a continued action of that departed spirit. +The task next incumbent on us therefore seemed plainly to be the +collection and analysis of evidence of this and other types, pointing +directly to the survival of man's spirit. But after pursuing this task +for some years I felt that in reality the step from the action of +embodied to the action of disembodied spirits would still seem too +sudden if taken in this direct way. So far, indeed, as the evidence from +apparitions went, the series seemed continuous from phantasms of the +living to phantasms of the dead. But the whole mass of evidence _primâ +facie_ pointing to man's survival was of a much more complex kind. It +consisted largely, for example, in written or spoken utterances, coming +through the hand or voice of living men, but claiming to proceed from a +disembodied source. To these utterances, as a whole, no satisfactory +criterion had ever been applied. + +In considering cases of this kind, then, it became gradually plain to me +that before we could safely mark off any group of manifestations as +definitely implying an influence from beyond the grave, there was need +of a more searching review of the capacities of man's incarnate +personality than psychologists unfamiliar with this new evidence had +thought it worth their while to undertake. + +It was only slowly, and as it were of necessity, that I embarked on a +task which needed for its proper accomplishment a knowledge and training +far beyond what I could claim. The very inadequate sketch which has +resulted from my efforts is even in its author's view no more than +preparatory and precursive to the fuller and sounder treatment of the +same subject which I doubt not that the new century will receive from +more competent hands. The truest success of this book will lie in its +rapid supersession by a better. For this will show that at least I have +not erred in supposing that a serious treatise on these topics is +nothing else than the inevitable complement and conclusion of the slow +process by which man has brought under the domain of science every group +of attainable phenomena in turn--every group save this. + +Let me then without further preamble embark upon that somewhat detailed +survey of human faculty, as manifested during various phases of human +personality, which is needful in order to throw fresh light on these +unfamiliar themes. My discussion, I may say at once, will avoid +metaphysics as carefully as it will avoid theology. I avoid theology, as +already explained, because I consider that in arguments founded upon +experiment and observation I have no right to appeal for support to +traditional or subjective considerations, however important. For +somewhat similar reasons I do not desire to introduce the idea of +personality with any historical _résumé_ of the philosophical opinions +which have been held by various thinkers in the past, nor myself to +speculate on matters lying beyond the possible field of objective proof. +I shall merely for the sake of clearness begin by the briefest possible +statement of two views of human personality which cannot be ignored, +namely, the old-fashioned or common-sense view thereof, which is still +held by the mass of mankind, and the newer view of experimental +psychology, bringing out that composite or "colonial" character which on +a close examination every personality of men or animals is seen to +wear. + +The following passage, taken from a work once of much note, Reid's +"Essay on the Intellectual Powers of Man," expresses the simple _primâ +facie_ view with care and precision, yet with no marked impress of any +one philosophical school: + + The conviction which every man has of his identity, as far back as + his memory reaches, needs no aid of philosophy to strengthen it; + and no philosophy can weaken it without first producing some degree + of insanity.... My personal identity, therefore, implies the + continued existence of that indivisible thing which I call myself. + Whatever this self may be, it is something which thinks, and + deliberates, and resolves, and acts, and suffers. I am not thought, + I am not action, I am not feeling; I am something that thinks, and + acts, and suffers. My thoughts and actions and feelings change + every moment; they have no continued, but a successive existence; + but that _self_ or _I_, to which they belong, is permanent, and has + the same relation to all succeeding thoughts, actions, and feelings + which I call mine.... The identity of a person is a perfect + identity; wherever it is real it admits of no degrees; and it is + impossible that a person should be in part the same and in part + different, because a person is a _monad_, and is not divisible into + parts. Identity, when applied to persons, has no ambiguity, and + admits not of degrees, or of more and less. It is the foundation of + all rights and obligations, and of all accountableness; and the + notion of it is fixed and precise. + +Contrast with this the passage with which M. Ribot concludes his essay +on "Les Maladies de la Personnalité." + + It is the organism, with the brain, its supreme representative, + which constitutes the real personality; comprising in itself the + remains of all that we have been and the possibilities of all that + we shall be. The whole individual character is there inscribed, + with its active and passive aptitudes, its sympathies and + antipathies, its genius, its talent or its stupidity, its virtues + and its vices, its torpor or its activity. The part thereof which + emerges into consciousness is little compared with what remains + buried, but operative nevertheless. The conscious personality is + never more than a small fraction of the psychical personality. The + unity of the Ego is not therefore the unity of a single entity + diffusing itself among multiple phenomena; it is the co-ordination + of a certain number of states perpetually renascent, and having for + their sole common basis the vague feeling of our body. This unity + does not diffuse itself downwards, but is aggregated by ascent from + below; it is not an initial but a terminal point. + + Does then this perfect unity really exist? In the rigorous, the + mathematical sense, assuredly it does _not_. In a relative sense it + is met with,--rarely and for a moment. When a good marksman takes + aim, or a skilful surgeon operates, his whole body and mind + converge towards a single act. But note the result; under those + conditions the sentiment of real personality disappears, for the + conscious individual is simplified into a single idea, and the + personal sentiment is excluded by the complete unification of + consciousness. We thus return by another route to the same + conclusion; _the Self is a co-ordination_. It oscillates between + two extremes at each of which it ceases to exist;--absolute unity + and absolute incoherence. + + The last word of all this is that since the consensus of + consciousness is subordinated to the consensus of the organism, the + problem of the unity of the Ego is in its ultimate form a problem + of Biology. Let Biology explain, if it can, the genesis of + organisms and the solidarity of their constituent parts. The + psychological explanation must needs follow on the same track. + +Here, then, we have two clear and definite views,--supported, the one by +our inmost consciousness, the other by unanswerable observation and +inference,--yet apparently incompatible the one with the other. And in +fact by most writers they have been felt and acknowledged to be even +hopelessly incompatible. The supporters of the view that "The Self is a +co-ordination,"--and this, I need hardly say, is now the view prevalent +among experimental psychologists,--have frankly given up any notion of +an underlying unity,--of a life independent of the organism,--in a word, +of a human soul. The supporters of the unity of the Ego, on the other +hand, if they have not been able to be equally explicit in _denying_ the +opposite view, have made up for this by the thorough-going way in which +they have _ignored_ it. I know of no source from which valid help has +been offered towards the reconcilement of the two opposing systems in a +profounder synthesis. If I believe--as I do believe--that in the present +work some help in this direction is actually given, this certainly does +not mean that I suppose myself capable of stitching the threadbare +metaphysical arguments into a more stable fabric. It simply means that +certain fresh evidence can now be adduced, which has the effect of +showing the case on each side in a novel light;--nay, even of closing +the immediate controversy by a judgment more decisively in favour of +_both_ parties than either could have expected. On the one side, and in +favour of the co-ordinators,--all their analysis of the Self into its +constituent elements, all that they urge of positive observation, of +objective experiment, must--as I shall maintain on the strength of the +new facts which I shall adduce--be unreservedly conceded. Let them push +their analysis as far as they like,--let them get down, if they can, to +those ultimate infinitesimal psychical elements from which is upbuilt +the complex, the composite, the "colonial" structure and constitution of +man. All this may well be valid and important work. It is only on their +_negative_ side that the conclusions of this school need a complete +overhauling. Deeper, bolder inquiry along their own line shows that +they have erred when they asserted that analysis showed no trace of +faculty beyond such as the life of earth--as they conceive it--could +foster, or the environment of earth employ. For in reality analysis +shows traces of faculty which this material or planetary life could not +have called into being, and whose exercise even here and now involves +and necessitates the existence of a spiritual world. + +On the other side, and in favour of the partisans of the unity of the +Ego, the effect of the new evidence is to raise their claim to a far +higher ground, and to substantiate it for the first time with the +strongest presumptive proof which can be imagined for it;--a proof, +namely, that the Ego can and does survive--not only the minor +disintegrations which affect it during earth-life--but the crowning +disintegration of bodily death. In view of this unhoped-for ratification +of their highest dream, they may be more than content to surrender as +untenable the far narrower conception of the unitary Self which was all +that "common-sense philosophies" had ventured to claim. The "conscious +Self" of each of us, as we call it,--the empirical, the supraliminal +Self, as I should prefer to say,--does not comprise the whole of the +consciousness or of the faculty within us. There exists a more +comprehensive consciousness, a profounder faculty, which for the most +part remains potential only so far as regards the life of earth, but +from which the consciousness and the faculty of earth-life are mere +selections, and which reasserts itself in its plenitude after the +liberating change of death. + +Towards this conclusion, which assumed for me something like its present +shape some fourteen years since,[5] a long series of tentative +speculations, based on gradually accruing evidence, has slowly conducted +me. The conception is one which has hitherto been regarded as purely +mystical; and if I endeavour to plant it upon a scientific basis I +certainly shall not succeed in stating it in its final terms or in +supporting it with the best arguments which longer experience will +suggest. Its validity, indeed, will be impressed--if at all--upon the +reader only by the successive study of the various kinds of evidence to +which this book will refer him. + +Yet so far as the initial possibility or plausibility of such a widened +conception of human consciousness is concerned;--and this is all which +can be dealt with at this moment of its first introduction;--I have not +seen in such criticism as has hitherto been bestowed upon my theory any +very weighty demurrer.[6] + +"Normally at least," says one critic, summarising in a few words the +ordinary view, "all the consciousness we have at any moment corresponds +to all the activity which is going on at that moment in the brain. There +is one unitary conscious state accompanying all the simultaneous brain +excitations together, and each single part of the brain-process +contributes something to its nature. None of the brain-processes split +themselves off from the rest and have a separate consciousness of their +own." This is, no doubt, the apparent dictum of consciousness, but it is +nothing more. And the dicta of consciousness have already been shown to +need correction in so many ways which the ordinary observer could never +have anticipated that we have surely no right to trust consciousness, so +to say, a step further than we can feel it,--to hold that anything +whatever--even a separate consciousness in our own organisms--can be +proved _not_ to exist by the mere fact that we--as we know +ourselves--are not aware of it. + +But indeed this claim to a unitary consciousness tends to become less +forcible as it is more scientifically expressed. It rests on the plain +man's conviction that there is only one of him; and this conviction the +experimental psychologist is always tending to weaken or narrow by the +admission of coexistent localised degrees of consciousness in the brain, +which are at any rate not obviously reducible to a single state. Even +those who would stop far short of my own position find it needful to +resort to metaphors of their own to express the different streams of +"awareness" which we all feel to be habitually coexistent within us. +They speak of "fringes" of ordinary consciousness; of "marginal" +associations; of the occasional perception of "currents of low +intensity." These metaphors may all of them be of use, in a region where +metaphor is our only mode of expression; but none of them covers all the +facts now collected. And on the other side, I need not say, are plenty +of phrases which beg the question of soul and body, or of the man's own +spirit and external spirits, in no scientific fashion. There seems to be +need of a term of wider application, which shall make as few assumptions +as possible. Nor is such a term difficult to find. + +The idea of a _threshold (limen, Schwelle)_, of consciousness;--of a +level above which sensation or thought must rise before it can enter +into our conscious life;--is a simple and familiar one. The word +_subliminal_,--meaning "beneath that threshold,"--has already been used +to define those sensations which are too feeble to be individually +recognised. I propose to extend the meaning of the term, so as to make +it cover _all_ that takes place beneath the ordinary threshold, or say, +if preferred, outside the ordinary margin of consciousness;--not only +those faint stimulations whose very faintness keeps them submerged, but +much else which psychology as yet scarcely recognises; sensations, +thoughts, emotions, which may be strong, definite, and independent, but +which, by the original constitution of our being, seldom emerge into +that _supraliminal_ current of consciousness which we habitually +identify with _ourselves_. Perceiving (as this book will try to show) +that these submerged thoughts and emotions possess the characteristics +which we associate with conscious life, I feel bound to speak of a +_subliminal_ or _ultra-marginal consciousness_,--a consciousness which +we shall see, for instance, uttering or writing sentences quite as +complex and coherent as the supraliminal consciousness could make them. +Perceiving further that this conscious life beneath the threshhold or +beyond the margin seems to be no discontinuous or intermittent thing; +that not only are these isolated subliminal processes comparable with +isolated supraliminal processes (as when a problem is solved by some +unknown procedure in a dream), but that there also is a continuous +subliminal chain of memory (or more chains than one) involving just that +kind of individual and persistent revival of old impressions, and +response to new ones, which we commonly call a Self,--I find it +permissible and convenient to speak of subliminal Selves, or more +briefly of a subliminal Self. I do not indeed by using this term assume +that there are two correlative and parallel selves existing always +within each of us. Rather I mean by the subliminal Self that part of the +Self which is commonly subliminal; and I conceive that there may +be,--not only _co-operations_ between these quasi-independent trains of +thought,--but also upheavals and alternations of personality of many +kinds, so that what was once below the surface may for a time, or +permanently, rise above it. And I conceive also that no Self of which we +can here have cognisance is in reality more than a fragment of a larger +Self,--revealed in a fashion at once shifting and limited through an +organism not so framed as to afford it full manifestation. + +Now this hypothesis is exposed manifestly to two main forms of attack, +which to a certain extent neutralise each other. On the one hand it has +been attacked, as has already been indicated, as being too elaborate for +the facts,--as endowing transitory moments of subconscious intelligence +with more continuity and independence than they really possess. These +ripples over the threshold, it may be said, can be explained by the wind +of circumstance, without assuming springs or currents in the personality +deep below. + +But soon we shall come upon a group of phenomena which this view will +by no means meet. For we shall find that the subliminal uprushes,--the +impulses or communications which reach our emergent from our submerged +selves,--are (in spite of their miscellaneousness) often +characteristically different in quality from any element known to our +ordinary supraliminal life. They are different in a way which implies +faculty of which we have had no previous knowledge, operating in an +environment of which hitherto we have been wholly unaware. This broad +statement it is of course the purpose of my whole work to justify. +Assuming its truth here for argument's sake, we see at once that the +problem of the hidden self entirely changes its aspect. Telepathy and +telæsthesia--the perception of distant thoughts and of distant scenes +without the agency of the recognised organs of sense;--those faculties +suggest either incalculable extension of our own mental powers, or else +the influence upon us of minds freer and less trammelled than our own. +And this second hypothesis,--which would explain by the agency of +discarnate minds, or spirits, all these supernormal phenomena,--does at +first sight simplify the problem, and has by Mr. A. R. Wallace and +others been pushed so far as to remove all need of what he deems the +gratuitous and cumbrous hypothesis of a subliminal self. + +I believe, indeed, that it will become plain as we proceed that some +such hypothesis as this,--of almost continuous spirit-intervention and +spirit-guidance,--is at once rendered necessary if the subliminal +faculties for which I argue are denied to man. And my conception of a +subliminal self will thus appear, not as an extravagant and needless, +but as a limiting and rationalising hypothesis, when it is applied to +phenomena which at first sight suggest Mr. Wallace's extremer view, but +which I explain by the action of man's own spirit, without invoking +spirits external to himself. I do not indeed say that the explanation +here suggested is applicable in all cases, or to the complete exclusion +of the spirit-hypothesis. On the contrary, the one view gives support to +the other. For these faculties of distant communication exist none the +less, even though we should refer them to our own subliminal selves. We +can, in that case, affect each other at a distance, telepathically;--and +if our incarnate spirits can act thus in at least apparent independence +of the fleshly body, the presumption is strong that other spirits may +exist independently of the body, and may affect us in similar manner. + +The much-debated hypothesis of spirit-intervention, in short, still +looms behind the hypothesis of the subliminal Self; but that +intermediate hypothesis should, I think, in this early stage of what +must be a long inquiry, prove useful to the partisans of either side. +For those who are altogether unwilling to admit the action of agencies +other than the spirits of living men, it will be needful to form as +high an estimate as possible of the faculties held in reserve by these +spirits while still in the flesh. For those, on the other hand, who +believe in the influence of discarnate spirits, this scheme affords a +path of transition, and as it were a provisional intelligibility. + +These far-reaching speculations make the element of keenest interest in +the inquiry which follows. But even apart from its possible bearing on a +future life, the further study of our submerged mentation,--of the +processes within us of which we catch only indirect, and as it were, +refracted glimpses,--seems at this time especially called for by the +trend of modern research. For of late years we have realised more and +more fully upon how shifting and complex a foundation of ancestral +experience each individual life is based. In recapitulation, in summary, +in symbol, we retraverse, from the embryo to the corpse, the history of +life on earth for millions of years. During our self-adaptation to +continually wider environments, there may probably have been a continual +displacement of the threshold of consciousness;--involving the lapse and +submergence of much that once floated in the main stream of our being. +Our consciousness at any given stage of our evolution is but the +phosphorescent ripple on an unsounded sea. And, like the ripple, it is +not only superficial but manifold. Our psychical unity is federative and +unstable; it has arisen from irregular accretions in the remote past; it +consists even now only in the limited collaboration of multiple groups. +These discontinuities and incoherences in the Ego the elder +psychologists managed to ignore. Yet infancy, idiocy, sleep, insanity, +decay;--these breaks and stagnancies in the conscious stream were always +present to show us, even more forcibly than more delicate analyses show +us now, that the first obvious conception of man's continuous and +unitary personality was wholly insecure; and that if indeed a soul +inspired the body, that soul must be sought for far beneath these bodily +conditions by which its self-manifestation was clouded and obscured. + +The difference between older and newer conceptions of the unifying +principle or soul (if soul there be) in man, considered as manifesting +through corporeal limitations, will thus resemble the difference between +the older and newer conceptions of the way in which the sun reveals +himself to our senses. Night and storm-cloud and eclipse men have known +from the earliest ages; but now they know that even at noonday the +sunbeam which reaches them, when fanned out into a spectrum, is barred +with belts and lines of varying darkness;--while they have learnt also +that where at either end the spectrum fades out into what for us is +blackness, there stretches onwards in reality an undiscovered +illimitable ray. + +It will be convenient for future reference if I draw out this parallel +somewhat more fully. I compare, then, man's gradual progress in +self-knowledge to his gradual decipherment of the nature and meaning of +the sunshine which reaches him as light and heat indiscernibly +intermingled. So also Life and Consciousness--the sense of a world +within him and a world without--come to the child indiscernibly +intermingled in a pervading glow. Optical analysis splits up the white +ray into the various coloured rays which compose it. Philosophical +analysis in like manner splits up the vague consciousness of the child +into many faculties;--into the various external senses, the various +modes of thought within. This has been the task of descriptive and +introspective psychology. Experimental psychology is adding a further +refinement. In the sun's spectrum, and in stellar spectra, are many dark +lines or bands, due to the absorption of certain rays by certain vapours +in the atmosphere of sun or stars or earth. And similarly in the range +of spectrum of our own sensation and faculty there are many +inequalities--permanent and temporary--of brightness and definition. Our +mental atmosphere is clouded by vapours and illumined by fires, and is +clouded and illumined differently at different times. The psychologist +who observes, say, how his reaction-times are modified by alcohol is +like the physicist who observes what lines are darkened by the +interposition of a special gas. Our knowledge of our conscious spectrum +is thus becoming continually more accurate and detailed. + +But turning back once more to the physical side of our simile, we +observe that our knowledge of the visible solar spectrum, however +minute, is but an introduction to the knowledge which we hope ultimately +to attain of the sun's rays. The limits of our spectrum do not inhere in +the sun that shines, but in the eye that marks his shining. Beyond each +end of that prismatic ribbon are ether-waves of which our retina takes +no cognisance. Beyond the red end come waves whose potency we still +recognise, but as heat and not as light. Beyond the violet end are waves +still more mysterious; whose very existence man for ages never +suspected, and whose ultimate potencies are still but obscurely known. +Even thus, I venture to affirm, beyond each end of our conscious +spectrum extends a range of faculty and perception, exceeding the known +range, but as yet indistinctly guessed. The artifices of the modern +physicist have extended far in each direction the visible spectrum known +to Newton. It is for the modern psychologist to discover artifices which +may extend in each direction the conscious spectrum as known to Plato or +to Kant. The phenomena cited in this work carry us, one may say, as far +onwards as fluorescence carries us beyond the violet end. The "X rays" +of the psychical spectrum remain for a later age to discover. + +Our simile, indeed--be it once for all noted--is a most imperfect one. +The range of human faculty cannot be truly expressed in any linear form. +Even a three-dimensional scheme,--a radiation of faculties from a centre +of life,--would ill render its complexity. Yet something of clearness +will be gained by even this rudimentary mental picture;--representing +conscious human faculty as a linear spectrum whose red rays begin where +voluntary muscular control and organic sensation begin, and whose violet +rays fade away at the point at which man's highest strain of thought or +imagination merges into reverie or ecstasy. + +At both ends of this spectrum I believe that our evidence indicates a +momentous prolongation. Beyond the _red_ end, of course, we already know +that vital faculty of some kind must needs extend. We know that organic +processes are constantly taking place within us which are not subject to +our control, but which make the very foundation of our physical being. +We know that the habitual limits of our voluntary action can be far +extended under the influence of strong excitement. It need not surprise +us to find that appropriate artifices--hypnotism or self-suggestion--can +carry the power of our will over our organism to a yet further point. + +The faculties that lie beyond the _violet_ end of our psychological +spectrum will need more delicate exhibition and will command a less +ready belief. The actinic energy which lies beyond the violet end of the +solar spectrum is less obviously influential in our material world than +is the dark heat which lies beyond the red end. Even so, one may say, +the influence of the ultra-intellectual or supernormal faculties upon +our welfare as terrene organisms is less marked in common life than the +influence of the organic or subnormal faculties. Yet it is _that_ +prolongation of our spectrum upon which our gaze will need to be most +strenuously fixed. It is _there_ that we shall find our inquiry opening +upon a cosmic prospect, and inciting us upon an endless way. + +Even the first stages of this progress are long and labyrinthine; and it +may be useful to conclude this introductory chapter by a brief summary +of the main tracts across which our winding road must lie. It will be my +object to lead by transitions as varied and as gradual as possible from +phenomena held as normal to phenomena held as supernormal, but which +like the rest are simply and solely the inevitable results and +manifestations of universal Law. + +Following then on this first or introductory chapter is one containing +a discussion of the ways in which human personality disintegrates and +decays. _Alternations of personality_ and hysterical phenomena generally +are in this connection the most instructive to us. + +In the third chapter we utilize the insight thus gained and discuss the +line of evolution which enables man to maintain and intensify his true +normality. What type of man is he to whom the epithet of _normal_,--an +epithet often obscure and misleading,--may be most fitly applied? I +claim that that man shall be regarded as normal who has the fullest +grasp of faculties which inhere in the whole race. Among these faculties +I count subliminal as well as supraliminal powers;--the mental processes +which take place below the conscious threshold as well as those which +take place above it; and I attempt to show that those who reap most +advantage from this submerged mentation are men of _genius_. + +The fourth chapter deals with the alternating phase through which man's +personality is constructed habitually to pass. I speak of _sleep_; which +I regard as a phase of personality, adapted to maintain our existence in +the spiritual environment, and to draw from thence the vitality of our +physical organisms. In this chapter I also discuss certain supernormal +phenomena which sometimes occur in the state of sleep. + +The fifth chapter treats of _hypnotism_, considered as an _empirical +development of sleep_. It will be seen that hypnotic suggestion +intensifies the physical recuperation of sleep, and aids the emergence +of those supernormal phenomena which ordinary sleep and spontaneous +somnambulism sometimes exhibit. + +From hypnotism we pass on in the sixth chapter to experiments, less +familiar to the public than those classed as hypnotic, but which give a +still further insight into our subliminal faculty. With these +experiments are intermingled many spontaneous phenomena; and the chapter +will take up and continue the spontaneous phenomena of Chapters III. and +IV. as well as the experiments of Chapter V. Its theme will be the +messages which the subliminal self sends up to the supraliminal in the +form of sensory hallucinations:--the visions fashioned internally, but +manifested not to the inward eye alone; the voices which repeat as +though in audible tones the utterance of the self within. + +These _sensory automatisms_, as I have termed them, are very often +_telepathic_--involve, that is to say, the transmission of ideas and +sensations from one mind to another without the agency of the recognised +organs of sense. Nor would it seem that such transmission need +necessarily cease with the bodily death of the transmitting agent. In +the seventh chapter evidence is brought forward to show that those who +communicated with us telepathically in this world may communicate with +us telepathically from the other. Thus _phantasms of the dead_ receive a +new meaning from observations of the phenomena occurring between living +men. + +But besides the hallucinatory hearing or picture-seeing which we have +classed as sensory automatisms, there is another method by which the +subliminal may communicate with the supraliminal self. + +In Chapter VIII., we consider in what ways _motor automatism_--the +unwilled activity of hand or voice--may be used as a means of such +communication. Unwilled writings and utterances furnish the opportunity +for experiment more prolonged and continuous than the phantasms or +pictures of sensory automatism can often give, and, like them, may +sometimes originate in telepathic impressions received by the subliminal +self from another mind. These motor automatisms, moreover, as the ninth +chapter shows, are apt to become more complete, more controlling, than +sensory automatisms. They may lead on, in some cases, to the apparent +_possession_ of the sensitive by some extraneous spirit, who seems to +write and talk through the sensitive's organism, giving evidence of his +own surviving identity. + +The reader who may feel disposed to give his adhesion to this +culminating group of the long series of evidences which have pointed +with more and more clearness to the survival of human personality, and +to the possibility for men on earth of actual commerce with a world +beyond, may feel perhaps that the _desiderium orbis catholici_, the +intimate and universal hope of every generation of men, has never till +this day approached so near to fulfilment. There has never been so fair +a prospect for Life and Love. But the goal to which we tend is not an +ideal of personal happiness alone. The anticipation of our own future is +but one element in the prospect which opens to us now. Our inquiry has +broadened into a wider scope. The point from which we started was an +analysis of the latent faculties of man. The point towards which our +argument has carried us is the existence of a spiritual environment in +which those faculties operate, and of unseen neighbours who speak to us +thence with slowly gathering power. Deep in this spiritual environment +the cosmic secret lies. It is our business to collect the smallest +indications; to carry out from this treasury of Rhampsinitus so much as +our bare hands can steal away. We have won our scraps of spiritual +experience, our messages from behind the veil; we can try them in their +connection with certain enigmas which philosophy hardly hoped to be able +to put to proof. Can we, for instance, learn anything,--to begin with +fundamental problems,--of the relation of spiritual phenomena to Space, +to Time, to the material world? + +As to the idea of Space, the evidence which will have been presented +will enable us to speak with perhaps more clearness than could have been +hoped for in such a matter. Spiritual life, we infer, is not bound and +confined by space-considerations in the same way as the life of earth. +But in what way is that greater freedom attained? It appears to be +attained by the mere extension of certain licenses (so to call them) +permitted to ourselves. We on earth submit to two familiar laws of the +ordinary material universe. A body can only act where it is. Only one +body can occupy the same part of space at the same moment. Applied to +common affairs these rules are of plain construction. But once get +beyond ponderable matter,--once bring life and ether into play, and +definitions become difficult indeed. The orator, the poet, we say, can +only act where he is;--but where is he? He has transformed the sheet of +paper into a spiritual agency;--nay, the mere memory of him persists as +a source of energy in other minds. Again, we may say that no other body +can be in the same place as this writing-table; but what of the ether? +What we have thus far learnt of spiritual operation seems merely to +extend these two possibilities. Telepathy indefinitely extends the range +of an unembodied spirit's potential presence. The interpenetration of +the spiritual with the material environment leaves this ponderable +planet unable to check or to hamper spiritual presence or operation. +Strange and new though our evidence may be, it needs at present in its +relation to space nothing more than an immense extension of conceptions +which the disappearance of earthly limitations was certain immensely to +extend. + +How, then, does the matter stand with regard to our relation to Time? Do +we find that our new phenomena point to any mode of understanding or of +transcending Time fundamentally different from those modes which we have +at our command? + +In dealing with Time Past we have memory and written record; in dealing +with Time Future we have forethought, drawing inferences from the past. + +Can, then, the spiritual knowledge of Past and Future which our evidence +shows be explained by assuming that these existing means of knowledge +are raised to a higher power? Or are we driven to postulate something in +the nature of Time which is to us inconceivable;--some co-existence of +Past and Future in an eternal Now? It is plainly with Time Past that we +must begin the inquiry. + +The knowledge of the past which automatic communications manifest is in +most cases apparently referable to the actual memory of persons still +existing beyond the tomb. It reaches us telepathically, as from a mind +in which remote scenes are still imprinted. But there are certain scenes +which are not easily assigned to the individual memory of any given +spirit. And if it be possible for us to learn of present facts by +telæsthesia as well as by telepathy;--by some direct supernormal +percipience without the intervention of any other mind to which the +facts are already known,--may there not be also a retrocognitive +telæsthesia by which we may attain a direct knowledge of facts in the +past? + +Some conception of this kind may possibly come nearest to the truth. It +may even be that some World-Soul is perennially conscious of all its +past; and that individual souls, as they enter into deeper +consciousness, enter into something which is at once reminiscence and +actuality. But nevertheless a narrower hypothesis will cover the actual +cases with which we have to deal. Past facts are known to men on earth +not from memory only, but by written record; and there may be records, +of what kind we know not, which persist in the spiritual world. Our +retrocognitions seem often a recovery of isolated fragments of thought +and feeling, pebbles still hard and rounded amid the indecipherable +sands over which the mighty waters are "rolling evermore." + +When we look from Time Past to Time Future we are confronted with +essentially the same problems, though in a still more perplexing form, +and with the world-old mystery of Free Will _versus_ Necessity looming +in the background. Again we find that, just as individual memory would +serve to explain a large proportion of Retrocognition, so individual +forethought--a subliminal forethought, based often on profound organic +facts not normally known to us--will explain a large proportion of +Precognition. But here again we find also precognitions which transcend +what seems explicable by the foresight of any mind such as we know; and +we are tempted to dream of a World-Soul whose Future is as present to it +as its Past. But in this speculation also, so vast and vague an +explanation seems for the present beyond our needs; and it is safer--if +aught be safe in this region which only actual evidence could have +emboldened us to approach--to take refuge in the conception of +intelligences not infinite, yet gifted with a foresight which strangely +transcends our own. + +Closely allied to speculations such as these is another speculation, +more capable of subjection to experimental test, yet which remains still +inconclusively tested, and which has become for many reasons a +stumbling-block rather than a corroboration in the spiritual inquiry. I +refer to the question whether any influence is exercised by spirits upon +the gross material world otherwise than through ordinary organic +structures. We know that the spirit of a living man controls his own +organism, and we shall see reason to conclude that discarnate spirits +may also control, by some form of "possession," the organisms of living +persons,--may affect directly, that is to say, some portions of matter +which we call living, namely, the brain of the entranced sensitive. +There seems to me, then, no paradox in the supposition that some effect +should be produced by spiritual agency--possibly through the mediation +of some kind of energy derived from living human beings--upon inanimate +matter as well. And I believe that as a fact such effects have been +observed and recorded in a trustworthy manner by Sir W. Crookes, the +late Dr. Speer, and others, in the cases especially of D. D. Home and of +W. Stainton Moses. If, indeed, I call these and certain other records +still inconclusive, it is mainly on account of the mass of worthless +narratives with which they have been in some sense smothered; the long +history of so-called investigations which have consisted merely in an +interchange of credulity and fraud. For the present the evidence of this +kind which has real value is better presented, I think, in separate +records than collected or discussed in any generalised form. All that I +purpose in this work, therefore, is briefly to indicate the relation +which these "physical phenomena" hold to the psychical phenomena with +which my book is concerned. Alongside of the faculty or achievement of +man's ordinary or supraliminal self I shall demarcate the faculty or +achievement which I ascribe to his subliminal self; and alongside of +this again I shall arrange such few well-attested phenomena as seem +_primâ facie_ to demand the physical intervention of discarnate +intelligences. + +I have traced the utmost limits to which any claim to a scientific basis +for these inquiries can at present be pushed. Yet the subject-matter has +not yet been exhausted of half its significance. The conclusions to +which our evidence points are not such as can be discussed or dismissed +as a mere matter of speculative curiosity. They affect every belief, +every faculty, every hope and aim of man; and they affect him the more +intimately as his interests grow more profound. Whatever meaning be +applied to ethics, to philosophy, to religion, the concern of all these +is here. + +It would have been inconsistent with my main purpose had I interpolated +considerations of this kind into the body of this work. For that purpose +was above all to show that realms left thus far to philosophy or to +religion,--too often to mere superstition and idle dream,--might in the +end be brought under steady scientific rule. I contend that Religion and +Science are no separable or independent provinces of thought or action; +but rather that each name implies a different aspect of the same +ideal;--that ideal being the completely normal reaction of the +individual spirit to the whole of cosmic law. + +Assuredly this deepening response of man's spirit to the Cosmos +deepening round him must be affected by all the signals which now are +glimmering out of night to tell him of his inmost nature and his endless +fate. Who can think that either Science or Revelation has spoken as yet +more than a first half-comprehended word? But if in truth souls departed +call to us, it is to them that we shall listen most of all. We shall +weigh their undesigned concordances, we shall analyse the congruity of +their message with the facts which such a message should explain. To +some thoughts which may thus be generated I shall try to give expression +in an Epilogue to the present work. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +DISINTEGRATIONS OF PERSONALITY + + θἁντὁς ἑστιν ὁκὁσα ἑγερθἑντες ὁρἑομεν, ὁκὁσα δε εὑδοντες, ὑπνος. + + --HERACLITUS. + + +Of the race of man we know for certain that it has been evolved through +many ages and through countless forms of change. We know for certain +that its changes continue still; nay, that more causes of change act +upon us in "fifty years of Europe" than in "a cycle of Cathay." We may +reasonably conjecture that the race will continue to change with +increasing rapidity, and through a period in comparison with which our +range of recorded history shrinks into a moment. + +The actual nature of these coming changes, indeed, lies beyond our +imagination. Many of them are probably as inconceivable to us now as +eyesight would have been to our eyeless ancestors. All that we can do is +to note so far as possible the structural laws of our personality as +deduced from its changes thus far; inferring that for some time to come, +at any rate, its further changes will proceed upon similar lines. + +I have already (Chapter I) indicated the general view as to the nature +of human personality which is maintained in this work. I regard each man +as at once profoundly unitary and almost infinitely composite, as +inheriting from earthly ancestors a multiplex and "colonial" +organism--polyzoic and perhaps polypsychic in an extreme degree; but +also as ruling and unifying that organism by a soul or spirit absolutely +beyond our present analysis--a soul which has originated in a spiritual +or metetherial environment; which even while embodied subsists in that +environment; and which will still subsist therein after the body's +decay. + +It is, of course, impossible for us to picture to ourselves the way in +which the individual life of each cell of the body is reconciled with +the unity of the central life which controls the body as a whole. But +this difficulty is not created or intensified by the hypothesis of a +separate and persistent soul. On no hypothesis can we really understand +the collaboration and subordination of the cell-lives of any +multicellular animal. It is as mysterious in the starfish as it is in +Plato; and the "eight brains of Aurelia," with their individual and +their common life, are as inconceivable as the life of the phagocytes in +the philosopher's veins, in their relation to his central thought.[7] + +I claim, in fact, that the ancient hypothesis of an indwelling soul, +possessing and using the body as a whole, yet bearing a real, though +obscure relation to the various more or less apparently disparate +conscious groupings manifested in connection with the organism and in +connection with more or less localised groups of nerve-matter, is a +hypothesis not more perplexing, not more cumbrous, than any other +hypothesis yet suggested. I claim also that it is conceivably +provable,--I myself hold it as actually proved,--by direct observation. +I hold that certain manifestations of central individualities, +associated now or formerly with certain definite organisms, have been +observed in operation apart from those organisms, both while the +organisms were still living, and after they had decayed. Whether or no +this thesis be as yet sufficiently proved, it is at least at variance +with no scientific principle nor established fact whatever; and it is of +a nature which continued observation may conceivably establish to the +satisfaction of all. The negative thesis, on the other hand, is a thesis +in unstable equilibrium. It cannot be absolutely proved by any number of +negative instances; and it may be absolutely disproved by a single +positive instance. It may have at present a greater scientific +_currency_, but it can have no real scientific authority as against the +view defended in these pages. + +Leaving these questions, however, aside for the present, we may agree +that in the organism as we can observe it in common life we have no +complete or unchanging unity, but rather a complex hierarchy of groups +of cells exercising vaguely limited functions, and working together with +rough precision, tolerable harmony, fair success. That these powers ever +work _perfectly_ together we have no evidence. Our feeling of health is +but a rough haphazard register of what is passing within us. Nor would +it ever be possible to define a permanently ideal status in an organism +in moving equilibrium,--an organism which lives by exploding unstable +compounds, and which is constantly aiming at new ends at the expense of +the old. + +Many disturbances and disintegrations of the personality must presently +fall to be discussed. But the reader who may follow me must remember the +point of view from which I am writing. The aim of my analysis is not to +destroy but to fulfil;--or say, rather, my hope is that observation of +the ways in which the personality tends to disintegrate may suggest +methods which may tend on the other hand to its more complete +integration. + +Such improvements upon the natural conditions of the organism are not +unknown. Just as the study of hysteria deals mainly with instabilities +in the threshold of consciousness, so does the study of zymotic disease +deal mainly with instabilities in the constitution of the blood. The +ordinary object of the physician is to check these instabilities when +they occur; to restore healthy blood in the place of vitiated. The +experimental biologist has a further aim. He wishes to provide men with +_better_ blood than nature has bestowed; to elicit from virus and decay +some element whose infusion into the veins may give immunity against +microbic invasion. As the adult is safer against such attacks than the +child by dint of his more advanced development, so is the immunised +adult safer than the common man. The change of his blood which healthy +maturity has induced has made him safe against whooping-cough. The +change in his blood which we effect by injecting antitoxin makes him +temporarily safe against diphtheria. We have improved upon nature;--and +our artifice has been _prophylactic_ by virtue of being in a certain +sense _developmental_. + +Even such, I trust, may be the achievement of experimental psychology in +a later day. I shall be well content if in this chapter I can give hints +for some future colligation of such evolutive phenomena as may lurk amid +a mass of phenomena mainly dissolutive--phenomena whose records are +scattered and imperfect, and have as yet only in some few directions, +and by quite recent writers, been collated or systematised on any +definite plan. + +The discussion of these disintegrations of personality needs, I think, +some little clearing of the ground beforehand, if it is to avoid +confusion. It will be needful to speak of concurrent and alternating +streams of consciousness,--of subliminal and supraliminal strata of +personality and the like;--phrases which save much trouble when used +with care, but which need some words of preliminary explanation. It is +not easy to realise that anything which deserves the name of +consciousness can be going on within us, apart from that central stream +of thought and feeling with which we identify ourselves in common life. +Something of definition is needed;--not indeed of any formal or dogmatic +kind;--but enough to make clear the sense given to such words as +consciousness, memory, personality, in the ensuing pages. + +I begin, then, with the obvious remark that when we conceive any act +other than our own as a conscious act, we do so either because we +regard it as _complex_, and therefore _purposive_, or because we +perceive that it has been _remembered_. Thus we call the fencer or the +chess-player fully conscious; or, again, we say, "The man who seemed +stunned after that blow on the head must really have been conscious all +the time; for he afterwards recalled every incident." The _memorability_ +of an act is, in fact, a better proof of consciousness than its +complexity. Thus consciousness has been denied both to hypnotised +subjects and to dogs; but it is easier to prove that the hypnotised +subject is conscious than that the dog is conscious. For the hypnotised +subject, though he may forget the incidents of the trance when he +awakes, will remember them in the next trance; or he may be trained to +remember them in the waking state also; while with regard to the dog we +cannot decide from the mere complexity of his actions how far he is +conscious of their performance. With him, too, the best line of proof +lies in his obvious memory of past acts. And yet, although all agree +that our own memory, broadly speaking, proves our past consciousness, +some persons would not admit that a dog's memory does so too. The dog's +organism, they would say, responds, no doubt, in a new manner to a +second repetition of a previous stimulus; but this is more or less true +of all living organisms, or parts of organisms, even far below what we +generally regard as a conscious level. + +Reflections of this kind naturally lead to a wider conception of +consciousness. It is gradually seen that the earlier inquiries which men +have made about consciousness have been of a merely ethical or legal +character;--have simply aimed at deciding whether at a given moment a +man was _responsible_ for his acts, either to a human or to a divine +tribunal. Commonsense has seemed to encourage this method of definite +demarcation; we judge practically either that a man is conscious or that +he is not; in the experience of life intermediate states are of little +importance. + +As soon, however, as the problem is regarded as a psychological one, to +be decided by observation and experiment, these hard and fast lines grow +fainter and fainter. We come to regard consciousness as an attribute +which may possibly be present in all kinds of varying degrees in +connection with the animal and vegetable worlds; as the psychical +counterpart of life; as conceivably the psychical counterpart of all +phenomenal existence. Or, rather, we may say this of _mind_, to which, +in its more elementary forms, consciousness bears somewhat the same +relation as self-consciousness bears to consciousness, or some higher +evolution may bear to self-consciousness. + +This being so, I cannot see how we can phrase our definition more simply +than by saying that any act or condition must be regarded as conscious +if it is _potentially memorable_;--if it can be recollected, under any +circumstances, by the subject concerned. It does not seem needful that +the circumstances under which such recollection may occur should arise +while the subject is still incarnated on this planet. We shall never on +this planet remember the great majority of our dreams; but those dreams +were presumably no less conscious than the dreams which a sudden +awakening allowed us to keep in memory. Certain hypnotic subjects, +indeed, who can be made to remember their dreams by suggestion, +apparently remember dreams previously latent just as easily as dreams +previously remembered. And we shall have various other examples of the +unexpected recollection of experiences supposed to have been entirely +devoid of consciousness. + +We are bound, I think, to draw at least this negative conclusion: that +we must not take for granted that our apparently central consciousness +is something wholly different in kind from the minor consciousnesses out +of which it is in some sense elaborated. I do indeed believe it to be in +an important sense different; but this difference must not be assumed on +the basis of our subjective sensations alone. We must approach the whole +subject of split or duplicated personalities with no prepossession +against the possibility of any given arrangement or division of the +total mass of consciousness which exists within us. + +Before we can picture to ourselves how that mass of consciousness may +_disintegrate_, we ought, were it possible, to picture to ourselves how +it is in the first instance _integrated_. That, however, is a difficulty +which does not begin with the constitution of man. It begins when +unicellular develop into multicellular organisms. It is, of course, a +mystery how a single cell can hold together, and what kind of unity it +can possess. But it is a fresh mystery when several cells cohere in a +conjoint and independent life. In the collective unity of certain +"colonial animals" we have a kind of sketch or parody of our own complex +being. Higher intelligences may possibly see us as we see the +hydrozoon--a creature split up into different "persons," a "hydriform +person" who feeds, a "medusiform person" who propagates, and so +on--elements of the animal differentiated for different +ends--interconnected from one point of view as closely as our stomach +and brain, yet from another point of view separable existences, capable +of detachment and of independent regeneration in all kinds of different +ways. Still more composite, though less conspicuously composite, is +every animal that we meet as we rise through the scale; and in man we +reach the summit both of colonial complexity and of centralised control. + +I need hardly say that as regards the inner nature of this close +co-ordination, this central government, science can at present tell us +little or nothing. The growth of the nervous mechanism may be to some +extent deciphered; but how this mechanism is centrally governed; what is +the tendency which makes for unity; where precisely this unity resides, +and what is its exact relation to the various parts of the multicellular +organism--all these are problems in the nature of _life_, to which as +yet no solution is known. + +The needed clue, as I believe, can be afforded only by the discovery of +laws affecting primarily that unseen or spiritual plane of being where I +imagine the origin of life to lie. If we can suppose telepathy to be a +first indication of a law of this type, and to occupy in the spiritual +world some such place as gravitation occupies in the material world, we +might imagine something analogous to the force of cohesion as operating +in the psychical contexture of a human personality. Such a personality, +at any rate, as the development of higher from lower organisms shows, +involves the aggregation of countless minor psychical entities, whose +characteristics still persist, although in a manner consistent with the +possibility that one larger psychical entity, whether pre-existent or +otherwise, is the unifying continuum of which those smaller entities are +fragments, and exercises over them a pervading, though an incomplete, +control. + +It is plainly impossible to say beforehand what will be the relation to +the ordinary stream of consciousness of a personality thus composed. We +have no right to assume that all our psychical operations will fall at +the same time, or at any time, into the same central current of +perception, or rise above what we have called the ordinary conscious +threshold. We can be sure, in fact, that there will be much which will +not so rise; can we predict what _will_ rise? + +We can only reply that the perception of stimuli by the supraliminal +consciousness is a kind of exercise of function; and that here, as in +other cases where a function is exercised, part of its range will +consist of such operation as the primary structure of the organism +obliges it to perform, and part will consist of such operation as +natural selection (after the structure has come into being) has trained +it to perform. There will be something which is structurally inevitable, +and something which was not structurally inevitable, but which has +proved itself practically advantageous. + +Thus it may be inevitable--a necessary result of nervous structure--that +consciousness should accompany unfamiliar cerebral combinations;--that +the "fraying of fresh channels" should carry with it a perceptible +tingle of novelty. Or it is possible, again, that this vivid +consciousness of new cerebral combinations may be a later acquisition, +and merely due to the obvious advantage of preventing new achievements +from stereotyping themselves before they have been thoroughly +practised;--as a musician will keep his attention fixed on a difficult +novelty, lest his execution should become automatic before he has learnt +to render the piece as he desires. It seems likely, at any rate, that +the greater part of the contents of our supraliminal consciousness may +be determined in some such fashion as this, by natural selection so +operating as to keep ready to hand those perceptions which are most +needed for the conduct of life. + +The notion of the upbuilding of the personality here briefly given is of +use, I think, in suggesting its practical tendencies to dissolution. +Subjected continually to both internal and external stress and strain, +its ways of yielding indicate the grain of its texture. + +It is possible that if we could discern the minute psychology of this +long series of changes, ranging from modifications too minute to be +noted as abnormal to absolute revolutions of the whole character and +intelligence, we might find no definite break in all the series; but +rather a slow, continuous detachment of one psychical unit or element of +consciousness after another from the primary synthesis. It is possible, +on the other hand, that there may be a real break at a point where there +appears to our external observation to be a break, namely, where the +personality passes into its new phase through an interval of sleep or +trance. And I believe that there is another break, at a point much +further advanced, and not to be reached in this chapter, where some +external intelligence begins in some way to possess the organism and to +replace for a time the ordinary intellectual activity by an activity of +its own. Setting, however, this last possibility for the present aside, +we must adopt some arrangement on which to hang our cases. For this +purpose the appearance of sleep or trance will make a useful, although +not a definite, line of demarcation. + +We may begin with localised psychical hypertrophies and +isolations,--terms which I shall explain as we proceed; and then pass on +through hysterical instabilities (where intermediate periods of trance +may or may not be present) to those more advanced sleep-wakings and +dimorphisms which a barrier of trance seems always to separate from the +primary stream of conscious life. All such changes, of course, are +generally noxious to the psychical organism; and it will be simpler to +begin by dwelling on their noxious aspect, and regarding them as steps +on the road--on one of the many roads--to mental overthrow. + +The process begins, then, with something which is to the psychical +organism no more than a boil or a corn is to the physical. In +consequence of some suggestion from without, or of some inherited +tendency, a small group of psychical units set up a process of +exaggerated growth which shuts them off from free and healthy +interchange with the rest of the personality. + +The first symptom of disaggregation is thus the _idée fixe_, that is to +say, the persistence of an uncontrolled and unmodifiable group of +thoughts or emotions, which from their brooding isolation,--from the +very fact of deficient interchange with the general current of +thought,--become alien and intrusive, so that some special idea or image +presses into consciousness with undue and painful frequency. + +The fixed idea, thus originating, may develop in different ways. It may +become a centre of explosion, or a nucleus of separation, or a beginning +of death. It may induce an access of hysterical convulsions, thus acting +like a material foreign body which presses on a sensitive part of the +organism. Or it may draw to its new parasitic centre so many psychical +elements that it forms a kind of secondary personality, co-existing +secretly with the primary one, or even able at times (as in some +well-known cases) to carry the whole organism by a _coup-de-main_. (Such +changes, it may be noted in passing, are not always for the _worse_.) +Or, again, the new quasi-independent centres may be merely _anarchical_; +the revolt may spread to every cell; and the forces of the environment, +ever making war upon the organism, may thus effect its total decay. + +Let us dwell for a few moments on the nature of these fixed or insistent +ideas. They are not generally or at the first outset extravagant +fancies,--as that one is made of glass or the like. Rather will "fixed +ideas" come to seem a mere expression for something in a minor degree +common to most of us. Hardly any mind, I suppose, is wholly free from +tendencies to certain types of thought or emotion for which we cannot +summon any adequate check--useless recurrent broodings over the past or +anxieties for the future, perhaps traces of old childish experience +which have become too firmly fixed wholly to disappear. Nay, it may well +be that we must look even further back than our own childhood for the +origin of many haunting troubles. Inherited tendencies to terror, +especially, seem to reach far back into a prehistoric past. In a recent +"Study of Fears," which Professor Stanley Hall has based on a wide +statistical collection,[8] it would seem that the fears of childhood +often correspond to no existing cause for uneasiness, but rather to the +vanished perils of primitive man. The fear of darkness, for instance, +the fear of solitude, the fear of thunder-storms, the fear of the loss +of orientation, speak of primitive helplessness, just as the fear of +animals, the fear of strangers, suggest the fierce and hazardous life of +early man. To all such instinctive feelings as these a morbid +development is easily given. + +Of what nature must we suppose this morbid development to be? Does it +fall properly within our present discussion? or is it not simply a +beginning of brain-disease, which concerns the physician rather than the +psychologist? The psychologist's best answer to this question will be to +show cases of fixed ideas _cured_ by psychological means.[9] And indeed +there are few cases to show which have been cured by any methods +_except_ the psychological; if hypnotic suggestion does not succeed with +an _idée fixe_, it is seldom that any other treatment will cure it. We +may, of course, say that the brain troubles thus cured were functional, +and that those which went on inevitably into insanity were organic, +although the distinction between functional and organic is not easily +demonstrable in this ultra-microscopic realm. + +At any rate, we have actually on record,--and that is what our argument +needs,--a great series of _idées fixes_, of various degrees of +intensity, cured by suggestion;--cured, that is to say, by a subliminal +setting in action of minute nervous movements which our supraliminal +consciousness cannot in even the blindest manner manage to set to work. +Some such difference as exists on a gross scale between striped and +unstriped muscle seems to exist on a minute scale among these smallest +involved cells and fibres, or whatever they be. Some of them obey our +conscious will, but most of them are capable of being governed only by +subliminal strata of the self. + +If, however, it be the subliminal self which can reduce these elements +to order, it is often probably the subliminal self to which their +disorder is originally due. If a fixed idea, say agoraphobia, grows up +in me, this may probably be because the proper controlling +co-ordinations of thought, which I ought to be able to summon up at +will, have sunk below the level at which will can reach them. I am no +longer able, that is to say, to convince myself by reasoning that there +is no danger in crossing the open square. And this may be the fault of +my subliminal self, whose business it is to keep the ideas which I need +for common life easily within my reach, and which has failed to do this, +owing to some enfeeblement of its grasp of my organism. + +If we imagine these obscure operations under some such form as this, we +get the advantage of being able to connect these insistent ideas in a +coherent sequence with the more advanced phenomena of hysteria. We have +seen that the presence of insistent ideas implies an instability of the +conscious threshold; and this, in its turn, indicates a disorderly or +diseased condition of the hypnotic stratum,--of that region of the +personality which, as we shall see, is best known to us through the fact +that it is reached by hypnotic suggestion. + +Now we shall find, I think, that all the phenomena of hysteria are +reducible to the same general conception. To understand their many +puzzles we have to keep our eyes fixed upon just these psychological +notions--upon a threshold of ordinary consciousness above which certain +perceptions and faculties ought to be, but are not always, maintained, +and upon a "hypnotic stratum" or region of the personality to which +hypnotic suggestion appeals; and which includes faculty and perception +which surpass the supraliminal, but whose operation is capricious and +dreamlike, inasmuch as they lie, so to say, in a debateable region +between two rules--the known rule of the supraliminal self, adapted to +this life's experience and uses, and the conjectured rule of a fuller +and profounder self, rarely reached by any artifice which our present +skill suggests. Some of these conscious groupings have got separated +from the ordinary stream of consciousness. These may still be unified in +the subliminal, but they need to be unified in the supraliminal also. +The normal relation between the supraliminal and the subliminal may be +disturbed by the action of _either_. + +Let us now see how far this view, which I suggested in the S.P.R. +_Proceedings_ as far back as 1892,[10] fits in with those modern +observations of hysteria, in Paris and Vienna especially, which are +transforming all that group of troubles from the mere opprobrium of +medicine into one of the most fertile sources of new knowledge of body +and mind. + +First, then, let us briefly consider what is the general type of +hysterical troubles. Speaking broadly, we may say that the symptoms of +hysteria form, in the first place, a series of phantom copies of real +maladies of the nervous system; and, in the second place, a series of +fantasies played upon that system--of unreal, dreamlike ailments, often +such as no physiological mechanism can be shown to have determined. +These latter cases are often due, as we shall see, not to purely +physiological, but rather to intellectual causes; they represent, not a +particular pattern in which the nervous system tends of itself to +disintegrate, but a particular pattern which has been imposed upon it by +some intellectual process;--in short, by some form of self-suggestion. + +Let us briefly review some common types of hysterical +disability,--taking as our first guide Dr. Pierre Janet's admirable +work, _L'Etat Mental des Hystériques_ (Paris, 1893). + +What, then, to begin with, is Dr. Janet's general conception of the +psychological states of the advanced hysteric? "In the expression _I +feel_," he says (_L'Etat Mental_, p. 39), "we have two elements: a small +new psychological fact, 'feel,' and an enormous mass of thoughts already +formed into a system 'I.' These two things mix and combine, and to say +_I feel_ is to say that the personality, already enormous, has seized +and absorbed this small new sensation; ... as though the _I_ were an +amœba which sent out a prolongation to suck in this little sensation +which has come into existence beside it." Now it is in the assimilation +of these elementary sensations or affective states with the _perception +personnelle_, as Janet terms it, that the advanced hysteric fails. His +field of consciousness is so far narrowed that it can only take in the +minimum of sensations necessary for the support of life. "One must needs +have consciousness of what one sees and hears, and so the patient +neglects to perceive the tactile and muscular sensations with which he +thinks that he can manage to dispense. At first he could perhaps turn +his attention to them, and recover them at least momentarily within the +field of personal perception. But the occasion does not present itself, +and the _psychological bad habit_ is formed.... One day the patient--for +he is now veritably a patient--is examined by the doctor. His left arm +is pinched, and he is asked whether he feels the pinch. To his surprise +the patient realises that he can no longer feel consciously, can no +longer bring back into his personal perception sensations which he has +neglected too long--he has become anæsthetic.... Hysterical anæsthesia +is thus a fixed and perpetual distraction, which renders its subjects +incapable of attaching certain sensations to their personality; it is a +restriction of the conscious field." + +The proof of these assertions depends on a number of observations, all +of which point in the same direction, and show that hysterical +anæsthesia does not descend so deep into the personality, so to say, as +true anæsthesia caused by nervous decay, or by the section of a nerve. + +Thus the hysteric is often _unconscious_ of the anæsthesia, which is +only discovered by the physician. There is none of the distress caused +by true anæsthesia, as, for instance, by the "tabetic mask," or +insensibility of part of the face, which sometimes occurs in _tabes +dorsalis_. + +An incident reported by Dr. Jules Janet illustrates this peculiarity. A +young woman cut her right hand severely with broken glass, and +complained of insensibility in the palm. The physician who examined her +found that the sensibility of the right palm was, in fact, diminished +by the section of certain nerves. But he discovered at the same time +that the girl was hysterically anæsthetic over the whole left side of +her body. She had never even found out this disability, and the doctor +twitted her with complaining of the small patch of anæsthesia, while she +said nothing of that which covered half her body. But, as Dr. Pierre +Janet remarks, she might well have retorted that these were the facts, +and that it was for the man of science to say why the small patch +annoyed her while the large one gave her no trouble at all. + +Of similar import is the ingenious observation that hysterical +anæsthesia rarely leads to any accident to the limb;--differing in this +respect, for instance, from the true and profound anæsthesia of +syringomyelitis, in which burns and bruises frequently result from the +patient's forgetfulness of the part affected. There is usually, in fact, +a supervision--a _subliminal_ supervision--exercised over the hysteric's +limbs. Part of her personality is still alive to the danger, and +modifies her movements, unknown to her supraliminal self. + +This curious point, I may remark in passing, well illustrates the kind +of action which I attribute to the subliminal self in many phases of +life. Thus it is that the hypnotised subject is prevented (as I hold) +from committing a real as opposed to a fictitious crime; thus it is that +fresh ideas are suggested to the man of genius; thus it is--I will even +say--that in some cases monitory hallucinations are generated, which +save the supraliminal self from some sudden danger. + +I pass on to another peculiarity of hysterical anæsthesiæ;--also in my +eyes of deep significance. The anæsthetic belts or patches do not +always, or even generally, correspond with true anatomical areas, such +as would be affected by the actual lesion of any given nerve. They +follow arbitrary arrangements;--sometimes corresponding to rough popular +notions of divisions of the body,--sometimes seeming to reflect a merely +childish caprice. + +In these cases what is only a silly fancy seems to produce an effect +which is not merely fanciful;--which is objective, measurable, and +capable of causing long and serious disablement. This result, however, +is quite accordant with my view of what I have termed the _hypnotic +stratum_ of the personality. I hold, as our coming discussion of +hypnotism will more fully explain, that the region into which the +hypnotic suggestion gives us access is one of strangely mingled strength +and weakness;--of a faculty at once more potent and less coherent than +that of waking hours. I think that in these cases we get at the +subliminal self only somewhat in the same sense as we get at the +supraliminal self when the "highest-level centres" are for the time +inoperative (as in a dream) and only "middle-level centres" are left to +follow their own devices without inhibition or co-ordination. I hold +that this is the explanation of the strange contrasts which hypnosis +makes familiar to us--the combination of profound power over the +organism with childish readiness to obey the merest whims of the +hypnotiser. The intelligence which thus responds is in my view only a +fragmentary intelligence; it is a dreamlike scrap of the subliminal +self, functioning apart from that self's central and profounder control. + +What happens in hypnotism in obedience to the hypnotiser's caprice +happens in hysteria in obedience to the caprice of the hypnotic stratum +itself. Some middle-level centre of the subliminal self (to express a +difficult idea by the nearest phrase I can find) gets the notion that +there is an "anæsthetic bracelet," say, round the left wrist;--and lo, +this straight-way is so; and the hysteric loses supraliminal sensation +in this fantastic belt. That the notion does not originate in the +hysteric's supraliminal self is proved by the fact that the patient is +generally unaware of the existence of the bracelet until the physician +discovers it. Nor is it a chance combination;--even were there such a +thing as chance. It is a dream of the hypnotic stratum;--an incoherent +self-suggestion starting from and affecting a region below the reach of +conscious will. Such cases are most instructive; for they begin to show +us divisions of the human body based not upon local innervation but upon +ideation (however incoherent);--upon intellectual conceptions like "a +bracelet," "a cross,"--applied though these conceptions may be with +dreamlike futility. + +In this view, then, we regard the fragments of perceptive power over +which the hysteric has lost control as being by no means really +extinguished, but rather as existing immediately beneath the threshold, +in the custody, so to say, of a dreamlike or hypnotic stratum of the +subliminal self, which has selected them for reasons sometimes +explicable as the result of past suggestions, sometimes to us +inexplicable. If this be so, we may expect that the same kind of +suggestions which originally cut off these perceptions from the main +body of perception may stimulate them again to action either below or +above the conscious threshold. + +We have already, indeed, seen reason to suppose that the submerged +perceptions are still at work, when Dr. Janet pointed out how rare a +thing it was that any accident or injury followed upon hysterical loss +of feeling in the limbs. A still more curious illustration is afforded +by the condition of the field of vision in a hysteric. It often happens +that the field of vision is much reduced, so that the hysteric, when +tested with the perimeter, can discern only objects almost directly in +front of the eye. But if an object which happens to be particularly +exciting to the hypnotic stratum--for instance the hypnotiser's finger, +used often as a signal for trance--is advanced into that part of the +hysteric's normal visual field of which she has apparently lost all +consciousness, there will often be an instant subliminal +perception,--shown by the fact that the subject promptly falls into +trance. + +In such cases the action of the submerged perceptions, while provoked by +very shallow artifices, continues definitely _subliminal_. The patient +_herself_, as we say, does not know why she does not burn her anæsthetic +limbs, or why she suddenly falls into a trance while being subjected to +optical tests. + +But it is equally easy to devise experiments which shall call these +submerged sensations up again into supraliminal consciousness. A +hysteric has lost sensation in one arm: Dr. Janet tells her that there +is a caterpillar on that arm, and the reinforcement of attention thus +generated brings back the sensibility. + +These hysterical anæsthesiæ, it may be added here, may be not only very +definite but very profound. Just as the reality,--though also the +impermanence,--of the hysterical retrenchment of field of vision of +which I have been speaking can be shown by optical experiments beyond +the patient's comprehension, so the reality of some profound organic +hysterical insensibilities is sometimes shown by the progress of +independent disease. A certain patient feels no hunger or thirst: this +indifference might be simulated for a time, but her ignorance of severe +inflammation of the bladder is easily recognisable as real. Throw her +into hypnosis and her sensibilities return. The disease is for the first +time felt, and the patient screams with pain. This result well +illustrates one main effect of hypnosis, viz., to bring the organism +into a more normal state. The deep organic anæsthesia of this patient +was dangerously abnormal; the missing sensibility had first to be +restored, although it might be desirable afterwards to remove the +painful elements in that sensibility again, under, so to say, a wiser +and deeper control. + +What has been said of hysterical defects of sensation might be repeated +for motor defects. There, too, the powers of which the supraliminal self +has lost control continue to act in obedience to subliminal promptings. +The hysteric who squeezes the dynamometer like a weak child can exert +great muscular force under the influence of emotion. + +Very numerous are the cases which might be cited to give a notion of +dissolutive hysterical processes, as now observed with closer insight +than formerly, in certain great hospitals. But, nevertheless, these +hospital observations do not exhaust what has recently been learnt of +hysteria. Dealing almost exclusively with a certain class of patients, +they leave almost untouched another group, smaller, indeed, but equally +instructive for our study. + +Hysteria is no doubt a disease, but it is by no means on that account an +indication of initial weakness of mind, any more than an Arctic +explorer's frost-bite is an indication of bad circulation. Disease is a +function of two variables: power of resistance and strength of injurious +stimulus. In the case of hysteria, as in the case of frost-bite, the +inborn power of resistance may be unusually great, and yet the stimulus +may be so excessive that that power may be overcome. Arctic explorers +have generally, of course, been among the most robust of men. And with +some hysterics there is an even closer connection between initial +strength and destructive malady. For it has often happened that the very +feelings which we regard as characteristically civilised, +characteristically honourable, have reached a pitch of vividness and +delicacy which exposes their owners to shocks such as the selfish clown +can never know. It would be a great mistake to suppose that all +psychical upsets are due to vanity, to anger, to terror, to sexual +passion. The instincts of personal cleanliness and of feminine modesty +are responsible for many a breakdown of a sensitive, but not a +relatively _feeble_ organisation. The love of one's fellow-creatures and +the love of God are responsible for many more. And why should it not be +so? There exist for many men and women stimuli far stronger than +self-esteem or bodily desires. Human life rests more and more upon ideas +and emotions whose relation to the conservation of the race or of the +individual is indirect and obscure. Feelings which may once have been +utilitarian have developed wholly out of proportion to any advantage +which they can gain for their possessor in the struggle for life. The +dangers which are now most shudderingly felt are often no real risks to +life or fortune. The aims most ardently pursued are often worse than +useless for man regarded as a mere over-runner of the earth. + +There is thus real psychological danger in fixing our conception of +human character too low. Some essential lessons of a complex +perturbation of personality are apt to be missed if we begin with the +conviction that there is nothing before us but a study of decay. As I +have more than once found need to maintain, it is his steady advance, +and not his occasional regression, which makes the chief concern of man. + +To this side of the study of hysteria Drs. Breuer and Freud have made +valuable contribution. Drawing their patients not from hospital wards, +but from private practice, they have had the good fortune to encounter, +and the penetration to understand, some remarkable cases where unselfish +but powerful passions have proved too much for the equilibrium of minds +previously well-fortified both by principle and by education.[11] + +"Wax to receive and marble to retain"; such, as we all have felt, is the +human mind in moments of excitement which transcend its resistant +powers. This may be for good or for evil, may tend to that radical +change in ethical standpoint which is called _conversion_, or to the +mere setting-up of some hysterical disability. Who shall say how far we +desire to be susceptible to stimulus? Most rash would it be to assign +any fixed limit, or to class as inferior those whose main difference +from ourselves may be that they feel sincerely and passionately what we +feel torpidly, or perhaps only affect to feel. "The term degenerate," +says Dr. Milne Bramwell, "is applied so freely and widely by some modern +authors that one cannot help concluding that they rank as such all who +do not conform to some primitive, savage type, possessing an imperfectly +developed nervous system." Our "degenerates" may sometimes be in truth +_progenerate_; and their perturbation may mask an evolution which we or +our children needs must traverse when they have shown the way. + +Let us pause for a moment and consider what is here implied. We are +getting here among the _hystériques qui mènent le monde_. We have +advanced, that is to say, from the region of _idées fixes_ of a paltry +or morbid type to the region of _idées fixes_ which in themselves are +reasonable and honourable, and which become morbid only on account of +their relative intensity. Here is the debateable ground between hysteria +and genius. The kind of genius which we approach here is not, indeed, +the purely intellectual form. Rather it is the "moral genius," the +"genius of sanctity," or that "possession" by some altruistic idea which +lies at the root of so many heroic lives. + +The hagiology of all religions offers endless examples of this type. +That man would hardly be regarded as a great saint whose conduct seemed +completely reasonable to the mass of mankind. The saint in consequence +is apt to be set unduly apart, whether for veneration or for ridicule. +He is regarded either as inspired or as morbid; when in reality all that +his mode of life shows is that certain _idées fixes_, in themselves of +no unworthy kind, have obtained such dominance that their impulsive +action may take and retake, as accident wills, the step between the +sublime and the ridiculous. + +Martyrs, missionaries, crusaders, nihilists,--enthusiasts of any kind +who are swayed by impulses largely below the threshold of ordinary +consciousness,--these men bring to bear on human affairs a force more +concentrated and at higher tension than deliberate reason can generate. +They are virtually carrying out self-suggestions which have acquired the +permanence of _idées fixes_. Their fixed ideas, however, are not so +isolated, so encysted as those of true hysterics. Although more deeply +and immutably rooted than their ideas on other matters, these subliminal +convictions are worked in with the products of supraliminal reason, and +of course can only thus be made effective over other minds. A deep +subliminal horror, generated, say, by the sight of some loathsome +cruelty, must not only prompt hallucinations,--as it might do in the +hysteric and has often done in the reformer as well,--it must also, if +it is to work out its mission of reform, be held clearly before the +supraliminal reason, and must learn to express itself in writing or +speech adapted to influence ordinary minds. + + * * * * * + +We may now pass from the first to the second of the categories of +disintegration of personality suggested at the beginning of this +chapter. The cases which I have thus far discussed have been mainly +cases of _isolation_ of elements of personality. We have not dealt as +yet with _secondary personalities_ as such. There is, however, a close +connection between these two classes. There are cases, for example, +where a kind of secondary state at times intervenes--a sort of +bewilderment arising from confluent _idées fixes_ and overrunning the +whole personality. This new state is often preceded or accompanied by +something of somnambulic change. It is this new feature of which we have +here a first hint which seems to me of sufficient importance for the +diagnosis of my second class of psychical disintegrations. This second +class starts from sleep-wakings of all kinds, and includes all stages of +alternation of personality, from brief somnambulisms up to those +permanent and thorough changes which deserve the name of dimorphisms. + +We are making here a transition somewhat resembling the transition from +isolated bodily injuries to those subtler changes of diathesis which +change of climate or of nutrition may induce. Something has happened +which makes the organism react to all stimuli in a new way. Our best +starting-point for the study of these secondary states lies among the +phenomena of _dream_. + +We shall in a later chapter discuss certain rare characteristics of +dreams; occasional manifestations in sleep of waking faculty heightened, +or of faculty altogether new. We have now to consider ordinary dreams +in their aspect as indications of the structure of our personality, and +as agencies which tend to its modification. + +In the first place, it should be borne in mind that the dreaming state, +though I will not call it the normal form of mentation, is nevertheless +the form which our mentation most readily and habitually assumes. Dreams +of a kind are probably going on within us both by night and by day, +unchecked by any degree of tension of waking thought. This +view--theoretically probable--seems to me to be supported by one's own +actual experience in momentary dozes or even momentary lapses of +attention. The condition of which one then becomes conscious is that of +swarming fragments of thought or imagery, which have apparently been +going on continuously, though one may become aware of them and then +unaware at momentary intervals;--while one tries, for instance, to +listen to a speech or to read a book aloud between sleep and waking. + +This, then, is the kind of mentation from which our clearer and more +coherent states may be supposed to develop. Waking life implies a +fixation of attention on one thread of thought running through a tangled +skein. In hysterical patients we see some cases where no such fixation +is possible, and other cases where the fixation is involuntary, or +follows a thread which it is not desirable to pursue. + +There is, moreover, another peculiarity of dreams which has hardly +attracted sufficient notice from psychologists, but which it is +essential to review when we are dealing with fractionations of +personality.[12] I allude to their _dramatic_ character. In dream, to +begin with, we have an environment, a surrounding scene which we have +not wittingly invented, but which we find, as it were, awaiting our +entry. And in many cases our dream contains a _conversation_ in which we +await with eagerness and hear with surprise the remarks of our +interlocutor, who must, of course, all the time represent only another +segment or stratum of ourselves. This duplication may become either +painful or pleasant. A feverish dream may simulate the confusions of +insanity--cases where the patient believes himself to be two persons at +once, and the like. [See R. L. Stevenson's dream, given in Appendix II. +A] These complications rarely cause the dreamer any surprise. One may +even say that with the first touch of sleep the superficial unity of +consciousness disappears, and that the dream world gives a truer +representation than the waking world of the real fractionation or +multiplicity existing beneath that delusive simplicity which the glare +of waking consciousness imposes upon the mental field of view. + +Bearing these analogies in mind, we shall see that the development of +somnambulism out of ordinary dream is no isolated oddity. It is parallel +to the development of a secondary state from _idées fixes_ when these +have passed a certain pitch of intensity. The sleep-waking states which +develop from sleep have the characteristics which we should expect from +their largely subliminal origin. They are less coherent than waking +secondary personalities, but richer in supernormal faculty. It is in +connection with displays of such faculty--hyperæsthesia or +telæsthesia--that they have been mainly observed, and that I shall, in a +future chapter, have most need to deal with them. But there is also +great interest simply in observing what fraction of the sleep-waker's +personality is able to hold intercourse with other minds. A trivial +instance of such intercourse reduced to its lowest point has often +recurred to me. When I was a boy another boy sleeping in the same room +began to talk in his sleep. To some slight extent he could answer me; +and the names and other words uttered--_Harry, the boat_, etc.--were +appropriate to the day's incidents, and would have been enough to prove +to me, had I not otherwise known, who the boy was. But his few coherent +remarks represented not facts but dreaming fancies--_the boat is +waiting_, and so forth. This trivial jumble, I say, has since recurred +to me as precisely parallel to many communications professing to come +from disembodied spirits. There are other explanations, no doubt, but +one explanation of such incoherent utterances would be that the spirit +was speaking under conditions resembling those in which this sleeping +boy spoke. + +There are, of course, many stages above this. Spontaneous somnambulistic +states become longer in duration, more coherent in content, and may +gradually merge, as in the well-known case of Félida X. (see Appendix +II. C) into a continuous or dimorphic new personality. + +The transition which has now to be made is a very decided one. We have +been dealing with a class of secondary personalities consisting of +elements _emotionally selected_ from the total or primary personality. +We have seen some special group of feelings grow to morbid intensity, +until at last it dominates the sufferer's mental being, either fitfully +or continuously, but to such an extent that he is "a changed person," +not precisely insane, but quite other than he was when in normal mental +health. In such cases the new personality is of course dyed in the +morbid emotion. It is a kind of dramatic impersonation, say, of +jealousy, or of fear, like the case of "demoniacal possession," quoted +from Dr. Janet in Appendix II. B. In other respects the severance +between the new and the old self is not very profound. Dissociations of +memory, for instance, are seldom beyond the reach of hypnotic +suggestion. The cleavage has not gone down to the depths of the +psychical being. + +We must now go on to cases where the origin of the cleavage seems to us +quite arbitrary, but where the cleavage itself seems even for that very +reason to be more profound. It is no longer a question of some one +morbidly exaggerated emotion, but rather of a scrap of the personality +taken at random and developing apart from the rest. + +The commonest mode of origin for such secondary personalities is from +some access of sleep-waking, which, instead of merging into sleep again, +repeats and consolidates itself, until it acquires a chain of memories +of its own, alternating with the primary chain.[13] + +And now, as an illustration of a secondary condition purely +degenerative, I may first mention _post-epileptic_ states, although they +belong too definitely to pathology for full discussion here. +Post-epileptic conditions may run parallel to almost all the secondary +phases which we have described. They may to all outward semblance +closely resemble normality,--differing mainly by a lack of rational +_purpose_, and perhaps by a recurrence to the habits and ideas of some +earlier moment in the patient's history. Such a condition resembles some +hypnotic trances, and some factitious personalities as developed by +automatic writing. Or, again, the post-epileptic state may resemble a +suddenly developed _idée fixe_ triumphing over all restraint, and may +prompt to serious crime, abhorrent to the normal, but premeditated in +the morbid state. There could not, in fact, be a better example of the +unchecked rule of middle-level centres;--no longer secretly controlled, +as in hypnotic trance, by the higher-level centres,--which centres in +the epileptic are in a state not merely of psychological abeyance, but +of physiological exhaustion.[14] + +The case of Ansel Bourne is interesting in this connection.[15] Subject +from childhood to fits of deep depression, and presenting in later life +symptoms suggestive of epilepsy, Ansel Bourne was struck down in his +thirty-first year by what was supposed to be a severe sunstroke. +Connected with this event were circumstances which led to a profound +religious conversion. At sixty-one years of age, being at that time an +itinerant preacher, and living in the small town of Greene, in the State +of Rhode Island, Ansel Bourne disappeared one morning, whilst apparently +in his usual state of health, and remained undiscovered for a period of +two months. At the end of this time he turned up at Norristown, +Pennsylvania, where for the previous six weeks he had been keeping a +small variety store under the name of A. J. Brown, appearing to his +neighbours and customers as an ordinary normal person, but being, as it +would seem, in a somnambulistic condition all the while. When he +regained his ordinary waking consciousness, Ansel Bourne lost all memory +of his actions while in his secondary state. In the year 1890, however, +having been hypnotised by Professor James, he was able while in the +trance state to give an account of his doings during the eight weeks +that the Brown personality lasted. + +In this case it is perhaps safest to regard the change of personality as +_post-epileptic_, although I know of no recorded parallel to the length +of time during which the influence of the attack must have continued. +The effect on mind and character would suit well enough with this +hypothesis. The "Brown" personality showed the narrowness of interests +and the uninquiring indifference which is common in such states. But on +this theory the case shows one striking novelty, namely, the recall by +the aid of hypnotism of the memory of the post-epileptic state. It is +doubtful, I think, whether any definite post-epileptic memory had ever +previously been recovered. On the other hand, it is doubtful whether +serious recourse had ever been had at such times to hypnotic methods, +whose increasing employment certainly differentiates the latter from the +earlier cases of split personality in a very favourable way. And this +application of hypnotism to post-epileptic states affords us possibly +our best chance--I do not say of directly checking epilepsy, but of +getting down to the obscure conditions which predispose to each attack. + +Next we may mention two cases reported by Dr. Proust and M. Boeteau. Dr. +Proust's patient,[16] Emile X., aged thirty-three, was a barrister in +Paris. Although of good ability and education in classical studies, both +as a boy and at the university he was always nervous and over sensitive, +showing signs, in fact, of _la grande hystérie_. During his attacks he +apparently underwent no loss of consciousness, but would lose the +memory of all his past life during a few minutes or a few days, and in +this condition of secondary consciousness would lead an active and +apparently normal life. From such a state he woke suddenly, and was +entirely without memory of what had happened to him in this secondary +state. This memory was, however, restored by hypnotism. + +M. Boeteau's patient, Marie M.,[17] had been subject to hysterical +attacks since she was twelve years old. She became an out-patient at the +Hôpital Andral for these attacks: and on April 24, 1891, being then +twenty-two years old, the house physician there advised her to enter the +surgical ward at the Hôtel-Dieu, as she would probably need an operation +for an internal trouble. Greatly shocked by this news, she left the +hospital at ten A.M., and lost consciousness. When she recovered +consciousness she found herself in quite another hospital--that of Ste. +Anne--at six A.M. on April 27. She had been found wandering in the +streets of Paris, in the evening of the day on which she left the +Hôpital Andral. On returning to herself, she could recollect absolutely +nothing of what had passed in the interval. While she was thus perplexed +at her unexplained fatigue and footsoreness, and at the gap in her +memory, M. Boeteau hypnotised her. She passed with ease into the +hypnotic state, and at once remembered the events which filled at least +the earlier part of the gap in her primary consciousness. + +These two cases belong to the same general type as Ansel Bourne's. There +does not seem, however, to be any definite evidence that the secondary +state was connected with epileptic attacks. It was referred rather by +the physicians who witnessed it to a functional derangement analogous to +hysteria, though it must be remembered that there are various forms of +epilepsy which are not completely understood, and some of which may be +overlooked by persons who are not familiar with the symptoms. + +Another remarkable case is that of the Rev. Thomas C. Hanna,[18] in whom +complete amnesia followed an accident. By means of a method which Dr. +Sidis (who studied the case) calls "hypnoidisation," he was able to +prove that the patient had all his lost memories stored in his +subliminal consciousness, and could temporarily recall them to the +supraliminal. By degrees the two personalities which had developed +since the accident were thus fused into one and the patient was +completely cured. + +For another case of the ambulatory type, like Ansel Bourne's, but +remarkable in that it was associated with a definite physical lesion--an +abscess in the ear--the cure of which was followed by the rapid return +of the patient to his normal condition, see Dr. Drewry's article in the +_Medico-Legal Journal_ for June 1896 [228 A]. + +Again, in a case reported by Dr. David Skae,[19] the secondary state +seems to owe its origin to a kind of tidal exhaustion of vitality, as +though the repose of sleep were not enough to sustain the weakened +personality, which lapsed on alternate days into exhaustion and +incoherence. + +The secondary personalities thus far dealt with have been the +spontaneous results of some form of _misère psychologique_, of defective +integration of the psychical being. But there are also cases where, the +cohesion being thus released, a slight touch from without can effect +dissociations which, however shallow and almost playful in their first +inception, may stiffen by repetition into phases as marked and definite +as those secondary states which spring up of themselves, that is to say, +from self-suggestions which we cannot trace. In Professor Janet's +_L'Automatisme Psychologique_ the reader will find some instructive +examples of these fictitious secondary personalities [230 A and B]. + +Up to this point the secondary states which we have considered; however +startling to old-fashioned ideas of personality, may, at any rate, be +regarded as forms of mental derangement or decay--varieties on a theme +already known. Now, however, we approach a group of cases to which it is +difficult to make any such definition apply. They are cases where the +secondary state is _not_ obviously a degeneration;--where it may even +appear to be in some ways an _improvement_ on the primary; so that one +is left wondering how it came about that the man either originally was +what he was, or--being what he was--suddenly became something so very +different. There has been a shake given to the kaleidoscope, and no one +can say why either arrangement of the component pieces should have had +the priority. + +In the classical case of Félida X. the second state is, as regards +health and happiness, markedly superior to the first. (See Appendix II. +C.) + +The old case of Mary Reynolds[20] is again remarkable in respect of the +change of character involved. The deliverance from gloomy +preoccupations--the childish insouciance of the secondary state--again +illustrates the difference between these _allotropic_ changes or +reconstructions of personality and that mere predominance of a morbid +factor which marked the cases of _idée fixe_ and hysteria. Observe, +also, in Mary Reynolds's case the tendency of the two states gradually +to _coalesce_ apparently in a third phase likely to be preferable to +either of the two already known. + +We now come to spontaneous cases of multiple personality, of which Louis +Vivé's is one of the best known. Louis Vivé exhibited an extraordinary +number and variety of phases of personality, affording an extreme +example of dissociations dependent on _time-relations_, on the special +epoch of life in which the subject was ordered to find himself.[21] +Among various conditions of his organism--all but one of them implying, +or at least simulating, some grave central lesion--any given condition +could be revived in a moment, and the whole gamut of changes rung on his +nervous system as easily as if one were setting back or forward a +continuous cinematograph. It is hard to frame a theory of memory which +shall admit of these sudden reversions,--of playing fast and loose in +this manner with the accumulated impressions of years. + +Yet if Louis Vivé's case thus strangely intensifies the already puzzling +notion of _ecmnesia_--as though the whole organism could be tricked into +forgetting the events which had most deeply stamped it--what are we to +say to Dr. Morton Prince's case of "Sally Beauchamp,"[22] with its +grotesque exaggeration of a subliminal self--a kind of hostile bedfellow +which knows everything and remembers everything--which mocks the +emotions and thwarts the projects of the ordinary reasonable self which +can be seen and known? The case must be studied in full as it stands; +its later developments may help to unravel the mysteries which its +earlier stages have already woven.[23] + +I quote in full in the text the next case, reported by Dr. R. Osgood +Mason (in a paper entitled "Duplex Personality: its Relation to +Hypnotism and to Lucidity," in the _Journal of the American Medical +Association_, November 30th, 1895). Dr. Mason writes:-- + + Alma Z. was an unusually healthy and intellectual girl, a strong + and attractive character, a leading spirit in whatever she + undertook, whether in study, sport, or society. From overwork in + school, and overtaxed strength in a case of sickness at home, her + health was completely broken down, and after two years of great + suffering suddenly a second personality appeared. In a peculiar + child-like and Indian-like dialect she announced herself as + "Twoey," and that she had come to help "Number One" in her + suffering. The condition of "Number One" was at this time most + deplorable; there was great pain, extreme debility, frequent + attacks of syncope, insomnia, and a mercurial stomatitis which had + been kept up for months by way of medical treatment and which + rendered it nearly impossible to take nourishment in any form. + "Twoey" was vivacious and cheerful, full of quaint and witty talk, + never lost consciousness, and could take abundant nourishment, + which she declared she _must_ do for the sake of "Number One." Her + talk was most quaint and fascinating, but without a trace of the + acquired knowledge of the primary personality. She gave frequent + evidence of supranormal intelligence regarding events transpiring + in the neighbourhood. It was at this time that the case came under + my observation, and has remained so for the past ten years. Four + years later, under depressing circumstances, a third personality + made its appearance and announced itself as "The Boy." This + personality was entirely distinct and different from either of the + others. It remained the chief alternating personality for four + years, when "Twoey" again returned. + + All these personalities, though absolutely different and + characteristic, were delightful each in its own way, and "Twoey" + especially was, and still is, the delight of the friends who are + permitted to know her, whenever she makes her appearance; and this + is always at times of unusual fatigue, mental excitement, or + prostration; then she comes and remains days at a time. The + original self retains her superiority when she is present, and the + others are always perfectly devoted to her interest and comfort. + "Number One" has no personal knowledge of either of the other + personalities, but she knows them well, and especially "Twoey," + from the report of others and from characteristic letters which are + often received from her; and "Number One" greatly enjoys the spicy, + witty, and often useful messages which come to her through these + letters and the report of friends. + +Dr. Mason goes on to say:-- + + Here are three cases [the one just given, that of another patient + of his own, and that of Félida X.] in which a second + personality--perfectly sane, thoroughly practical, and perfectly in + touch and harmony with its surroundings--came to the surface, so to + speak, and assumed absolute control of the physical organisation + for long periods of time together. During the stay of the second + personality the primary or original self was entirely blotted out, + and the time so occupied was a blank. In neither of the cases + described had the primary self any knowledge of the second + personality, except from the report of others or letters from the + second self, left where they could be found on the return of the + primary self to consciousness. The second personality, on the other + hand, in each case, knew of the primary self, but only as another + person--never as forming a part of, or in any way belonging to + their own personalities. In the case of both Félida X. and Alma Z., + there was always immediate and marked improvement in the physical + condition when the second personality made its appearance. + +The case of Mollie Fancher,[24] which, had it been observed and recorded +with scientific accuracy, might have been one of the most instructive of +all, seems to stand midway between the transformations of Louis +Vivé--each of them frankly himself at a different epoch of life--and the +"pseudo-possessions" of imaginary spirits with which we shall in a later +chapter have to deal. + +The case of Anna Winsor[25] goes so far further in its suggestion of +interference from without that it presents to us, at any rate, a +contrast and even conflict between positive insanity on the part of the +organism generally with wise and watchful sanity on the part of a single +limb, with which that organism professes to have no longer any concern. + +The last case[26] that I shall mention is that of Miss Mary Lurancy +Vennum, the "Watseka Wonder." + +The case briefly is one of alleged "possession," or "spirit-control." +The subject of the account, a girl nearly fourteen years old, living at +Watseka, Illinois, became apparently controlled by the spirit of Mary +Roff, a neighbour's daughter, who had died at the age of eighteen years +and nine months, when Lurancy Vennum was a child of about fifteen months +old. The most extraordinary feature in the case was that the control by +Mary Roff lasted almost continuously for a period of four months. + +For the present we must consider this case as a duplication of +personality--a pseudo-possession, if you will--determined in a +hysterical child by the suggestion of friends, but at a later stage, and +when some other wonders have become more familiar than now, we may find +that this singular narrative has further lessons to teach us. + +We have now briefly surveyed a series of disintegrations of personality +ranging from the most trifling _idée fixe_ to actual alternations or +permanent changes of the whole type of character. All these form a kind +of continuous series, and illustrate the structure of the personality in +concordant ways. There do exist, it must be added, other forms of +modified personality with which I shall not at present deal. Those are +cases where some telepathic influence from outside has been at work, so +that there is not merely dissociation of existing elements, but apparent +introduction of a novel element. Such cases also pass through a long +series, from small phenomena of motor automatism up to trance and +so-called possession. But all this group I mention here merely in order +to defer their discussion to later chapters. + +The brief review already made will suffice to indicate the complex and +separable nature of the elements of human personality. Of course a far +fuller list might have been given; many phenomena of actual insanity +would need to be cited in any complete conspectus. But hysteria is in +some ways a better dissecting agent than any other where delicate +psychical dissociations are concerned. Just as the microscopist stains a +particular tissue for observation, so does hysteria stain with +definiteness, as it were, particular synergies--definite complexes of +thought and action--more manifestly than any grosser lesion, any more +profound or persistent injury could do. Hysterical mutism, for instance +(the observation is Charcot's[27]), supplies almost the only cases where +the faculty of vocal utterance is attacked in a quite isolated way. In +aphasia dependent upon organic injury we generally find other +word-memories attacked also,--elements of agraphy, of word-blindness, of +word-deafness appear. In the hysteric the incapacity to speak may be the +single symptom. So with anæsthesiæ; we find in hysteria a separation of +sensibility to heat and to pain, possibly even a separate subsistence of +electrical sensibility. It is worth remarking here that it was during +the hypnotic trance, which in delicacy of discriminating power resembles +hysteria, that (so far as I can make out) the distinctness of the +temperature-sense from the pain-sense was first observed. Esdaile, when +removing tumours under mesmerism in Calcutta, noticed that patients, who +were actually undergoing capital operations without a murmur, complained +if a draught blew in upon them from an open window. + +Nor is it only as a dissecting agent that hysteria can aid our research. +There are in hysteria frequent _acquisitions_ as well as _losses_ of +faculty. It is not unusual to find great hyperæsthesia in certain +special directions--of touch, hearing, perception of light, +etc.--combined with hysterical loss of sensation of other kinds. This +subject will be more conveniently treated along with the hyperæsthesia +of the hypnotic trance. But I may note here that just such occasional +quickenings of faculty were, in my view, almost certain to accompany +that instability of psychical threshold which is the distinguishing +characteristic of hysteria, since I hold that subliminal faculty +habitually overpasses supraliminal. These also are a kind of capricious +_idées fixes_; only the caprice in such cases raises what was previously +submerged instead of exaggerating what was previously emergent. + +And from this point it is that our inquiries must now take their fresh +departure. We in this work are concerned with changes which are the +_converse_ of hysterical changes. We are looking for integrations in +lieu of disintegrations; for intensifications of control, widenings of +faculty, instead of relaxation, scattering, or decay. + +Suppose, then, that in a case of instability of the psychical +threshold,--ready _permeability_, if you will, of the psychical +diaphragm separating the supraliminal from the subliminal self,--the +elements of emergence tend to increase and the elements of submergence +to diminish. Suppose that the permeability depends upon the force of the +uprushes from below the diaphragm rather than on the tendency to sink +downwards from above it. We shall then reach the point where the vague +name of _hysteria_ must give place to the vague name of _genius_. The +uprushes from the subliminal self will now be the important feature; the +down-draught from the supraliminal, if it still exists, will be trivial +in comparison. The content of the uprush will be congruous with the +train of voluntary thought; and the man of genius will be a man more +capable than others of utilising for his waking purposes the subliminal +region of his being. + +Next in order to the uprushes of genius will come the uprushes of dream. +All men pass normally and healthily into a second phase of personality, +alternating with the first. That is _sleep_, and sleep is characterised +by those incoherent forms of subliminal uprush which we know as dreams. +It is here that our evidence for telepathy and telæsthesia will first +present itself for discussion. Sleep will indicate the existence of +submerged faculty of a rarer type than even that to which genius has +already testified. + +There are, moreover, other states, both spontaneous and induced, +analogous to sleep, and these will form the subject of the fifth +chapter, that on Hypnotism. Hypnotism, however, does not mean trance or +somnambulism only. It is a name, if not for the whole _ensemble_, yet +for a large group of those artifices which we have as yet discovered for +the purpose of eliciting and utilising subliminal faculty. The results +of hypnotic suggestion will be found to imitate sometimes the subliminal +uprushes of genius, and sometimes the visions of spontaneous +somnambulism; while they also open to us fresh and characteristic +accesses into subliminal knowledge and power. + +Further than this point our immediate forecast need not go. But when we +have completed the survey here indicated, we shall see, I think, how +significant are the phenomena of hysteria in any psychological scheme +which aims at including the hidden powers of man. For much as the +hysteric stands in comparison to us ordinary men, so perhaps do we +ordinary men stand in comparison with a not impossible ideal of faculty +and of self-control. + +But apart from these broader speculations, it has become evident that +disturbances of personality are not mere empty marvels, but +psycho-pathological problems of the utmost interest:--no one of them +exactly like another, and no one of them without some possible _aperçu_ +into the intimate structure of man. + +The purpose of this book, of course, is not primarily practical. It aims +rather at the satisfaction of scientific curiosity as to man's psychical +structure; esteeming _that_ as a form of experimental research which the +more urgent needs of therapeutics have kept in the background too long. +Yet it may not have been amiss to realise thus, on the threshold of our +discussion, that already even the most delicate speculations in this +line have found their justification in helpful act; that strange +bewilderments, paralysing perturbations, which no treatment could +alleviate, no drug control, have been soothed and stablished into sanity +by some appropriate and sagacious mode of appeal to a _natura +medicatrix_ deep-hidden in the labouring breast. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +GENIUS + + Igneus est ollis vigor et cœlestis origo + Seminibus, quantum non noxia corpora tardant + Terrenique hebetant artus moribundaque membra. + + --VIRGIL. + + +In my second chapter I made no formal attempt to define that human +personality which is to form the main subject of this book. I was +content to take the conception roughly for granted, and to enter at once +on the study of the lapses of personality into abnormal +conditions,--short of the lowest depths of idiocy or madness. From that +survey it appeared that these degenerations could be traced to some +defect in that central control which ought to clasp and integrate into +steady manhood the hierarchies of living cells which compose the human +organism. This insight into the Self's decay was the needed prerequisite +to our present task--that of apprehending its true normality, and +thereafter of analysing certain obscurer faculties which indicate the +line of its evolution during and after the life of earth. + +Strength and concentration of the inward unifying control--_that_ must +be the true normality which we seek; and in seeking it we must remember +how much of psychical operation goes on below the conscious threshold, +imperfectly obedient to any supraliminal appeal. What advance can we +make in inward mastery? how far extend our grasp over the whole range of +faculty with which we are obscurely endowed? + +"Human perfectibility" has been the theme of many enthusiasts; and many +utopian schemes of society have been and still are suggested, which +postulate in the men and women of the future an increase in moral and +physical health and vigour. And it is plain that in a broad and general +way natural selection, sexual selection, and the advance of science are +working together towards improvements of these kinds. But it is plain +also that these onward tendencies, at least in comparison with our +desires and ideals, are slow and uncertain; and it is possible to argue +that the apparent advance in our race is due merely to the improvement +which science has affected in its material environment, and not to any +real development, during the historical period, in the character or +faculties of man himself. Nay, since we have no means of knowing to what +extent any genus has an inward potentiality of improvement, it is +possible for the pessimist to argue that the _genus homo_ has reached +its fore-ordained evolutionary limit; so that it cannot be pushed +further in any direction without risk of nervous instability, sterility, +and ultimate extinction. Some dim apprehension of this kind lends +plausibility to many popular diatribes. Dr. Max Nordau's works afford a +well-known example of this line of protest against the present age as an +age of overwork and of nervous exhaustion. And narrowing the vague +discussion to a somewhat more definite test, Professor Lombroso and +other anthropologists have discussed the characteristics of the "man of +genius"; with the result of showing (as they believe) that this +apparently highest product of the race is in reality not a culminant but +an aberrant manifestation; and that men of genius must be classed with +criminals and lunatics, as persons in whom a want of balance or +completeness of organisation has led on to an over-development of one +side of the nature;--helpful or injurious to other men as accident may +decide. + +On this point I shall join issue; and I shall suggest, on the other +hand, that Genius--if that vaguely used word is to receive anything like +a psychological definition--should rather be regarded as a power of +utilising a wider range than other men can utilise of faculties in some +degree innate in all;--a power of appropriating the results of +subliminal mentation to subserve the supraliminal stream of thought;--so +that an "inspiration of Genius" will be in truth a _subliminal uprush_, +an emergence into the current of ideas which the man is consciously +manipulating of other ideas which he has not consciously originated, but +which have shaped themselves beyond his will, in profounder regions of +his being. I shall urge that there is here no real departure from +normality; no abnormality, at least in the sense of degeneration; but +rather a fulfilment of the true norm of man, with suggestions, it may +be, of something _supernormal_;--of something which transcends existing +normality as an advanced stage of evolutionary progress transcends an +earlier stage. + +But before proceeding further I wish to guard against a possible +misapprehension. I shall be obliged in this chapter to dwell on valuable +aid rendered by subliminal mentation; but I do not mean to imply that +such mentation is _ipso facto superior_ to supraliminal, or even that it +covers a large proportion of practically useful human achievement. When +I say "The differentia of genius lies in an increased control over +subliminal mentation," I express, I think, a well-evidenced thesis, and +I suggest an important inference,--namely, that the man of genius is for +us the best type of the normal man, in so far as he effects a successful +co-operation of an unusually large number of elements of his +personality--reaching a stage of integration slightly in advance of our +own. Thus much I wish to say: but my thesis is not to be pushed +further:--as though I claimed that all our best thought was subliminal, +or that all that was subliminal was potentially "inspiration." + +It is true, however, that the range of our subliminal mentation is more +extended than the range of our supraliminal. At one end of the scale we +find _dreams_,--a normal subliminal product, but of less practical value +than any form of sane supraliminal thought. At the other end of the +scale we find that the rarest, most precious knowledge comes to us from +outside the ordinary field,--through the eminently subliminal processes +of telepathy, telæsthesia, ecstasy. And between these two extremes lie +many subliminal products, varying in value according to the dignity and +trustworthiness of the subliminal mentation concerned. + +This last phrase--inevitably obscure--may be illustrated by reference to +that hierarchical arrangement of _supraliminal_ action and perception +which Dr. Hughlings Jackson has so used as to clear up much previous +confusion of thought. Following him, we now speak of highest-level +nerve-centres, governing our highest, most complex thought and will; of +middle-level centres, governing movements of voluntary muscles, and the +like; and of lowest-level centres (which from my point of view are +purely subliminal), governing those automatic processes, as respiration +and circulation, which are independent of conscious rule, but necessary +to the maintenance of life. We can roughly judge from the nature of any +observed action whether the highest-level centres are directing it, or +whether they are for the time inhibited, so that middle-level centres +operate uncontrolled. + +Thus ordinary speech and writing are ruled by highest-level centres. But +when an epileptic discharge of nervous energy has exhausted the +highest-level centres, we see the middle-level centres operating +unchecked, and producing the convulsive movements of arms and legs in +the "fit." As these centres in their turn become exhausted, the patient +is left to the guidance of lowest-level centres alone;--that is to say, +he becomes comatose, though he continues to breathe as regularly as +usual. + +Now this series of phenomena,--_descending_ in coherence and +coordination from an active consensus of the whole organism to a mere +automatic maintenance of its most stably organised processes,--may be +pretty closely paralleled by the series of subliminal phenomena also. + +Sometimes we seem to see our subliminal perceptions and faculties acting +truly in unity, truly as a Self;--co-ordinated into some harmonious +"inspiration of genius," or some profound and reasonable hypnotic +self-reformation, or some far-reaching supernormal achievement of +clairvoyant vision or of self-projection into a spiritual world. +Whatever of subliminal personality is thus acting corresponds with the +highest-level centres of supraliminal life. At such moments the +_subliminal_ represents (as I believe) most nearly what will become the +_surviving_ Self. + +But it seems that this degree of clarity, of integration, cannot be long +preserved. Much oftener we find the subliminal perceptions and faculties +acting in less co-ordinated, less coherent ways. We have products which, +while containing traces of some faculty beyond our common scope, +involve, nevertheless, something as random and meaningless as the +discharge of the uncontrolled middle-level centres of arms and legs in +the epileptic fit. We get, in short, a series of phenomena which the +term _dream-like_ seems best to describe. + +In the realm of genius,--of uprushes of thought and feeling fused +beneath the conscious threshold into artistic shape,--we get no longer +masterpieces but half-insanities,--not the Sistine Madonna, but Wiertz's +Vision of the Guillotined Head; not _Kubla Khan_, but the disordered +opium dream. Throughout all the work of William Blake (I should say) we +see the subliminal self flashing for moments into unity, then +smouldering again in a lurid and scattered glow. + +In the realm of hypnotism, again, we sink from the reasonable +self-suggestion to the "platform experiments,"--the smelling of ammonia, +the eating of tallow candles;--all the tricks which show a _profound_ +control, but not a _wise_ control, over the arcana of organic life. I +speak, of course, of the subject's _own_ control over his organism; for +in the last resort it is _he_ and not his hypnotiser who really +exercises that directive power. And I compare these tricks of +middle-level subliminal centres to the powerful yet irrational control +which the middle-level centres ruling the epileptic's arms and legs +exercise over his muscles in the violence of the epileptic attack. + +And so again with the _automatisms_ which are, one may say, the +subliminal self's peculiar province. Automatic script, for instance, may +represent highest-level subliminal centres, even when no extraneous +spirit, but the automatist's own mind alone, is concerned. It will then +give us true telepathic messages, or perhaps messages of high moral +import, surpassing the automatist's conscious powers. But much oftener +the automatic script is regulated by what I have called middle-level +subliminal centres only;--and then, though we may have scraps of +supernormal intelligence, we have confusion and incoherence as well. We +have the falsity which the disgusted automatist is sometimes fain to +ascribe to a devil; though it is in reality not a devil, but a dream. + +And hence again, just as the epileptic sinks lower and lower in the +fit,--from the incoordinated movements of the limbs down to the mere +stertorous breathing of coma,--so do these incoherent automatisms sink +down at last, through the utterances and drawings of the degenerate and +the paranoiac,--through mere fragmentary dreams, or vague impersonal +bewilderment,--into the minimum psychical concomitant, whatever that be, +which must coexist with brain-circulation. + +Such is the apparent parallelism; but of course no knowledge of a +hierarchy of the familiar forms of nervous action can really explain to +us the mysterious fluctuations of subliminal power. + +When we speak of the highest-level and other centres which govern our +supraliminal being, and which are fitted to direct this planetary life +in a material world, we can to some extent point out actual +brain-centres whose action enables us to meet those needs. What are the +needs of our cosmic life we do not know; nor can we indicate any point +in our organism (as in the "solar plexus," or the like), which is +adapted to meet them. We cannot even either affirm or deny that such +spiritual life as we maintain while incarnated in this material envelope +involves any physical concomitants at all. + +For my part, I feel forced to fall back upon the old-world conception of +a _soul_ which exercises an imperfect and fluctuating control over the +organism; and exercises that control, I would add, along two main +channels, only partly coincident--that of ordinary consciousness, +adapted to the maintenance and guidance of earth-life; and that of +subliminal consciousness, adapted to the maintenance of our larger +spiritual life during our confinement in the flesh. + +We men, therefore, _clausi tenebris et carcere cæco_, can sometimes +widen, as we must sometimes narrow, our outlook on the reality of +things. In mania or epilepsy we lose control even of those highest-level +supraliminal centres on which our rational earth-life depends. But +through automatism and in trance and allied states we draw into +supraliminal life some rivulet from the undercurrent stream. If the +subliminal centres which we thus impress into our waking service +correspond to the _middle-level_ only, they may bring to us merely error +and confusion; if they correspond to the highest-level, they may +introduce us to previously unimagined truth. + +It is to work done by the aid of some such subliminal uprush, I say once +more, that the word "genius" may be most fitly applied. "A work of +genius," indeed, in common parlance, means a work which satisfies two +quite distinct requirements. It must involve something original, +spontaneous, unteachable, unexpected; and it must also in some way win +for itself the admiration of mankind. Now, psychologically speaking, the +first of these requirements corresponds to a real class, the second to a +purely accidental one. What the poet feels while he writes his poem is +the psychological fact in _his_ history; what his friends feel while +they read it may be a psychological fact in _their_ history, but does +not alter the poet's creative effort, which was what it was, whether any +one but himself ever reads his poem or no. + +And popular phraseology justifies our insistence upon this subjective +side of genius. Thus it is common to say that "Hartley Coleridge" (for +example) "was a genius, although he never produced anything worth +speaking of." Men recognise, that is to say, from descriptions of +Hartley Coleridge, and from the fragments which he has left, that ideas +came to him with what I have termed a sense of subliminal uprush,--with +an authentic, although not to us an instructive, inspiration. + +As psychologists, I maintain, we are bound to base our definition of +genius upon some criterion of this strictly psychological kind, rather +than on the external tests which as artists or men of letters we should +employ;--and which consider mainly the degree of delight which any given +achievement can bestow upon other men. The artist will speak of the +pictorial genius of Raphael, but not of Haydon; of the dramatic genius +of Corneille, but not of Voltaire. Yet Haydon's Autobiography--a record +of tragic intensity, and closing in suicide--shows that the tame yet +contorted figures of his "Raising of Lazarus" flashed upon him with an +overmastering sense of direct inspiration. Voltaire, again, writes to +the president Hénault of his unreadable tragedy _Catilina_: "Five acts +in a week! I know that this sounds ridiculous; but if men could guess +what enthusiasm can do,--how a poet in spite of himself, idolising his +subject, devoured by his genius, can accomplish in a few days a task for +which without that genius a year would not suffice;--in a word, _si +scirent donum Dei_,--_if they knew the gift of God_,--their astonishment +might be less than it must be now." I do not shrink from these extreme +instances. It would be absurd, of course, to place Haydon's "Raising of +Lazarus" in the same _artistic_ class as Raphael's "Madonna di San +Sisto." But in the same _psychological_ class I maintain that both +works must be placed. For each painter, after his several kind, there +was the same inward process,--the same sense of subliminal uprush;--that +extension, in other words, of mental concentration which draws into +immediate cognisance some workings or elements of the hidden self. + +Let me illustrate this conception by a return to the metaphor of the +"conscious spectrum" to which I introduced my reader in the first +chapter. I there described our conscious spectrum as representing but a +small fraction of the _aurai simplicis ignis_, or individual psychical +ray;--just as our visible solar spectrum represents but a small fraction +of the solar ray. And even as many waves of ether lie beyond the red +end, and many beyond the violet end, of that visible spectrum, so have I +urged that much of unrecognised or subliminal faculty lies beyond the +red (or organic) end, and much beyond the violet (or intellectual) end +of my imaginary spectrum. My main task in this book will be to prolong +the psychical spectrum beyond either limit, by collecting traces of +latent faculties, organic or transcendental:--just as by the bolometer, +by fluorescence, by other artifices, physicists have prolonged the solar +spectrum far beyond either limit of ordinary visibility. + +But at present, and before entering on that task of rendering manifest +supernormal faculty, I am considering what we ought to regard as the +normal range of faculty from which we start;--what, in relation to man, +the words _norm_ and _normal_ should most reasonably mean. + +The word _normal_ in common speech is used almost indifferently to imply +either of two things, which may be very different from each +other--conformity to a standard and position as an average between +extremes. Often indeed the average constitutes the standard--as when a +gas is of normal density; or is practically equivalent to the +standard--as when a sovereign is of normal weight. But when we come to +living organisms a new factor is introduced. Life is change; each living +organism changes; each generation differs from its predecessor. To +assign a fixed norm to a changing species is to shoot point-blank at a +flying bird. The actual average at any given moment is no ideal +standard; rather, the furthest evolutionary stage now reached is +tending, given stability in the environment, to become the average of +the future. Human evolution is not so simple or so conspicuous a thing +as the evolution of the pouter pigeon. But it would be rash to affirm +that it is not even swifter than any variation among domesticated +animals. Not a hundred generations separate us from the dawn of +history;--about as many generations as some microbes can traverse in a +month;--about as many as separate the modern Derby-winner from the +war-horse of Gustavus Adolphus. Man's change has been less than the +horse's change in physical contour,--probably only because man has not +been specially bred with that view;--but taking as a test the power of +self-adaptation to environment, man has traversed in these thirty +centuries a wider arc of evolution than separates the racehorse from the +eohippus. Or if we go back further, and to the primal germ, we see that +man's ancestors must have varied faster than any animal's, since they +have travelled farthest in the same time. They have varied also in the +greatest number of directions; they have evoked in greatest multiplicity +the unnumbered faculties latent in the irritability of a speck of slime. +Of all creatures man has gone furthest both in differentiation and in +integration; he has called into activity the greatest number of those +faculties which lay potential in the primal germ,--and he has +established over those faculties the strongest central control. The +process still continues. Civilisation adds to the complexity of his +faculties; education helps him to their concentration. It is in the +direction of a still wider range, a still firmer hold, that his +evolution now must lie. I shall maintain that this ideal is best +attained by the man of genius. + +Let us consider the way in which the maximum of faculty is habitually +manifested; the circumstances in which a man does what he has never +supposed himself able to do before. We may take an instance where the +faculty drawn upon lies only a little way beneath the surface. A man, we +say, outdoes himself in a great emergency. If his house is on fire, let +us suppose, he carries his children out over the roof with a strength +and agility which seem beyond his own. That effective impulse seems more +akin to instinct than to calculation. We hardly know whether to call the +act reflex or voluntary. It is performed with almost no conscious +intervention of thought or judgment, but it involves a new and complex +adaptation of voluntary muscles such as would need habitually the man's +most careful thought to plan and execute. From the point of view here +taken the action will appear to have been neither reflex nor voluntary +in the ordinary sense, but _subliminal_;--a subliminal uprush, an +emergence of hidden faculty,--of nerve co-ordinations potential in his +organism but till now unused,--which takes command of the man and guides +his action at the moment when his being is deeply stirred. + +This stock instance of a man's possible behaviour in moments of great +physical risk does but illustrate in a gross and obvious manner, and in +the motor region, a phenomenon which, as I hold, is constantly occurring +on a smaller scale in the inner life of most of us. We identify +ourselves for the most part with a stream of voluntary, fully conscious +ideas,--cerebral movements connected and purposive as the movement of +the hand which records them. Meantime we are aware also of a substratum +of fragmentary automatic, _liminal_ ideas, of which we take small +account. These are bubbles that break on the surface; but every now and +then there is a stir among them. There is a rush upwards as of a +subaqueous spring; an inspiration flashes into the mind for which our +conscious effort has not prepared us. This so-called inspiration may in +itself be trivial or worthless; but it is the initial stage of a +phenomenon to which, when certain rare attributes are also present, the +name of genius will be naturally given. + +I am urging, then, that where life is concerned, and where, therefore, +change is normality, we ought to place our norm somewhat ahead of the +average man, though on the evolutionary track which our race is +pursuing. I have suggested that that evolutionary track is at present +leading him in the direction of greater complexity in the perceptions +which he forms of things without, and of greater concentration in his +own will and thought,--in that response to perceptions which he makes +from within. Lastly I have argued that men of genius, whose perceptions +are presumably more vivid and complex than those of average men, are +also the men who carry the power of concentration furthest;--reaching +downwards, by some self-suggestion which they no more than we can +explain, to treasures of latent faculty in the hidden Self. + +I am not indeed here assuming that the faculty which is at the service +of the man of genius is of a kind different from that of common men, in +such a sense that it would need to be represented by a prolongation of +either end of the conscious spectrum. Rather it will be represented by +such a brightening of the familiar spectrum as may follow upon an +intensification of the central light. For the spectrum of man's +conscious faculty, like the solar spectrum, is not continuous but +banded. There are groups of the dark lines of obstruction and +incapacity, and even in the best of us a dim unequal glow. + +It will, then, be the special characteristic of genius that its uprushes +of subliminal faculty will make the bright parts of the habitual +spectrum more brilliant, will kindle the dim absorption-bands to fuller +brightness, and will even raise quite dark lines into an occasional +glimmer. + +But, if, as I believe, we can best give to the idea of genius some +useful distinctness by regarding it in some such way as this, we shall +find also that genius will fall into line with many other sensory and +motor automatisms to which the word could not naturally be applied. +Genius represents a narrow selection among a great many cognate +phenomena;--among a great many uprushes or emergences of subliminal +faculty both within and beyond the limits of the ordinary conscious +spectrum. + +It will be more convenient to study all these together, under the +heading of sensory or of motor automatism. It will then be seen that +there is no kind of perception which may not emerge from beneath the +threshold in an indefinitely heightened form, with just that convincing +suddenness of impression which is described by men of genius as +characteristic of their highest flights. Even with so simple a range of +sensation as that which records the lapse of time there are subliminal +uprushes of this type, and we shall see that a man may have a sudden and +accurate inspiration of what o'clock it is, in just the same way as +Virgil might have an inspiration of the second half of a difficult +hexameter. + +For the purpose of present illustration of the workings of genius it +seems well to choose a kind of ability which is quite indisputable, and +which also admits of some degree of quantitative measurement. I would +choose the higher mathematical processes, were data available; and I may +say in passing how grateful I should be to receive from mathematicians +any account of the mental processes of which they are conscious during +the attainment of their highest results. Meantime there is a lower class +of mathematical gift which by its very specialisation and isolation +seems likely to throw light on our present inquiry. + +During the course of the present century,--and alas! the scientific +observation of unusual specimens of humanity hardly runs back further, +or so far,--the public of great cities has been from time to time +surprised and diverted by some so-called "calculating boy," or +"arithmetical prodigy," generally of tender years, and capable of +performing "in his head," and almost instantaneously, problems for which +ordinary workers would require pencil and paper and a much longer time. +In some few cases, indeed, the ordinary student would have no means +whatever of solving the problem which the calculating boy unriddled with +ease and exactness. + +The especial advantage of the study of arithmetical prodigies is that in +their case the subjective impression coincides closely with the +objective result. The subliminal computator feels that the sum is right, +and it _is_ right. Forms of real or supposed genius which are more +interesting are apt to be less undeniable. + +An American and a French psychologist[28] have collected such hints and +explanations as these prodigies have given of their methods of working; +methods which one might naturally hope to find useful in ordinary +education. The result, however, has been very meagre, and the records +left to us, imperfect as they are, are enough to show that the main and +primary achievement has in fact been subliminal, while conscious or +supraliminal effort has sometimes been wholly absent, sometimes has +supervened only after the gift has been so long exercised that the +accesses between different strata have become easy by frequent +traversing. The prodigy grown to manhood, who now recognises the +arithmetical artifices which he used unconsciously as a boy, resembles +the hypnotic subject trained by suggestion to remember in waking hours +the events of the trance. + +In almost every point, indeed, where comparison is possible, we shall +find this computative gift resembling other manifestations of subliminal +faculty,--such as the power of seeing hallucinatory figures,--rather +than the results of steady supraliminal effort, such as the power of +logical analysis. In the first place, this faculty, in spite of its +obvious connection with general mathematical grasp and insight, is found +almost at random,--among non-mathematical and even quite stupid persons, +as well as among mathematicians of mark. In the second place, it shows +itself mostly in early childhood, and tends to disappear in later +life;--in this resembling visualising power in general, and the power of +seeing hallucinatory figures in particular; which powers, as both Mr. +Galton's inquiries and our own tend to show, are habitually stronger in +childhood and youth than in later years. Again, it is noticeable that +when the power disappears early in life it is apt to leave behind it no +memory whatever of the processes involved. And even when, by long +persistence in a reflective mind, the power has become, so to say, +adopted into the supraliminal consciousness, there nevertheless may +still be flashes of pure "inspiration," when the answer "comes into the +mind" with absolutely no perception of intermediate steps. + +I subjoin a table, compiled by the help of Dr. Scripture's collection, +which will broadly illustrate the main points above mentioned. Some more +detailed remarks may then follow. + + TABLE OF PRINCIPAL ARITHMETICAL PRODIGIES. + + +-----------------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+ + | Name | Age when gift | Duration of | | + | (alphabetically). | was observed. | gift. | Intelligence. | + +-----------------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+ + |Ampère | 4 | ? | eminent | + |Bidder | 10 | through life | good | + |Buxton | ? | ? | low | + |Colburn | 6 | few years | average | + |Dase [or Dahse] | boyhood | through life | very low | + |Fuller | boyhood | ? | low | + |Gauss | 3 | ? | eminent | + |Mangiamele | 10 | few years | average? | + |Mondeux | 10 | few years | low | + |Prolongeau | 6 | few years | low | + |Safford | 6 | few years | good | + |"Mr. Van R., of Utica" | 6 | few years | average? | + |Whately | 3 | few years | good | + +-----------------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+ + +Now among these thirteen names we have two men of transcendent, and +three of high ability. What accounts have they given us of their +methods? + +Of the gift of Gauss and Ampère we know nothing except a few striking +anecdotes. After manifesting itself at an age when there is usually no +continuous supraliminal mental effort worth speaking of, it appears to +have been soon merged in the general blaze of their genius. With Bidder +the gift persisted through life, but grew weaker as he grew older. His +paper in Vol. XV. of the _Proceedings of the Institute of Civil +Engineers_, while furnishing a number of practical hints to the +calculator, indicates also a singular readiness of communication between +different mental strata. "Whenever," he says (p. 255) "I feel called +upon to make use of the stores of my mind, they seem to rise with the +rapidity of lightning." And in Vol. CIII. of the same _Proceedings_, Mr. +W. Pole, F.R.S., in describing how Mr. Bidder could determine mentally +the logarithm of any number to 7 or 8 places, says (p. 252): "He had an +almost miraculous power of seeing, as it were, intuitively what factors +would divide any large number, not a prime. Thus, if he were given the +number 17,861, he would instantly remark it was 337×53.... He could not, +he said, explain how he did this; it seemed a natural instinct to him." + +Passing on to the two other men of high ability known to have possessed +this gift, Professor Safford and Archbishop Whately, we are struck with +the evanescence of the power after early youth,--or even before the end +of childhood. I quote from Dr. Scripture Archbishop Whately's account of +his powers. + + There was certainly something peculiar in my calculating faculty. + It began to show itself at between five and six, and lasted about + three years.... I soon got to do the most difficult sums, always in + my head, for I knew nothing of figures beyond numeration. I did + these sums much quicker than any one could upon paper, and I never + remember committing the smallest error. _When I went to school, at + which time the passion wore off, I was a perfect dunce at + ciphering, and have continued so ever since._ + +Still more remarkable, perhaps, was Professor Safford's loss of power. +Professor Safford's whole bent was mathematical; his boyish gift of +calculation raised him into notice; and he is now a Professor of +Astronomy. He had therefore every motive and every opportunity to retain +the gift, if thought and practice could have retained it. But whereas at +ten years old he worked correctly in his head, in one minute, a +multiplication sum whose answer consisted of 36 figures, he is now, I +believe, neither more nor less capable of such calculation than his +neighbours. + +Similar was the fate of a personage who never rises above initials, and +of whose general capacity we know nothing. + +"Mr. Van R., of Utica," says Dr. Scripture on the authority of Gall, "at +the age of six years distinguished himself by a singular faculty for +calculating in his head. At eight he entirely lost this faculty, and +after that time he could calculate neither better nor faster than any +other person. _He did not retain the slightest idea of the manner in +which he performed his calculations in childhood._" + +Turning now to the stupid or uneducated prodigies, Dase alone seems to +have retained his power through life. Colburn and Mondeux, and +apparently Prolongeau and Mangiamele, lost their gift after childhood. + +On the whole the ignorant prodigies seldom appear to have been conscious +of any continuous logical process, while in some cases the separation of +the supraliminal and subliminal trains of thought must have been very +complete. "Buxton would talk freely whilst doing his questions, that +being no molestation or hindrance to him."[29] Fixity and clearness of +inward visualisation seems to have been the leading necessity in all +these achievements; and it apparently mattered little whether the mental +blackboard (so to say) on which the steps of the calculation were +recorded were or were not visible to the mind's eye of the supraliminal +self. + +I have been speaking only of visualisation; but it would be interesting +if we could discover how much actual mathematical insight or +inventiveness can be subliminally exercised. Here, however, our +materials are very imperfect. From Gauss and Ampère we have, so far as I +know, no record. At the other end of the scale, we know that Dase +(perhaps the most successful of all these prodigies) was singularly +devoid of mathematical grasp. "On one occasion Petersen tried in vain +for six weeks to get the first elements of mathematics into his head." +"He could not be made to have the least idea of a proposition in Euclid. +Of any language but his own he could never master a word." Yet Dase +received a grant from the Academy of Sciences at Hamburg, on the +recommendation of Gauss, for mathematical work; and actually in twelve +years made tables of factors and prime numbers for the seventh and +nearly the whole of the eighth million,--a task which probably few men +could have accomplished, without mechanical aid, in an ordinary +lifetime. He may thus be ranked as the only man who has ever done +valuable service to Mathematics without being able to cross the Ass's +Bridge. + +No support is given by what we know of this group to the theory which +regards subliminal mentation as necessarily a sign of some morbid +dissociation of physical elements. Is there, on the other hand, anything +to confirm a suggestion which will occur in some similar cases, namely, +that,--inasmuch as the addition of subliminal to supraliminal mentation +may often be a completion and integration rather than a fractionation or +disintegration of the total individuality,--we are likely sometimes to +find traces of a more than common activity of the _right_ or less used +cerebral hemisphere? Finding no mention of ambidexterity in the meagre +notices which have come down to us of the greater "prodigies," I begged +the late Mr. Bidder, Q.C., and Mr. Blyth, of Edinburgh (the well-known +civil engineer and perhaps the best living English representative of +what we may call the calculating diathesis), to tell me whether their +left hands possessed more than usual power. And I find that in +these--the only two cases in which I have been able to make +inquiry--there is somewhat more of dextro-cerebral capacity than in the +mass of mankind. + +We may now pass on to review some further instances of subliminal +co-operation with conscious thought;--first looking about us for any +cases comparable in _definiteness_ with the preceding; and then +extending our view over the wider and vaguer realm of creative and +artistic work. + +But before we proceed to the highly-specialised senses of hearing and +sight, we must note the fact that there are cases of subliminal +intensification of those perceptions of a less specialised kind which +underlie our more elaborate modes of cognising the world around us. The +sense of the _efflux of time_, and the sense of _weight_, or of +muscular resistance, are amongst the profoundest elements in our organic +being. And the sense of time is indicated in several ways as a largely +subliminal faculty. There is much evidence to show that it is often more +exact in men sleeping than in men awake, and in men hypnotised than in +men sleeping. The records of spontaneous somnambulism are full of +predictions made by the subject as to his own case, and accomplished, +presumably by self-suggestion, but without help from clocks, at the +precise minute foretold. Or this hidden knowledge may take shape in the +imagery of dream, as in a case published by Professor Royce, of +Harvard,[30] where his correspondent describes "a dream in which I saw +an enormous flaming clock-dial with the hands standing at 2.20. Awaking +immediately, I struck a match, and upon looking at my watch found it was +a few seconds past 2.20." + +Similarly we find cases where the uprush of subliminal faculty is +concerned with the deep organic sensation of muscular resistance. We +need not postulate any direct or supernormal knowledge,--but merely a +subliminal calculation, such as we see in the case of "arithmetical +prodigies," expressing itself supraliminally, sometimes in a phantasmal +picture, sometimes as a mere "conviction," without sensory clothing.[31] + +Passing on here to subliminal products of _visual_ type, I am glad to be +able to quote the following passage which seems to me to give in germ +the very theory for which I am now contending on the authority of one of +the most lucid thinkers of the last generation. + +The passage occurs in an article by Sir John Herschel on "Sensorial +Vision," in his _Familiar Lectures on Scientific Subjects_, 1816. Sir +John describes some experiences of his own, "which consist in the +involuntary production of visual impressions, into which geometrical +regularity of form enters as the leading character, and that, under +circumstances which altogether preclude any explanation drawn from a +possible regularity of structure in the retina or the optic nerve."[32] +Twice these patterns appeared in waking daylight hours,--with no illness +or discomfort at the time or afterwards. More frequently they appeared +in darkness; but still while Sir John was fully awake. They appeared +also twice when he was placed under chloroform; "and I should observe +that I never lost my consciousness of being awake and in full +possession of my mind, though quite insensible to what was going on.... +Now the question at once presents itself--What _are_ these Geometrical +Spectres? and how, and in what department of the bodily or mental +economy do they originate? They are evidently not dreams. The mind is +not dormant, but active and conscious of the direction of its thoughts; +while these things obtrude themselves on notice, and by calling +attention to them, _direct_ the train of thought into a channel it would +not have taken of itself.... If it be true that the conception of a +regular geometrical pattern implies the exercise of thought and +intelligence, it would almost seem that in such cases as those above +adduced we have evidence of a _thought_, an intelligence, working within +our own organisation distinct from that of our own personality." And Sir +John further suggests that these complex figures, entering the mind in +this apparently arbitrary fashion, throw light upon "the suggestive +principle" to which "we must look for much that is determinant and +decisive of our volition when carried into action." "It strikes me as +not by any means devoid of interest to contemplate cases where, in a +matter so entirely abstract, so completely devoid of any moral or +emotional bearing, as the production of a geometrical figure, we, as it +were, seize upon that principle in the very act, and in the performance +of its office." + +From my point of view, of course, I can but admire the acumen which +enabled this great thinker to pierce to the root of the matter by the +aid of so few observations. He does not seem to have perceived the +connection between these "schematic phantasms," to borrow a phrase from +Professor Ladd,[33] and the hallucinatory figures of men or animals seen +in health or in disease. But even from his scanty data his inference +seems to me irresistible;--"we have evidence of a _thought_, an +intelligence, working within our own organisation, distinct from that of +our own personality." I shall venture to claim him as the first +originator of the theory to which the far fuller evidence now accessible +had independently led myself. + +Cases observed as definitely as those just quoted are few in number; and +I must pass on into a much trodden--even a confusedly +trampled--field;--the records, namely, left by eminent men as to the +element of subconscious mentation, which was involved in their best +work. Most of these stories have been again and again repeated;--and +they have been collected on a large scale in a celebrated work,--to me +especially distasteful, as containing what seems to me the loose and +extravagant parody of important truth. It is not my business here to +criticise Dr. Von Hartmann's _Philosophy of the Unconscious_ in detail; +but I prefer to direct my readers' attention to a much more modest +volume, in which a young physician has put together the results of a +direct inquiry addressed to some Frenchmen of distinction as to their +methods especially of imaginative work.[34] I quote a few of the replies +addressed to him, beginning with some words from M. Sully Prudhomme,--at +once psychologist and poet,--who is here speaking of the subconscious +clarification of a chain of abstract reasoning. "I have sometimes +suddenly understood a geometrical demonstration made to me a year +previously without having in any way directed thereto my attention or +will. It seemed that the mere spontaneous ripening of the conceptions +which the lectures had implanted in my brain had brought about within me +this novel grasp of the proof." + +With this we may compare a statement of Arago's--"Instead of obstinately +endeavouring to understand a proposition at once, I would admit its +truth provisionally;--and next day I would be astonished at +understanding thoroughly that which seemed all dark before." + +Condillac similarly speaks of finding an incomplete piece of work +finished next day in his head. + +Somewhat similarly, though in another field, M. Retté, a poet, tells Dr. +Chabaneix that he falls asleep in the middle of an unfinished stanza, +and when thinking of it again in the morning finds it completed. And M. +Vincent d'Indy, a musical composer, says that he often has on waking a +fugitive glimpse of a musical effect which (like the memory of a dream) +needs a strong immediate concentration of mind to keep it from +vanishing. + +De Musset writes, "On ne travaille pas, on écoute, c'est comme un +inconnu qui vous parle à l'oreille." + +Lamartine says, "Ce n'est pas moi qui pense; ce sont mes idées qui +pensent pour moi." + +Rémy de Gourmont: "My conceptions rise into the field of consciousness +like a flash of lightning or like the flight of a bird." + +M. S. writes: "In writing these dramas I seemed to be a spectator at the +play; I gazed at what was passing on the scene in an eager, wondering +expectation of what was to follow. And yet I felt that all this came +from the depth of my own being." + +Saint-Saens had only to listen, as Socrates to his Dæmon; and M. Ribot, +summing up a number of similar cases, says: "It is the unconscious which +produces what is vulgarly called inspiration. This condition is a +positive fact, accompanied with physical and psychical characteristics +peculiar to itself. Above all, it is impersonal and involuntary, it acts +like an instinct, when and how it chooses; it may be wooed, but cannot +be compelled. Neither reflection nor will can supply its place in +original creation.... The bizarre habits of artists when composing tend +to create a special physiological condition,--to augment the cerebral +circulation in order to provoke or to maintain the unconscious +activity." + +In what precise way the cerebral circulation is altered we can hardly at +present hope to know. Meantime a few psychological remarks fall more +easily within our reach. + +In the first place, we note that a very brief and shallow submergence +beneath the conscious level is enough to infuse fresh vigour into +supraliminal trains of thought. Ideas left to mature unnoticed for a few +days, or for a single night, seem to pass but a very little way beneath +the threshold. They represent, one may say, the first stage of a process +which, although often inconspicuous, is not likely to be +discontinuous,--the sustenance, namely, of the supraliminal life by +impulse or guidance from below. + +In the second place, we see in some of these cases of deep and fruitful +_abstraction_ a slight approach to duplication of personality. John +Stuart Mill, intent on his _Principles of Logic_, as he threaded the +crowds of Leadenhall Street, recalls certain morbid cases of hysterical +_distraction_;--only that with Mill the process was an integrative one +and not a dissolutive one--a gain and not a loss of power over the +organism. + +And thirdly, in some of these instances we see the man of genius +achieving spontaneously, and unawares, much the same result as that +which is achieved for the hypnotic subject by deliberate artifice. For +he is in fact co-ordinating the waking and the sleeping phases of his +existence. He is carrying into sleep the knowledge and the purpose of +waking hours;--and he is carrying back into waking hours again the +benefit of those profound assimilations which are the privilege of +sleep. Hypnotic suggestion aims at co-operations of just this kind +between the waking state in which the suggestion, say, of some +functional change, is planned and the sleeping state in which that +change is carried out,--with benefit persisting anew into waking life. +The hypnotic trance, which is a _developed_ sleep, thus accomplishes for +the ordinary man what ordinary sleep accomplishes for the man of genius. + +The coming chapters on Sleep and Hypnotism will illustrate this point +more fully. But I may here anticipate my discussion of _dreams_ by +quoting one instance where dreams, self-suggested by waking will, +formed, as one may say, an integral element in distinguished genius. + +The late Robert Louis Stevenson, being in many ways a typical man of +genius, was in no way more markedly gifted with that integrating +faculty--that increased power over all strata of the personality--which +I have ascribed to genius, than in his relation to his dreams (see "A +Chapter on Dreams" in his volume _Across the Plains_). Seldom has the +essential analogy between dreams and inspiration been exhibited in such +a striking way. His dreams had always (he tells us) been of great +vividness, and often of markedly _recurrent_ type. But the point of +interest is that, when he began to write stories for publication, the +"little people who managed man's internal theatre" understood the change +as well as he. + + When he lay down to prepare himself for sleep, he no longer sought + amusement, but printable and profitable tales; and after he had + dozed off in his box-seat, his little people continued their + evolutions with the same mercantile designs.... For the most part, + whether awake or asleep, he is simply occupied--he or his little + people--in consciously making stories for the market.... + + The more I think of it, the more I am moved to press upon the world + my question: "Who are the Little People?" They are near connections + of the dreamer's, beyond doubt; they share in his financial worries + and have an eye to the bank book; they share plainly in his + training; ... they have plainly learned like him to build the + scheme of a considerate story and to arrange emotion in progressive + order; only I think they have more talent; and one thing is beyond + doubt,--they can tell him a story piece by piece, like a serial, + and keep him all the while in ignorance of where they aim.... + + That part [of my work] which is done while I am sleeping is the + Brownies' part beyond contention; but that which is done when I am + up and about is by no means necessarily mine, since all goes to + show the Brownies have a hand in it even then. + +Slight and imperfect as the above statistics and observations admittedly +are, they seem to me to point in a more useful direction than do some of +the facts collected by that modern group of anthropologists who hold +that genius is in itself a kind of nervous malady, a disturbance of +mental balance, akin to criminality or even to madness. + +It is certainly not true, as I hold, either that the human race in +general is nervously degenerating, or that nervous degeneration tends to +a maximum in its most eminent members. But it can be plausibly +maintained that the proportion of nervous to other disorders tends to +increase. And it is certain that not nervous degeneration but nervous +change or development is now proceeding among civilised peoples more +rapidly than ever before, and that this self-adaptation to wider +environments must inevitably be accompanied in the more marked cases by +something of nervous instability. And it is true also that from one +point of view these changes might form matter for regret; and that in +order to discern what I take to be their true meaning we have to regard +the problem of human evolution from a somewhat unfamiliar standpoint. + +The nervous system is probably tending in each generation to become more +complex and more delicately ramified. As is usual when any part of an +organism is undergoing rapid evolutive changes, this nervous progress is +accompanied with some instability. Those individuals in whom the +hereditary or the acquired change is the most rapid are likely also to +suffer most from a _perturbation which masks evolution_--an occasional +appearance of what may be termed "nervous sports" of a useless or even +injurious type. Such are the fancies and fanaticisms, the bizarre likes +and dislikes, the excessive or aberrant sensibilities, which have been +observed in some of the eminent men whom Lombroso discusses in his book +on the Man of Genius. Their truest analogue, as we shall presently see +more fully, lies in the oddities or morbidities of sentiment or +sensation which so often accompany the development of the human organism +into its full potencies, or precede the crowning effort by which a fresh +organism is introduced into the world. + +Such at least is my view; but the full acceptance of this view must +depend upon some very remote and very speculative considerations bearing +upon the nature and purport of the whole existence and evolution of man. +Yet however remote and speculative the thesis which I defend may be, it +is not one whit remoter or more speculative than the view which, _faute +de mieux_, is often tacitly assumed by scientific writers. + +In our absolute ignorance of the source from whence life came, we have +no ground for assuming that it was a purely planetary product, or that +its unknown potentialities are concerned with purely planetary ends. It +would be as rash for the biologist to assume that life on earth can only +point to generations of further life on earth as it would have been for +some cosmic geologist to assume--before the appearance of life on +earth--that geological forces must needs constitute all the activity +which could take place on this planet. + +Since the germ of life appeared on earth, its history has been a history +not only of gradual _self-adaptation_ to a known environment, but of +gradual _discovery_ of an environment, always there, but unknown. What +we call its primitive simple irritability was in fact a dim panæsthesia; +a potential faculty, as yet unconscious of all the stimuli to which it +had not yet learnt to respond. As these powers of sensation and of +response have developed, they have gradually revealed to the living germ +environments of which at first it could have no conception. + +It is probable, to begin with, that the only environment which the vast +majority of our ancestors knew was simply hot water. For the greater +part of the time during which life has existed on earth it would have +been thought chimerical to suggest that we could live in anything else. +It was a great day for us when an ancestor crawled up out of the +slowly-cooling sea;--or say rather when a previously unsuspected +capacity for directly breathing air gradually revealed the fact that we +had for long been breathing air in the water;--and that we were living +in the midst of a vastly extended environment,--the atmosphere of the +earth. It was a great day again when another ancestor felt on his +pigment-spot the solar ray;--or say rather when a previously unsuspected +capacity for perceiving light revealed the fact that we had for long +been acted upon by light as well as by heat; and that we were living in +the midst of a vastly extended environment,--namely, the illumined +Universe that stretches to the Milky Way. It was a great day when the +first skate (if skate he were) felt an unknown virtue go out from him +towards some worm or mudfish;--or say rather when a previously +unsuspected capacity for electrical excitation demonstrated the fact +that we had long been acted upon by electricity as well as by heat and +by light; and that we were living in an inconceivable and limitless +environment,--namely, an ether charged with infinite energy, overpassing +and interpenetrating alike the last gulf of darkness and the extremest +star. All this,--phrased perhaps in some other fashion,--all men admit +as true. May we not then suppose that there are yet other environments, +other interpretations, which a further awakening of faculty still +subliminal is yet fated by its own nascent response to discover? Will it +be alien to the past history of evolution if I add: It was a great day +when the first thought or feeling flashed into some mind of beast or man +from a mind distant from his own?--when a previously unsuspected +capacity of telepathic percipience revealed the fact that we had long +been acted upon by telepathic as well as by sensory stimuli; and that we +were living in an inconceivable and limitless environment,--a +thought-world or spiritual universe charged with infinite life, and +interpenetrating and overpassing all human spirits,--up to what some +have called World-Soul, and some God? + +And now it will be easily understood that one of the corollaries from +the conception of a constantly widening and deepening perception of an +environment infinite in infinite ways, will be that the faculties which +befit the material environment have absolutely no primacy, unless it be +of the merely chronological kind, over those faculties which science has +often called _by-products_, because they have no manifest tendency to +aid their possessor in the struggle for existence in a material world. +The higher gifts of genius--poetry, the plastic arts, music, philosophy, +pure mathematics--all of these are precisely as much in the central +stream of evolution--are perceptions of new truth and powers of new +action just as decisively predestined for the race of man--as the +aboriginal Australian's faculty for throwing a boomerang or for swarming +up a tree for grubs. There is, then, about those loftier interests +nothing exotic, nothing accidental; they are an intrinsic part of that +ever-evolving response to our surroundings which forms not only the +planetary but the cosmic history of all our race. + +What inconsistencies, what absurdities, underlie that assumption that +evolution means nothing more than the survival of animals fittest to +conquer enemies and to overrun the earth. On that bare hypothesis the +genus _homo_ is impossible to explain. No one really attempts to explain +him except on the tacit supposition that Nature somehow tended to evolve +intelligence--somehow needed to evolve joy; was not satisfied with such +an earth-over-runner as the rabbit, or such an invincible conqueror as +the influenza microbe. But _how much_ intelligence, _what_ kind of joy +Nature aimed at--is this to be left to be settled by the instinct of +_l'homme sensuel moyen?_ or ought we not rather to ask of the best +specimens of our race what it is that they live for?--whether they +labour for the meat that perisheth, or for Love and Wisdom? To more and +more among mankind the need of food is supplied with as little conscious +effort as the need of air; yet these are often the very men through whom +evolution is going on most unmistakably--who are becoming the typical +figures of the swiftly-changing race. + +Once more. If this point of view be steadily maintained, we shall gain +further light on some of those strangenesses and irregularities of +genius which have led to its paradoxical juxtaposition with insanity as +a divergence from the accepted human type. The distinctive +characteristic of genius is the large infusion of the subliminal in its +mental output; and one characteristic of the subliminal in my view is +that it is in closer relation than the supraliminal to the spiritual +world, and is thus nearer to the primitive source and extra-terrene +initiation of life. And earthly Life itself--embodied as it is in +psycho-physically individualised forms--is, on the theory advanced in +these pages, a product or characteristic of the etherial or metetherial +and not of the gross material world. Thence in some unknown fashion it +came; there in some unknown fashion it subsists even throughout its +earthly manifestation; thither in some unknown fashion it must after +earthly death return. If indeed the inspirations of genius spring from +a source one step nearer to primitive reality than is that specialised +consensus of faculties which natural selection has lifted above the +threshold for the purposes of working-day existence, then surely we need +not wonder if the mind and frame of man should not always suffice for +smooth and complete amalgamation; if some prefiguration of faculties +adapted to a later stage of being should mar the symmetry of the life of +earth. + +And thus there may really be something at times _incommensurable_ +between the inspirations of genius and the results of conscious logical +thought. Just as the calculating boy solves his problems by methods +which differ from the methods of the trained mathematician, so in +artistic matters also that "something of strangeness" which is in "all +excellent beauty," may be the expression of a real difference between +subliminal and supraliminal modes of perception. I cannot help thinking +that such a difference is perceptible in subliminal relations to speech; +that the subliminal self will sometimes surpass conscious effort, if it +is treating speech as a branch of Art, in Poetry;--or else in some sense +will fall short of conscious effort, when it is merely using words as an +unavoidable medium to express ideas which common speech was hardly +designed to convey. + +Thus, on the one hand, when in presence of one of the great verbal +achievements of the race--say the _Agamemnon_ of Æschylus--it is hard to +resist the obscure impression that some form of intelligence other than +supraliminal reason or conscious selection has been at work. The result +less resembles the perfection of rational choice among known data than +the imperfect presentation of some scheme based on perceptions which we +cannot entirely follow. + +But, on the other hand, even though words may thus be used by genius +with something of the mysterious remoteness of music itself, it seems to +me that our subliminal mentation is less closely bound to the faculty of +speech than is our supraliminal. There is a phrase in common use which +involves perhaps more of psychological significance than has yet been +brought out. Of all which we can call genius, or which we can ally with +genius--of art, of love, of religious emotion--it is common to hear men +say that they _transcend the scope of speech_. Nor have we any reason +for regarding this as a mere vague sentimental expression. + +There is no _a priori_ ground for supposing that language will have the +power to express all the thoughts and emotions of man. It may indeed be +maintained that the inevitable course of its development tends to +exhibit more and more clearly its inherent limitations. "Every +language," it has been said, "begins as poetry and ends as algebra." To +use the terms employed in this work, every language begins as a +subliminal uprush and ends as a supraliminal artifice. Organic instincts +impel to primitive ejaculation; unconscious laws of mind shape early +grammar. But even in our own day--and we are still in the earth's +infancy--this naïveté of language is fast disappearing. The needs of +science and of commerce have become dominant, and although our +vocabulary, based as it is on concrete objects and direct sensations, is +refined for the expression of philosophic thought, still we cannot +wonder if our supraliminal manipulation leaves us with an instrument +less and less capable of expressing the growing complexity of our whole +psychical being. + +What then, we may ask, is the attitude and habit of the subliminal self +likely to be with regard to language? Is it not probable that other +forms of symbolism may retain a greater proportional importance among +those submerged mental operations which have not been systematised for +the convenience of communication with other men? + +I think that an intelligent study of visual and motor automatism will +afford us sufficient proof that symbolism, at any rate pictorial +symbolism, becomes increasingly important as we get at the contents of +those hidden strata. Telepathic messages, especially, which form, as we +shall see, the special prerogative or characteristic of subliminal +communication, seem to be conveyed by vague impression or by inward or +externalised picture oftener than by articulate speech. And I may so far +anticipate later discussion of _automatic writings_ (whether +self-inspired or telepathic) as to point out a curious linguistic +quality which almost all such writings share. The "messages" of a number +of automatists, taken at random, will be sure to resemble each other +much more closely than do the supraliminal writings of the same persons. +Quite apart from their general correspondence in _ideas_--which belongs +to another branch of our subject--there is among the automatic writings +of quite independent automatists a remarkable correspondence of literary +style. There is a certain quality which reminds one of a _translation_, +or of the compositions of a person writing in a language which he is not +accustomed to talk. These characteristics appear at once in automatic +script, even of the incoherent kind; they persist when there is no +longer any dream-like incoherence; they are equally marked, even when, +as often happens, the automatic script surpasses in intelligence, and +even in its own kind of eloquence, the products of the waking or +supraliminal mind. + +And side by side and intercurrent with these written messages come those +strange meaningless arabesques which have been baptized as +"spirit-drawings"--though they rarely show any clear trace of the +operation of an external intelligence.[35] These complex and fanciful +compositions--often absolutely automatic--appear to me like a stammering +or rudimentary symbolism; as though the subliminal intelligence were +striving to express itself through a vehicle perhaps more congenial to +its habits than articulate language. + +Returning, then, from these illustrations drawn from actual _automatism_ +to our proper subject of _genius_,--that happy mixture of subliminal +with supraliminal faculty,--we may ask ourselves in what kind of +subliminal uprush this hidden habit of wider symbolism, of +self-communion beyond the limits of speech, will be likely to manifest +itself above the conscious threshold. + +The obvious answer to this question lies in the one word Art. The +inspiration of Art of all kinds consists in the invention of precisely +such a wider symbolism as has been above adumbrated. I am not speaking, +of course, of symbolism of a forced and mechanical kind--symbolism +designed and elaborated as such--but rather of that pre-existent but +hidden concordance between visible and invisible things, between matter +and thought, between thought and emotion, which the plastic arts, and +music, and poetry, do each in their own special field discover and +manifest for human wisdom and joy. + +In using these words, I must repeat, I am far from adopting the formulæ +of any special school. The symbolism of which I speak implies nothing of +mysticism. Nor indeed, in my view, can there be any real gulf or deep +division between so-called realistic and idealistic schools. All that +exists is continuous; nor can Art symbolise any one aspect of the +universe without also implicitly symbolising aspects which lie beyond. + +And thus in the Arts we have symbolism at every stage of transparency +and obscurity; from symbolisms which merely summarise speech to +symbolisms which transcend it. Sometimes, as with Music, it is worse +than useless to press for too close an interpretation. Music marches, +and will march for ever, through an ideal and unimaginable world. Her +melody may be a mighty symbolism, but it is a symbolism to which man has +lost the key. Poetry's material, on the other hand, is the very language +which she would fain transcend. But her utterance must be subliminal and +symbolic, if it is to be poetry indeed; it must rise (as has been +already hinted) from a realm profounder than deliberate speech; it must +come charged, as Tennyson has it, with that "charm in words, a charm no +words can give." + +Here, too, we must dwell for a moment upon another and higher kind of +internal visualisation. I have spoken of the arithmetical prodigy as +possessing a kind of internal blackboard, on which he inscribes with +ease and permanence his imaginary memoranda. But blackboards are not the +only surfaces on which inscriptions can be made. There are other +men--prodigies of a different order--whose internal _tabula_ is not of +blackened wood, but of canvas or of marble; whose inscriptions are not +rows of Arabic numerals but living lines of colour, or curves of +breathing stone. Even the most realistic art is something more than +transcript and calculation; and for art's higher imaginative +achievements there must needs be moments of inward idealisation when +visible beauty seems but the token and symbol of beauty unrevealed; when +Praxiteles must "draw from his own heart the archetype of the Eros that +he made;" when Tintoret must feel with Heraclitus that "whatsoever we +see waking is but deadness, and whatsoever sleeping, is but dream." + +But when we reach this point we have begun (as I say) to transcend the +special province to which, in Chapter I, I assigned the title of +_genius_. I there pointed out that the influence of the subliminal on +the supraliminal might conveniently be divided under three main heads. +When the subliminal mentation co-operates with and supplements the +supraliminal, without changing the apparent phase of personality, we +have _genius_. When subliminal operations change the apparent phase of +personality from the state of waking in the direction of trance, we have +_hypnotism_. When the subliminal mentation forces itself up through the +supraliminal, without amalgamation, as in crystal-vision, automatic +writing, etc., we have _sensory or motor automatism_. In accordance with +this definition, the _content_ of the inspirations of genius is supposed +to be of the same general type as the content of ordinary thought. We +have regarded genius as crystallising fluid ideas; or, if you will, as +concentrating and throwing upwards in its clear fountain a maze of +subterranean streams. But we have not regarded it as modifying, in such +operation, the ordinary alert wakefulness of the thinker, nor as +providing bun with any fresh knowledge, obtainable by supernormal +methods alone. + +It is plain, however, that such distinctions as those which I have drawn +between genius, trance, automatism, cannot possibly be rigid or +absolute. They are distinctions made for convenience between different +phases of what must really be a continuous process--namely, the +influence of the Self below the threshold upon the Self above it. +Between each of these definite phases all kinds of connections and +intermediate stages must surely exist. + +Connections between _trance_ and _automatism_, indeed, are obvious +enough. The difficulty has rather lain in their clear separation. +Trance, when habitual, is pretty sure to lead to automatic speech or +writing. Automatism, when prolonged, is similarly apt to induce a state +of trance. + +The links between _Genius_ and these cognate states are of a less +conspicuous kind. They do, however, exist in such variety as to confirm +in marked fashion the analogies suggested above. + +And first, as to the connection between genius and automatism, one may +say that just as anger is a brief madness, so the flash of Genius is +essentially a brief automatism. + +Wordsworth's moments of inspiration, when, as he says, + + "Some lovely image in the song rose up + Full-formed, like Venus rising from the sea," + +were in effect moments of automatic utterance; albeit of utterance held +fast in immediate co-operation with the simultaneous workings of the +supraliminal self. Such a sudden poetic creation, like the calculating +boy's announcement of the product of two numbers, resembles the sudden +rush of planchette or pencil, in haste to scrawl some long-wished-for +word. + +Now extend this momentary automatism a little further. We come then to +what is called the faculty of improvisation. How much is meant by this +term? Is the extempore oration, "the unpremeditated lay," in truth a +subliminal product? or have we to do merely with the rapid exercise of +ordinary powers? + +In the first place, it is clear that much of what is called +improvisation is a matter of memory. The so-called secondary automatism +which enables the pianist to play a known piece without conscious +attention passes easily into improvisations which the player himself may +genuinely accept as original; but which really consist of remembered +fragments united by conventional links of connection. Thus also the +orator, "thinking on his legs," trusts himself at first to the automatic +repetition of a few stock phrases, but gradually finds that long periods +flow unforeseen and unremembered from his tongue. + +We thus get beyond the range of stereotyped synergies, of habituations +of particular groups of nerve-centres to common action. There is some +adaptability and invention; some new paths are traversed; adjustments +are made for which no mere recurrence to old precedents will suffice. + +The problem here resembles that well-known difficulty of explaining what +goes on during the restoration or "substitution" of function after an +injury to the brain. In that case, the brain-elements which remain +uninjured slowly assume functions which they apparently never exercised +before,--rearranging paths of cerebral communication in order to get the +old efficiency out of the damaged and diminished brain-material. This +recovery is not rapid like an extemporisation, but gradual, like a +healing or re-growth, and it therefore does not suggest an intelligent +control so much as a physiological process, like the re-budding on a +certain pre-ordained pattern of the severed claw of a crab. Of course +this restoration of brain-functions is inexplicable, as all growth is at +present inexplicable. We may call it indeed with some reason the highest +process of human growth. So viewed, it forms a kind of middle term +between ordinary growth of bone or muscle, always on a predetermined +plan, and that sudden creation of new cerebral connections or pathways +which is implied in an inspiration of genius. Such a juxtaposition need +not weaken my claim that the inspirations of genius represent a +co-operant stream of submerged mentation, fully as developed in its own +way as the mentation of which we are conscious above the threshold. The +nature and degree of subliminal faculty must of course be judged by its +highest manifestations. And this analogy between the hidden operations +of _genius_ and of _growth_ would rather support me in regarding organic +growth also as controlled by something of intelligence or memory, which +under fitting conditions--as in the hypnotic trance--may be induced to +co-operate with the waking will. + +Moreover, the talent of improvisation, which suggested these analogies, +will sometimes act much more persistently than in the case of the orator +or the musician. There is reason to believe (both from internal style +and from actual statements) that it plays a large part in imaginative +literature. Various passages from George Sand's life-history, +corroborated by the statements of other persons familiar with her +methods of working, reveal in her an unusual vigour and fertility of +literary outflow going on in an almost dream-like condition; a condition +midway between the actual inventive dreams of R. L. Stevenson and the +conscious labour of an ordinary man's composition. + +What George Sand felt in the act of writing was a continuous and +effortless flow of ideas, sometimes with and sometimes without an +apparent _externalisation_ of the characters who spoke in her romances. +And turning to another author, as sane and almost as potent as George +Sand herself, we find a phenomenon which would have suggested to us +actual insanity if observed in a mind less robust and efficient. If the +allusions to the apparent independence of Dickens's characters which are +scattered through his letters be read with our related facts in view, it +will no longer be thought that they are intended as a mystification. +Mrs. Gamp, his greatest creation, spoke to him, he tells us (generally +in church) as with an inward monitory voice. + +And note further that as scientific introspection develops we are likely +to receive fuller accounts of these concurrent mental processes, these +partial externalisations of the creatures of the romancer's brain. One +such account, both definite and elaborate, has been published by M. +Binet in _L'Année Psychologique_ for 1894.[36] + +This account,--contributed as serious evidence, as M. Binet's long +article shows,--is thoroughly concordant with several other cases +already known to us. It comes midway between Stevenson's dreams and the +hysteric's _idées fixes_. + +I have thus far endeavoured to show that Genius represents not only the +crystallisation of ideas already existing in floating form in the +supraliminal intelligence, but also an independent, although concurrent, +stream of mentation, spreading often to wider range, although still +concerned with matters in themselves cognisable by the normal +intelligence. + +Let us proceed to push the inquiry a step further. It has been claimed +in this work for subliminal uprushes generally that they often contain +knowledge which no ordinary method of research could acquire. Is this +supernormal knowledge--we ought now to ask--ever represented in the +uprushes to which we give the name of Genius? + +What is the relation, in short, of the man of Genius to the sensitive? + +If the man of Genius be, as I have urged, on the whole the completest +type of humanity, and if the sensitive's special gift be in itself one +of the most advanced forms of human faculty, ought not the inspirations +of genius to bring with them flashes of supernormal knowledge as +intimate as those which the sensitive--perhaps in other respects a +commonplace person--from time to time is privileged to receive? + +Some remarkable instances of this kind undoubtedly do exist. The most +conspicuous and most important of all cannot, from motives of reverence, +be here discussed. Nor will I dwell upon other founders of religions, or +on certain traditional saints or sages. But among historical characters +of the first mark the names of Socrates and of Joan of Arc are enough to +cite. I believe that the monitions of the Dæmon of Socrates--the +subliminal self of a man of transcendent genius--have in all probability +been described to us with literal truth: and did in fact convey to that +great philosopher precisely the kind of telæsthetic or precognitive +information which forms the sensitive's privilege to-day. We have thus +in Socrates the ideal unification of human powers. + +It must, however, be admitted that such complete unification is not the +general rule for men of genius; that their inspirations generally stop +short of telepathy or of telæsthesia. I think we may explain this +limitation somewhat as follows. The man of genius is what he is by +virtue of possessing a readier communication than most men possess +between his supraliminal and his subliminal self. From his subliminal +self, he can only draw what it already possesses; and we must not assume +as a matter of course that the subliminal region of any one of us +possesses that particular sensitivity--that specific transparency--which +can receive and register _definite facts_ from the unseen. _That_ may be +a gift which stands as much alone--in independence of other gifts or +faculties--in the subliminal region as, say, a perfect musical ear in +the supraliminal. The man of genius may draw much from those hidden +wells of being without seeing reflected therein any actual physical +scene in the universe beyond his ordinary ken. + +And yet neither must we hastily assume that because the man of genius +gets no _definite_ impression of a world beyond our senses he does not +therefore get any _true_ impression, which is all his own. + +I believe, on the contrary, that true, though vague, impressions of a +world beyond the range of sense are actually received--I do not say by +all men of genius, but by men of genius of certain types.[37] + +A dim but genuine consciousness of the spiritual environment; that (it +seems) is the degree of revelation which artistic or philosophic genius +is capable of conferring. Subliminal uprushes, in other words, so far as +they are intellectual, tend to become _telæsthetic_. They bring with +them indefinite intimations of what I hold to be the great truth that +the human spirit is essentially capable of a deeper than sensorial +perception, of a direct knowledge of facts of the universe outside the +range of any specialised organ or of any planetary view. + +But this conclusion points the way to a speculation more important +still. Telæsthesia is not the only spiritual law, nor are subliminal +uprushes affairs of the intellect alone. Beyond and above man's innate +power of world-wide perception, there exists also that universal link of +spirit with spirit which in its minor earthly manifestations we call +telepathy. Our submerged faculty--the subliminal uprushes of genius--can +expand in that direction as well as in the direction of telæsthesia. +The emotional content, indeed, of those uprushes is even profounder and +more important than the intellectual;--in proportion as Love and +Religion are profounder and more important than Science or Art. + +That primary passion, I repeat, which binds life to life, which links us +both to life near and visible and to life imagined but unseen;--_that_ +is no mere organic, no mere planetary impulse, but the inward aspect of +the telepathic law. Love and religion are thus _continuous_; they +represent different phases of one all-pervading mutual gravitation of +souls. The flesh does not conjoin, but dissever; although through its +very severance it suggests a shadow of the union which it cannot bestow. +We have to do here neither with a corporeal nor with a purely human +emotion. Love is the energy of integration which makes a Cosmos of the +Sum of Things. + +But here there is something of controversy to traverse before a revived +Platonic conception of love can hope to be treated by the physiologist +as more than a pedantic jest. And naturally so; since there is no +emotion subliminal over so wide a range of origin,--fed so obscurely by +"all thoughts, all passions, all delights,"--and consequently so +mysterious even to the percipient himself. At one end of its scale love +is based upon an instinct as primitive as the need of nutrition; even if +at the other end it becomes, as Plato has it, the ἑρμεὑον καἱ +διαπορθμεὑον "the Interpreter and Mediator between God and Man." The +controversy as to the planetary or cosmical scope of the passion of Love +is in fact central to our whole subject. + +It will give clearness to the question in dispute if I quote here a +strong expression of each view in turn. For the physiological or +materialist conception of the passion of love,--where love's subliminal +element is held to be of the organic type,--set forth in no light or +cynical spirit, but with the moral earnestness of a modern Lucretius, I +can turn to no better authority than Professor Pierre Janet. The passage +which follows is no mere _boutade_ or paradox; it is a kind of +culminating expression of the theory which regards the supraliminal man +as the normal man, and distrusts all deep disturbance of his accustomed +psychical routine. + + It is commonly said that love is a passion to which man is always + liable, and which may surprise him at any moment of his life from + 15 to 75. This does not seem to me accurate; and a man is not + throughout all his life and at every moment susceptible of falling + in love (_de devenir amoureux_). When a man is in good physical and + moral health, when he has easy and complete command of all his + ideas, he may expose himself to circumstances the most capable of + giving rise to a passion, but he will not feel it. His desires will + be reasonable and obedient to his will, leading the man only so far + as he wishes to go, and disappearing when he wishes to be rid of + them. On the other hand, if a man is morally below the mark + (_malade au moral_),--if in consequence of physical fatigue or + excessive intellectual work, or of violent shocks and prolonged + sorrow, he is exhausted, melancholy, distracted, timid, incapable + of controlling his ideas,--in a word, _depressed_,--then he will + fall in love, or receive the germ of some kind of passion, on the + first and most trivial occasion.... The least thing is then enough; + the sight of some face, a gesture, a word, which previously would + have left us altogether indifferent, strikes us, and becomes the + starting point of a long amorous malady. Or more than this, an + object which had made no impression on us, at a moment when our + mind was healthier and not capable of inoculation, may have left in + us some insignificant memory which reappears in a moment of morbid + receptivity. That is enough; the germ is sown in a favourable soil; + it will develop itself and grow. + + There is at first, as in every virulent malady, a period of + incubation; the new idea passes and repasses in the vague reveries + of the enfeebled consciousness; then seems for a few days to have + disappeared and to leave the mind to recover from its passing + trouble. But the idea has done its work below the surface; it has + become strong enough to shake the body; and to provoke movements + whose origin lies outside the primary consciousness. What is the + surprise of a sensible man when he finds himself piteously + returning beneath the windows of his charmer, whither his wandering + feet have taken him without his knowledge;--or when in the midst of + his daily work he hears his lips murmuring perpetually the + well-known name!... Such is passion in its reality; not as + idealised by fantastic description, but reduced to its essential + psychological characteristics. (_L'Automatisme Psychologique_, p. + 466.) + +On the other side I will appeal to Plato himself, giving a brief sketch +merely of one of the leading passages (_Symposium_, 192-212) where the +Platonic conception of love is set forth.[38] + +Plato begins by recognising, as fully as pessimist or cynic could do, +the absolute inadequacy of what is called on earth the satisfaction of +this profound desire. Lovers who love aright will feel that no physical +nearness can content them, but what _will_ content them they cannot say. +"Their soul," says Plato, "is manifestly desiring something else; and +what it is she cannot tell, only she darkly prophesies thereof and +guesses it from afar. But if Hephæstus with his forging fire were to +stand beside that pair and say: 'Is this what ye desire--to be wholly +one? to be together by night and day?--for I am ready to melt you +together and to make you grow in one, so that from two ye shall become +one only, and in this life shall be undivided, and dying shall die +together, and in the underworld shall be a single soul';--there is no +lover who would not eagerly accept the offer, and acknowledge it as the +expression of the unknown yearning and the fulfilment of the ancient +need." And through the mouth of Diotima, Plato insists that it is an +unfailing sign of true love that its desires are _for ever_; nay, that +love may be even defined as the desire of the _everlasting_ possession +of the good. And in all love's acts he finds the impress of man's +craving for immortality,--for immortality whose only visible image for +us on earth is the birth of children to us as we ourselves decay,--so +that when the slow self-renewal of our own everchanging bodies has worn +out and ceased, we may be renewed in brighter, younger bodies which we +desire to be born to us from whomsoever we find most fair. "And then," +says Plato, rising, as ever, from visible to invisible things, "if +active _bodies_ have so strong a yearning that an endless series of +lovely images of themselves may constitute, as it were, an earthly +immortality for them when they have worn away, how greatly must creative +_souls_ desire that partnership and close communion with other souls as +fair as they may bring to birth a brood of lofty thoughts, poems, +statues, institutions, laws,--the fitting progeny of the soul? + +"And he who in his youth hath the need of these things in him, and grows +to be a godlike man, wanders about in search of a noble and +well-nurtured soul; and finding it, and in presence of that beauty which +he forgets not night or day, brings forth the beautiful which he +conceived long ago; and the twain together tend that which he hath +brought forth, and are bound by a far closer bond than that of earthly +children, since the children which are born to them are fairer and more +immortal far. Who would not choose to have Homer's offspring rather than +any sons or daughters of men? Who would not choose the offspring which +Lycurgus left behind him, to be the very salvation of Lacedæmon and of +Greece? or the children of Solon, whom we call Father of our Laws? or of +other men like these, whether Greeks or barbarians, who by great deeds +that they have done have become the begetters of every kind of +virtue?--ay, and to these men's children have temples been set up, and +never to any other progeny of man...." + +"He, then, who to this end would strive aright, must begin in youth to +seek fair forms, and should learn first to love one fair form only, and +therein to engender noble thoughts. And then he will perceive that the +beauty of one fair form is to the beauty of another near akin; and that +if it be Beauty's self he seek, it were madness not to account the +beauty of all forms as one same thing; and considering this, he will be +the lover of all lovely shapes, and will abate his passion for one shape +alone, despising and deeming it but a little thing. And this will lead +him on to see that the beauty of the soul is far more precious than any +beauty of outward form, so that if he find a fair soul, though it be in +a body which hath but little charm, he will be constant thereunto, and +bring to birth such thoughts as teach and strengthen, till he lead that +soul on to see the beauty of actions and of laws, and how all beauty is +in truth akin, and the body's beauty is but a little matter; and from +actions he will lead him on to sciences, that he may see how sciences +are fair; and looking on the abundance of beauty may no longer be as the +slave or bondman of one beauty or of one law; but setting sail into the +ocean of beauty, and creating and beholding many fair and glorious +thoughts and images in a philosophy without stint or stay, he may thus +at last wax strong and grow, and may perceive that there is one science +only, the science of infinite beauty. + +"For he who hath thus far had intelligence of love, and hath beheld all +fair things in order and aright,--he drawing near to the end of things +lovable shall behold a BEING marvellously fair; for whose sake in truth +it is that all the previous labours have been undergone: One who is from +everlasting, and neither is born nor perisheth, nor can wax nor wane, +nor hath change or turning or alteration of foul and fair; nor can that +beauty be imagined after the fashion of face or hands or bodily parts +and members, nor in any form of speech or knowledge, nor as dwelling in +aught but in itself; neither in beast nor man nor earth nor heaven nor +any other creature; but Beauty only and alone and separate and eternal, +which, albeit all other fair things partake thereof and grow and perish, +itself without change or increase or diminution endures for everlasting. +And whoso being led on and upward by human loves begins to see that +Beauty, he is not far, I say, from reaching the end of all. And surely +then, O Socrates (said that guest from Mantinea), man's life is worth +the living, when he beholds that Primal Fair; which when thou seest it +shall not seem to thee to be made after the fashion of gold or raiment +or those forms of earth,--whom now beholding thou art stricken dumb, and +fain, if it were possible, without thought of meat or drink, wouldst +look and love for ever. What would it be, then, were it granted to any +man to see Very Beauty clear;--incorruptible and undefiled, not mingled +with colour or flesh of man, or with aught that can consume away, but +single and divine? Could man's life, in that vision and beatitude, be +poor or low? or deemest thou not (said she), that then alone it will be +possible for this man, discerning spiritual beauty with those eyes by +which it is spiritually discerned, to beget no shadows of virtue, since +that is no shadow to which he clings, but virtue in very truth, since he +hath the very Truth in his embrace? and begetting and rearing Virtue as +his child, he must needs become the friend of God; and if there be any +man who is immortal, that man is he." + +Between the aspects of love here expressed in extreme terms,--the +planetary aspect, if I may so term it, and the cosmical,--the choice is +momentous. I do not indeed say that in our estimate of love is involved +our estimate of Religion; for Religion should mean the sane response of +the spirit to all that is known of Cosmic Law. But Religion in the sense +in which it is often used,--our emotional and ethical attitude towards +Life Unseen;--this is in reality too closely parallel to Platonic Love +to allow the psychologist who denies reality in the one to assume +reality in the other. For the Platonic lover the image of the Beloved +one--no longer a matter of conscious summons and imagination--has become +the indwelling and instinctive impulse to noble thought and deed. Even +such to a Francis or to a Theresa is the image of the Divinity whom they +adore; and if they claim that sometimes in moments of crisis they feel a +sway, a guidance, a _communicatio idiomatum_ with the Divine, we may +point in reply to the humbler, but more tangible, evidence which assures +us that even between souls still inhabiting and souls who have quitted +the flesh there may exist a telepathic intercommunication and an +impalpable confluence from afar. + +Brief as this survey has been, it has served to indicate that the +psychical type to which we have applied the name of genius may be +recognized in every region of thought and emotion, as in each direction +a man's every-day self may be more or less permeable to subliminal +impulses. Coming, then, to the question, "What is the origin of genius?" +I cannot accept the ordinary explanation that it is a mere "sport" or +mental by-product, occurring as physical "sports" do in the course of +evolution. The view which I hold,--the view which I am here suggesting, +is in some sort a renewal of the old Platonic "reminiscence," in the +light of that fuller knowledge which is common property to-day. I hold +that in the protoplasm or primary basis of all organic life there must +have been an inherent adaptability to the manifestation of all faculties +which organic life has in fact manifested. I hold, of course, that +"sports" or variations occur, which are at present unpredictable, and +which reveal in occasional offspring faculties which their parents +showed no signs of possessing. But I differ from those who hold that the +faculty itself thus manifested is now for the first time initiated in +that stock by some chance combination of hereditary elements. I hold +that it is not initiated, but only revealed; that the "sport" has not +called a new faculty into being, but has merely raised an existing +faculty above the threshold of supraliminal consciousness. + +This view, if pushed back far enough, is no doubt inconsistent with the +way in which evolution is generally conceived. For it denies that all +human faculties must have been evoked by terrene experience. It assumes +a subliminal self, with unknown faculties, originated in some unknown +way, and not merely by contact with the needs which the terrene organism +has had to meet. It thus seems at first sight to be introducing a new +mystery, and to be introducing it in a gratuitous way. + +To this I reply in the first place that so far as the origin of man's +known powers is concerned, no fresh mystery is in fact introduced. All +human powers, to put the thing broadly, have somehow or other to be got +into protoplasm and then got out again. You have to explain first how +they became implicit in the earliest and lowest living thing, and then +how they have become thus far explicit in the latest and highest. All +the faculties of that highest being, I repeat, existed _virtually_ in +the lowest, and in so far as the admitted faculties are concerned, the +difference between my view and the ordinary view may be said to be +little more than a difference as to the sense which that word +_virtually_ is here to assume. + +The real difference between the two views appears when the faculties +which I have called unknown come to be considered. If they are held to +be real, my view is certainly the better able to embrace them. I hold +that telepathy and telæsthesia do in fact exist--telepathy, a +communication between incarnate mind and incarnate mind, and perhaps +between incarnate minds and minds unembodied; telæsthesia, a knowledge +of things terrene which overpasses the limits of ordinary perception, +and which perhaps also achieves an insight into some other than terrene +world. And these faculties, I say, cannot have been acquired by natural +selection, for the preservation of the race, during the process of +terrene evolution; they were (as we may phrase it) the products of +extra-terrene evolution. And if they were so, man's other powers may +well have been so also. The specialised forms of terrene perception were +not real novelties in the universe, but imperfect adaptations of +protoplasm to the manifestation of the indwelling general perceptive +power. The mathematical faculty, for instance (we may, perhaps, say +with Plato), pre-existed. When Dase solved all those sums in his head, +his power of solving them was not a fresh development in his ancestral +stock, but depended on the accidental adaptation of his organism to the +manifestation of the indwelling computative power. I do not indeed +venture to follow Plato in his ontogenetic argument--his claim that the +individual computator has had already an individual training in +computation. I do not say that Dase himself learnt or divined the +multiplication-table in some ideal world. I only say that Dase and all +the rest of us are the spawn or output of some unseen world in which the +multiplication-table is, so to speak, in the air. Dase trailed it after +him, as the poet says of the clouds of glory, when he "descended into +generation" in a humble position at Hamburg. + +In him and in his ancestors were many faculties which were called out by +the struggle for existence, and became supraliminal. But there were many +faculties also which were not thus called out, and which consequently +remained subliminal. To these faculties, as a rule, his supraliminal +self could get no access. But by some chance of evolution--some sport--a +vent-hole was opened at this one point between the different strata of +his being, and a subliminal uprush carried his computative faculty into +the open day. + +Two things, of course, are assumed in this argument for which Science +offers no guarantee. I assume in the man a soul which can draw strength +and grace from a spiritual Universe, and conversely I assume in the +Universe a Spirit accessible and responsive to the soul of man. These +are familiar postulates. Every religion has claimed them in turn; +although every religion in turn has so narrowed their application as +grievously to narrow the evidence available for their support. But that +which religions have claimed for their Founders or for their Saints--and +what is sanctity but the genius of the ethical realm?--Psychology must +claim for every form of spiritual indrawing, every form of spiritual +response; for sleeping vision, for hypnotic rejuvenation, for sensory +and motor automatisms, for trance, for ecstasy. The philosopher who has +cried with Marcus Aurelius "Either Providence or atoms!"--who has +declared that without this basis in the Unseen, "the moral Cosmos would +be reduced to a Chaos";--should he not welcome even the humblest line of +research which fain would gather from every unsolved problem some hint +as to the spiritual law unknown which in time may give the solution of +all? + +We know not in what directions--directions how definitely +predetermined--even physical organisms can vary from the common type. We +know not what amount of energy any given plant or animal can absorb and +incorporate from earth and air and sun. Still less can we predict or +limit the possible variations of the soul, the fulness which it may +receive from the World-Soul, its possible heritage of grace and truth. +But in genius we can watch at each stage the processes of this celestial +nurture. We can imagine the outlook of joyous trustfulness; we can +almost seem, with Wordsworth, to remember the child's soul entering into +the Kingdom of Heaven. Childhood is genius without capacity; it makes +for most of us our best memory of inspiration, and our truest outlook +upon the real, which is the ideal, world. + +From a greater distance we can watch the inward stir of mighty thought, +the same for Æschylus, for Newton, for Virgil;--a stir independent of +worldly agitation; like the swing and libration of the tide-wave across +the ocean, which takes no note of billow or of storm. + +Nay, we can see against the sun "the eagle soaring above the tomb of +Plato," and in Paul, as in Plotinus, we can catch that sense of +self-fulfilment in self-absorption, of rapture, of deliverance, which +the highest minds have bequeathed to us as the heritage of their highest +hours. + +These our spiritual ancestors are no eccentrics nor degenerates; they +have made for us the sanest and most fruitful experiment yet made by +man; they have endeavoured to exalt the human race in a way in which it +can in truth be exalted; they have drawn on forces which exist, and on a +Soul which answers; they have dwelt on those things "by dwelling on +which it is," as Plato has it, "that even God is divine." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +SLEEP + + δλβἱα δ' ἑπαντες αἱσα λυσἱπονον μετανἱσσονται τελευτἁν. + καἱ σὡμα μἑν πἁντων ἑπεται θανἁτὡ περισθενεἱ, + ξὡὁν δ' ἑτι λεἱπεται αἱὡνος εἱδωλον' τὁ γἁρ ἑστι μὁνον + ἑκ θεὡν' εὑδει δἑ πρασσὁντων μελἑων, ἁτἁρ εὑδὁντεσσιν ἑν πολλοἱς ὁνεἱροις + δεἱκνυσι τερπνὡν ἑφἑρποισαν χαλεπὡν τε κρἱσιν. + + --PINDAR. + + +The preceding chapters have carried us two steps upon our way. In +Chapter II. we gained some insight into the structure of human +personality by analysing some of the accidents to which it is subject; +in the third chapter we viewed this personality in its normal waking +state, and considered how that norm should be defined, and in what +manner certain fortunate persons had integrated the personality still +further by utilising uprushes of subliminal faculty to supplement or to +crystallise the products of supraliminal thought. + +The review of these two chapters indicates clearly enough what my next +step must be. It is obvious that in my review of phases or alternations +of personality I have left out of sight the most constant, the most +important alternation of all. I have thus far said nothing of _sleep_. +Yet _that_ change of personality, at least, has been borne in on every +one's notice;--not, certainly, as a morbid curiosity, but as an +essential part of life. + +Let us then consider the specific characteristics of sleep. The +definition of sleep is an acknowledged _crux_ in physiology. And I would +point out that the increased experience of hypnotic sleep which recent +years have afforded has made this difficulty even more striking than +before. A physiological explanation must needs assume that some special +bodily condition,--such, for instance, as the clogging of the brain by +waste-products,--is at least the usual antecedent of sound sleep. But it +is certain, on the other hand, that with a large percentage of persons +profound and prolonged sleep can be induced, in _any_ bodily condition, +by simple suggestion. Hypnosis, indeed (as Wetterstrand and others have +shown) may be prolonged, with actual benefit to the sleeper, far beyond +the point which the spontaneous sleep of a healthy subject ever reaches. +A good subject can be awakened and thrown into hypnosis again almost at +pleasure, and independently of any state either of nutrition or of +fatigue. Such sleep belongs to those phenomena which we may call nervous +if we will, but which we can observe or influence from the psychological +side alone. + +We can hardly hope, from the ordinary data, to arrive at a definition of +sleep more satisfactory than others have reached. We must defer that +attempt until we have collected something more than the ordinary +evidence as to what occurs or does not occur during the abeyance of +waking life. One point, however, is plain at once. We cannot treat +sleep,--as it has generally been treated,--in its purely _negative_ +aspect. We cannot be content merely to dwell, with the common +text-books, on the mere _absence_ of waking faculties;--on the +diminution of external perception, the absence of controlling +intelligence. We must treat sleep _positively_, so far as we can, as a +definite phase of our personality, co-ordinate with the waking phase. +Each phase, as I believe, has been differentiated alike from a primitive +indifference;--from a condition of lowly organisms which merited the +name neither of sleep nor of waking. Nay, if there were to be a contest +as to which state should be deemed primary and which secondary, sleep +might put forward its claim to be regarded as the more primitive phase. +It is sleep rather than vigilance which prenatal and infantile life +suggest; and even for us adults, however much we may associate ourselves +in thought with the waking state alone, that state has at least thus +much of secondary and adventitious that it is maintained for short +periods only, which we cannot artificially lengthen, being plainly +unable to sustain itself without frequent recourse to that fuller influx +of vitality which slumber brings. + +Out of slumber proceeds each fresh arousal and initiation of waking +activities. What other activities may in slumber be aroused and +initiated the evidence to be set forth in this chapter should help us to +say. To some extent at least the abeyance of the supraliminal life must +be the liberation of the subliminal. To some extent the obscuration of +the noonday glare of man's waking consciousness must reveal the +far-reaching faint corona of his unsuspected and impalpable powers. + +Entering, then, upon a review of sleeping faculty, thus inevitably +imperfect, we may best begin from the red end of our spectrum of +consciousness;--the red end which represents the deepest power which +waking effort can exert upon our physical organism. + +Our survey of the efficacy of sleep, indeed, must make its beginning +_beyond_ that limit. For assuredly in sleep some agency is at work which +far surpasses waking efficacy in this respect. It is a fully admitted, +although an absolutely unexplained fact, that the regenerative quality +of healthy sleep is something _sui generis_, which no completeness of +waking quiescence can rival or approach. A few moments of sleep--a mere +blur across the field of consciousness--will sometimes bring a +renovation which hours of lying down in darkness and silence would not +yield. A mere bowing of the head on the breast, if consciousness ceases +for a second or two, may change a man's outlook on the world. At such +moments,--and many persons, like myself, can fully vouch for their +reality,--one feels that what has occurred in one's +organism,--alteration of blood-pressure, or whatever it be,--has been in +some sense discontinuous; that there has been a break in the inward +_régime_, amounting to much more than a mere brief ignoring of stimuli +from without. The break of consciousness is associated in some way with +a potent physiological change. That is to say, even in the case of a +moment of ordinary sleep we already note the appearance of that special +recuperative energy which is familiar in longer periods of sleep, and +which, as we shall presently see, reaches a still higher level in +hypnotic trance. + +This recuperative power, then, lies just beyond the red end of our +spectrum of waking faculty. In that obscure region we note only added +power; an increased control over organic functions at the foundation of +bodily life. But when we pass on within the limits of our spectrum of +waking consciousness;--when we come to control over voluntary muscles, +or to sensory capacity, we find that our comparison between sleeping and +waking faculty is no longer a simple one. On the one hand, there is of +course a general blank and abeyance of control over the realm of waking +energies;--or in partial sleep a mere fantastic parody of those energies +in incoherent dream. On the other hand, we find that sleep is capable of +strange developments,--and that night can sometimes suddenly outdo the +most complex achievements of day. + +Take first the degree of control over the voluntary muscles. In ordinary +sleep this is neither possessed nor desired; in nightmare its loss is +exaggerated, in quasi-hysterical fashion, into an appalling fear; while +in somnambulism,--a kind of new personality developed _ad hoc_,--the +sleeper (as we shall see later on) walks on perilous ridges with steady +feet. I have already said that morbid somnambulism bears to sound sleep +a relation something like that which hysteria bears to normal life. But +between the healthy somnambulist and the subject of nightmare we find +from another point of view a contrast resembling that between the man +of genius and the hysteric. The somnambulist, like the man of genius, +brings into play resources which are beyond ordinary reach. On the other +hand, just as in many hysterics certain ordinary powers of movement have +lapsed below voluntary control, so also the dreamer who dimly wishes to +move a constrained limb is often unable to send thither a sufficient +current of motor energy to effect the desired change of position. That +nightmare inability to move, which we thus feel in dream,--"when neither +he that fleeth can flee, nor he that pursueth pursue,"--that sensation +which both Homer and Virgil have selected as the type of paralysing +bewilderment,[39]--this is just the _aboulia_ of the hysteric;--the +condition when it takes a man half an hour to put on his hat, or when a +woman sits all the morning looking at her knitting, but unable to add a +stitch. + +"Somnambulism," however, is too vague and undefined a term for our +present discussion. It will only be by a comparison with hypnotism, in +the next chapter, that we can hope to get some clearer notion of +"sleep-waking" states. + +Let us pass on to consider _entencephalic sensory faculty_,--"mind's +eye" faculty,--as shown in sleep or dream. Here too we shall find the +same rule to prevail as with motor faculty. That is to say, on the whole +the sensory faculty is of course dimmed and inhibited by sleep; but +there are nevertheless indications of a power subsisting as vividly as +ever, or with even added acuteness. + +Baillarger in France and Griesinger in Germany (both about 1845) were +among the first to call attention to the vivid images which rise before +the internal vision of many persons, between sleep and waking. M. Alfred +Maury, the well-known Greek scholar and antiquary, gave to these images +a few years later the title of _illusions hypnagogiques_, and published +a remarkable series of observations upon himself. Mr. Galton has further +treated of them in his _Inquiry into Human Faculty_; and cases will be +found in _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. i, pp. 390, 473, etc. + +These visions may be _hypnopompic_ as well as _hypnagogic_;--may appear, +that is to say, at the moment when slumber is departing as well as at +the moment when it is coming on;--and in either case they are closely +related to dreams; the "hypnagogic illusions" or pictures being +sometimes repeated in dream (as with Maury), and the hypnopompic +pictures consisting generally in the persistence of some dream-image +into the first moments of waking. In either case they testify to an +intensified power of inward visualisation at a very significant +moment;--a moment which is actually or virtually one of sleep, but which +yet admits of definite comparison with adjacent moments of waking. We +may call the condition one of cerebral or "mind's eye" +hyperæsthesia,--an exalted sensibility of special brain-centres in +response to those unknown internal stimuli which are always giving rise +to similar but fainter inward visions even in broadly waking hours. + +For those who are already good visualisers such phenomena as these, +though striking enough, present no quite unique experience. For bad +visualisers, on the other hand, the vividness of these hypnagogic +pictures may be absolutely a revelation. + +The degree of acuteness, not of the visualising faculty alone, but of +all the senses in dream, is a subject for direct observation, and +even--for persons who can at all control their dreams--for direct +experiment. Some correspondents report a considerable apparent accession +of sensory power in dream. Others again speak of the increased vividness +of dramatic conception, or of what has been called in a hypnotic subject +"objectivation of types." "In each of these dreams," writes one lady, "I +was a man;--in one of them a low brute, in the other a dipsomaniac. I +never had the slightest conception of how such persons felt or thought +until these experiences." Another correspondent speaks of dreaming two +disconnected dreams,--one emotional and one +geometrical,--simultaneously, and of consequent sense of confusion and +fatigue. + +The "Chapter on Dreams," in R. L. Stevenson's volume, _Across the +Plains_ (already referred to in the last chapter), contains a +description of the most successful dream-experiments thus far recorded. +By self-suggestion before sleep Stevenson could secure a visual and +dramatic intensity of dream-representation which furnished him with the +motives for some of his most striking romances. His account, written +with admirable psychological insight, is indispensable to students of +this subject. I am mentioning these well-known phenomena, as the reader +will understand, with a somewhat novel purpose--to show, namely, that +the internal sensory perceptions or imaginative faculty of sleep may +exceed that of vigilance in something the same way as the recuperative +agency of sleep surpasses the _vis medicatrix_ of waking hours. + +I pass on to a less frequent phenomenon, which shows us at once intense +imagination during sleep, and a lasting imprint left by these +imaginations upon the waking organism;--an unintended self-suggestion +which we may compare with Stevenson's voluntary self-suggestion +mentioned just above. + +The permanent result of a dream, I say, is sometimes such as to show +that the dream has not been a mere superficial confusion of past waking +experiences, but has had an unexplained potency of its own,--drawn, like +the potency of hypnotic suggestion, from some depth in our being which +the waking self cannot reach. Two main classes of this kind are +conspicuous enough to be easily recognised--those, namely, where the +dream has led to a "conversion" or marked religious change, and those +where it has been the starting-point of an "insistent idea" or of a fit +of actual insanity.[40] The dreams which convert, reform, change +character and creed, have of course a _primâ facie_ claim to be +considered as something other than ordinary dreams; and their discussion +may be deferred till a later stage of our inquiry. Those, on the other +hand, which suddenly generate an insistent idea of an irrational type +are closely and obviously analogous to post-hypnotic self-suggestions, +which the self that inspired them cannot be induced to countermand. Such +is the dream related by M. Taine,[41] where a gendarme, impressed by an +execution at which he has assisted, dreams that he himself is to be +guillotined, and is afterwards so influenced by the dream that he +attempts suicide. Several cases of this kind have been collected by Dr. +Faure;[42] and Dr. Tissié, in his interesting little work, _Les Rêves_, +has added some curious instances from his own observation. + +A striking illustration may be drawn from the following incident in the +story of Krafft-Ebing's patient,[43] Ilma S., the genuineness of whose +stigmata seems proved by that physician's care in observation, and by +the painfulness of certain experiments performed upon her by students as +practical jokes and against her will:-- + + _May 6th, 1888._--The patient is disturbed to-day. She complains to + the sister of severe pain under the left breast, thinks that the + professor has burnt her in the night, and begs the sister to obtain + a retreat for her in a convent, where she will be secure against + such attacks. The sister's refusal causes a hystero-epileptic + attack. [At length, in the hypnotic trance] the patient gives the + following explanation of the origin of the pain: "Last night an old + man came to me; he looked like a priest and came in company with a + Sister of Charity, on whose collet there was a large golden B. I + was afraid of her. The old man was amiable and friendly. He dipped + a pen in the sister's pocket, and with it wrote a W and B on my + skin under the left breast. Once he dipped his pen badly and made a + blot in the middle of the figure. This spot and the B pain me + severely, but the W does not. The man explained the W as meaning + that I should go to the M church and confess at the W + confessional." + + After this account the patient cried out and said, "There stands + the man again. Now he has chains on his hands." + + When the patient woke into ordinary life she was suffering pain in + the place indicated, where there were "superficial losses of + substance, penetrating to the corium, which have a resemblance to a + reversed W and B," with "a hyperæmic raised spot between the two." + Nowhere in this peculiar neurotrophic alteration of the skin, which + is identical with those previously produced experimentally, are + there traces of inflammation. The pain and the memory of the dream + were removed by the doctor's suggestion; but the dream + self-suggestion to confess at the M church persisted; and the + patient, without knowing why, did actually go and confess to the + priest of her vision. + +In this last case we have a dream playing the part of a powerful +post-hypnotic suggestion. The meaning of this vague term "suggestion" we +shall have to discuss in a later chapter. It is enough to notice here +the great power of a subliminal suggestion which can make an impression +so much stronger not only than the usual evanescent touch of dream, but +than the actual experiences of waking day. + +But this case may also serve to lead us on to further reflections as to +the connection between dream-memory and hypnotic memory, a connection +which points, as we shall presently see, towards the existence of some +subliminal continuity of memory, lying deeper down than the evocable +memory of common life--the stock of conscious reminiscences on which we +can draw at will. + +With regard to memory, as with regard to sensation, we seem in waking +life to be dealing with a selection made for purposes of earthly use. +From the pre-conscious unselective memory which depends on the mere +organisation of living matter, it is the task of consciousness, as it +dawns in each higher organism, to make its own appropriate selection and +to develop into distinctness certain helpful lines of reminiscence. The +question of self-preservation--What must I needs be aware of in order to +escape my foes?--involves the question, What must I needs remember in +order to act upon the facts of which I am aware? The selected currents +of memory follow the selected avenues of sensation; what by disuse I +lose the power of noticing at the time, I also lose the power of +recalling afterwards. + +For simpler organisms this rule may perhaps suffice. Man needs a more +complex formula. For it may happen, as we have already seen, that two or +more phases of personality in one man may each select from the mass of +potential reminiscences a special group of memories of its own. These +special groups, moreover, may bear to one another all kinds of +relations; one may include another, or they may alternate and may be +apparently co-exclusive. + +From these dissociations and alternations of memory there will be many +lessons to learn. The lesson which here presents itself is not the least +important. What is the relation of the sleeping state to these +dissociated, these parallel or concentric memories? Is it the case that +when one memory includes another it is the waking memory--as one might +expect from that state's apparently superior vividness--which shows +itself the deeper, the more comprehensive record? + +The answer of actual experience to these questions is unexpectedly +direct and clear. In every recorded instance--so far at least as my +memory serves me, where there has been any _unification_ between +alternating states, so as to make comparison possible--it is the memory +furthest from waking life whose span is the widest, whose grasp of the +organism's upstored impressions is the most profound. Inexplicable as +this phenomenon has been to observers who have encountered it without +the needed key, the independent observations of hundreds of physicians +and hypnotists have united in affirming its reality. The commonest +instance, of course, is furnished by the ordinary hypnotic trance. The +degree of intelligence, indeed, which finds its way to expression in +that trance or slumber varies greatly in different subjects and at +different times. But whensoever there is enough of alertness to admit of +our forming a judgment, we find that in the hypnotic state there is a +considerable memory--though not necessarily a complete or a reasoned +memory--of the waking state; whereas with most subjects in the waking +state--unless some special command be imposed upon the hypnotic +self--there is no memory whatever of the hypnotic state. In many +hysterical conditions also the same general rule subsists; namely, that +the further we get from the surface the wider is the expanse of memory +which we encounter. + +If all this be true, there are several points on which we may form +expectations definite enough to suggest inquiry. Ordinary sleep is +roughly intermediate between waking life and deep hypnotic trance; and +it seems _a priori_ probable that its memory will have links of almost +equal strength with the memory which belongs to waking life and the +memory which belongs to the hypnotic trance. And this is in fact the +case; the fragments of dream-memory are interlinked with both these +other chains. Thus, for example, without any suggestion to that effect, +acts accomplished in the hypnotic trance may be remembered in dream; and +remembered under the illusion which was thrown round them by the +hypnotiser. Thus Dr. Auguste Voisin suggested to a hypnotised subject +to stab a patient--really a stuffed figure--in the neighbouring bed.[44] +The subject did so; and of course knew nothing of it on waking. But +three days afterwards he returned to the hospital complaining that his +dreams were haunted by the figure of a woman, who accused him of having +stabbed and killed her. Appropriate suggestion laid this ghost of a +doll. + +Conversely, dreams forgotten in waking life may be remembered in the +hypnotic trance. Thus Dr. Tissié's patient, Albert, dreamt that he was +about to set out on one of his somnambulic "fugues," or aimless +journeys, and when hypnotised mentioned to the physician this dream, +which in his waking state he had forgotten.[45] The probable truth of +this statement was shown by the fact that he did actually set out on the +journey thus dreamt of, and that his journeys were usually preceded and +incited by remembered dreams. + +I need not dwell on the existence, but at the same time the +incompleteness, of our dream-memory of waking life; nor on the +occasional formation of a separate chain of memory, constructed from +successive and cohering dreams. It should be added that we do not really +know how far our memory in dream of waking life may have extended; since +we can only _infer_ this from our notoriously imperfect waking memory of +past dreams. + +A cognate anticipation to which our theory will point will be that +dream-memory will occasionally be found to fill up gaps in waking +memory, other than those due to hypnotic trance; such so-called +"ecmnesic" periods, for instance, as sometimes succeed a violent shock +to the system, and may even embrace some space of time _anterior_ to the +shock. These periods themselves resemble prolonged and unremembered +dreams. Such accidents, however, are so rare, and such dream-memory so +hard to detect, that I mention the point mainly for the sake of +theoretical completeness; and must think myself fortunate in being able +to refer the reader to a recent case of M. Charcot's which affords an +interesting confirmation of the suggested view.[46] + +I pass on to the still more novel and curious questions involved in the +apparent existence of a dream-memory which, while accompanying the +memory of ordinary life, seems also to have a wider purview, and to +indicate that the record of external events which is kept within us is +far fuller than we know. + +Let us consider what stages such a memory may show. + +I. It may include events once known to the waking self, but now +definitely forgotten. + +II. It may include facts which have fallen within the sensory field, but +which have never been supraliminally "apperceived" or cognised in any +way. And thus also it may indicate that from this wider range of +remembered facts dream-_inferences_ have been drawn;--which inferences +may be _retrospective_, _prospective_, or,--if I may use a word of +Pope's with a new meaning, _circumspective_,--that is to say, relating +not to the past or to the future, but to the present condition of +matters beyond the range of ordinary perception. It is plain that +inferences of this kind (if they exist) will be liable to be mistaken +for direct retrocognition, direct premonition, direct clairvoyance; +while yet they need not actually prove anything more than a perception +on the part of the subliminal self more far-reaching,--a memory more +stable,--than is the perception or the memory of the supraliminal self +which we know. + +These hypermnesic dreams, then, may afford a means of drawing our lines +of evidence more exactly; of relegating some marvellous narratives to a +realm of lesser marvel, and at the same time of realising more clearly +what it is in the most advanced cases which ordinary theories are really +powerless to explain. + +As to the _first_ of the above-mentioned categories no one will raise +any doubt. It is a familiar fact--or a fact only sufficiently unfamiliar +to be noted with slight surprise--that we occasionally recover in sleep +a memory which has wholly dropped out of waking consciousness. + +In such cases the original piece of knowledge has at the time made a +definite impress on the mind,--has come well within the span of +apprehension of the supraliminal consciousness. Its reappearance after +however long an interval is a fact to which there are already plenty of +parallels. But the conclusion to which some cases seem to me to point is +one of a much stranger character. I think that there is evidence to show +that many facts or pictures which have never even for a moment come +within the apprehension of the supraliminal consciousness are +nevertheless retained by the subliminal memory, and are occasionally +presented in dreams with what seems a definite purpose. I quote an +interesting case in Appendix IV. A.[47] + +The same point, as we shall hereafter see, is illustrated by the +phenomena of crystal-vision. Miss Goodrich-Freer,[48] for example, saw +in the crystal the announcement of the death of a friend;--a piece of +news which certainly had never been apprehended by her ordinary +conscious self. On referring to the _Times_, it was found that an +announcement of the death of some one of the same unusual name was +contained in a sheet with which she had screened her face from the +fire;--so that the words may have fallen within her range of vision, +although they had not reached what we broadly call her waking mind. + +This instance was of value from the strong probability that the news +could never have been supraliminally known at all;--since it was too +important to have been merely glanced at and forgotten. + +In these cases the dream-self has presented a significant scene,--has +chosen, so to say, from its gallery of photographs the special picture +which the waking mind desired,--but has not needed to draw any more +complex inference from the facts presumably at its disposal. I have now +to deal with a small group of dreams which reason as well as +remember;--if indeed in some of them there be not something more than +mere reasoning on facts already in some way acquired,--something which +overpasses the scheme prescribed for the present chapter. + +In the first place we cannot doubt that definite data already known may +sometimes be treated in somnambulism or ordinary dream with more than +waking intelligence. Such are the cases of mathematical problems solved +in somnambulism, or of the skeletal arrangement discovered by Agassiz in +common sleep for scattered bones which had baffled his waking skill. I +give in Appendix IV. B. the striking case of Professor Hilprecht where +dream-intelligence is carried to its highest point. Professor Romaine +Newbold (who records the case) is well versed in the analysis of +evidence making for supernormal powers, and his explanation of the +vision as the result of "processes of associative reasoning analogous to +those of the upper consciousness" must, I think, be taken as correct. +But had the incident occurred in a less critical age of the world,--in +any generation, one may say, but _this_,--how majestic a proof would the +phantasmal Babylonian's message be held to have afforded of his +veritable co-operation with the modern _savant_ in the reconstruction of +his remote past! + +I repeat that with this case of Professor Hilprecht's we seem to have +reached the utmost intensity of sleep faculty within the limits of our +ordinary spectrum. In almost every region of that spectrum we have +found that the sleeper's faculty, under its narrow conditions, shows +scattered signs of at least a potential equality with the faculty of +waking hours. + +We have already seen this as regards muscular movements, as regards +inward vision and audition, and as regards memory; and these last +records complete the series by showing us the achievement in sleep of +intellectual work of the severest order. Coleridge's _Kubla Khan_ had +long ago shown the world that a great poet might owe his masterpiece to +the obscuration of waking sense.[49] And the very imperfection of _Kubla +Khan_--the memory truncated by an interruption--may again remind us how +partial must ever be our waking knowledge of the achievements of sleep. + +May I not, then, claim a real analogy between certain of the +achievements of _sleep_ and the achievements of _genius_? In both there +is the same triumphant spontaneity, the same sense of drawing no longer +upon the narrow and brief endurance of nerves and brain, but upon some +unknown source exempt from those limitations. + +Thus far, indeed, the sleep-faculties which we have been considering, +however strangely intensified, have belonged to the same class as the +normal faculties of waking life. We have now to consider whether we can +detect in sleep any manifestation of _supernormal_ faculty--any +experience which seems to suggest that man is a cosmical spirit as well +as a terrestrial organism, and is in some way in relation with a +spiritual as well as with a material world. It will seem, in this view, +to be natural that this commerce with a spiritual environment should be +more perceptible in sleep than in waking. The dogma which my point of +view thus renders probable is perhaps, as a mere matter of history, the +dogma of all dogmas which has been most universally believed by mankind. + +"_Quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus_"--for how many narrow +theological propositions have we not heard this proud claim--that they +have been believed everywhere, and by everybody, and in every age? Yet +what can approach the antiquity, the ubiquity, the unanimity of man's +belief in the wanderings of the spirit in dream? In the Stone Age, the +sceptic would have been rash indeed who ventured to contradict it. And +though I grant that this "palæolithic psychology" has gone out of +fashion for the last few centuries, I do not think that (in view of the +telæsthetic evidence now collected) we can any longer dismiss as a mere +_bizarrerie_ of dream-imagery the constant recurrence of the idea of +visiting in sleep some distant scene,--with the acquisition thereby of +new facts not otherwise accessible. + +Starting, then, not from savage authority, but from the evidential +scrutiny of modern facts, we shall find, I think, that there are +coincidences of dream with truth which neither pure chance nor any +subconscious mentation of an ordinary kind will adequately explain. We +shall find that there is a perception of concealed material objects or +of distant scenes and also a perception of a communion with the thoughts +and emotions of other minds. Both these phenomena have been noted +sporadically in many ages and countries, and were observed with serious +attention especially by the early French mesmerists. The first group of +phenomena was called _clairvoyance_ or _lucidité_, and the second +_communication de pensées_, or in English, _thought-transference_. These +terms are scarcely comprehensive enough to satisfy a more systematic +study. The distant perception is not _optical_, nor is it confined even +to the apparent sense of sight alone. It extends to all the senses, and +includes also impressions hardly referable to any special sense. +Similarly the communication between distant persons is not a +transference of thought alone, but of emotion, of motor impulses, and of +many impressions not easy to define. I ventured in 1882 to suggest the +wider terms _telæsthesia_, sensation at a distance, and _telepathy_, +fellow-feeling at a distance, and shall use these words in the present +work. But I am far from assuming that these terms correspond with +definite and dearly separated groups of phenomena, or comprise the whole +field of supernormal faculty. On the contrary, I think it probable that +the facts of the metetherial world are far more complex than the facts +of the material world; and the ways in which spirits perceive and +communicate, apart from fleshly organisms, are subtler and more varied +than any perception or communication which we know. + +I have halted above at another line of demarcation which the dreamer's +own sensations suggest,--the distinction between active psychical +excursion or invasion and the passive reception of psychical invasion +from without. But even here, as was also hinted, a clear line of +division is hard to draw. For whether we are dealing with +dream-perceptions of distant material scenes, or of distant living +persons, or of discarnate spirits, it is often impossible for the +dreamer himself to say either from what point he is himself observing, +or where the scene of the vision is laid. + +For the present I must confine myself to a brief sketch of some of the +main types of supernormal dreams, arranged in a kind of ascending order. +I shall begin with such dreams as primarily suggest a kind of +heightening or extension of the dreamer's own innate perceptive powers, +as exercised on the world around him. And I shall end with dreams which +suggest his entrance into a spiritual world, where commerce with +incarnate or discarnate spirits is subject no longer to the conditions +of earthly thought. + +I begin, then, with some dreams which seem to carry perceptive faculty +beyond the point at which some unusual form of common vision can be +plausibly suggested in explanation. Mr. Lewis's dream of the +landing-order (Appendix IV. A) may be taken as an instance of such a +dream.[50] + +I will next refer to certain cases where the sleeper by clairvoyant +vision discerns a scene of direct interest to a mind other than his +own;--as the danger or death of some near friend. Sometimes there is a +flash of vision, which seems to represent correctly the critical scene. +Sometimes there is what seems like a longer gaze, accompanied, perhaps +by some sense of _communion_ with the invaded person. And in some few +cases--the most interesting of all--the circumstances of a death seem to +be symbolically _shown_ to a dreamer, as though by the deceased person, +or by some intelligence connected with him. (See Mrs. Storie's narrative +p. 109.) + +One of the best instances of the flash of vision is Canon Warburton's, +which I quote from _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. i. p. 338--a case +whose remoteness is rendered less of a drawback than usual by the +character of the narrator and the simplicity and definiteness of the +fact attested. + +The following is his account:-- + + +THE CLOSE, WINCHESTER, _July 16th, 1883_. + + Somewhere about the year 1848 I went up from Oxford to stay a day + or two with my brother, Acton Warburton, then a barrister, living + at 10 Fish Street, Lincoln's Inn. When I got to his chambers I + found a note on the table apologising for his absence, and saying + that he had gone to a dance somewhere in the West End, and intended + to be home soon after one o'clock. Instead of going to bed, I dozed + in an arm-chair, but started up wide awake exactly at one, + ejaculating "By Jove! he's down!" and seeing him coming out of a + drawing-room into a brightly illuminated landing, catching his foot + in the edge of the top stair, and falling headlong, just saving + himself by his elbows and hands. (The house was one which I had + never seen, nor did I know where it was.) Thinking very little of + the matter, I fell a-doze again for half an hour, and was awakened + by my brother suddenly coming in and saying, "Oh, there you are! I + have just had as narrow an escape of breaking my neck as I ever had + in my life. Coming out of the ballroom, I caught my foot, and + tumbled full length down the stairs." + + That is all. It may have been "only a dream," but I always thought + it must have been something more. + +W. WARBURTON. + +In a second letter Canon Warburton adds:-- + + + _July 20th, 1883._ + + My brother was hurrying home from his dance, with some little + self-reproach in his mind for not having been at his chambers to + receive his guest, so the chances are that he was thinking of me. + The whole scene was vividly present to me at the moment, but I did + not note particulars any more than one would in real life. The + general impression was of a narrow landing brilliantly illuminated, + and I remember verifying the correctness of this by questions at + the time. + + This is my sole experience of the kind. + + [The last words are in answer to the question whether he had had + similar vivid visions which had _not_ corresponded with any real + event.] + +The impression here produced is as though a jerk were given to some +delicate link connecting the two brothers. The brother suffering the +crisis thinks vividly of the other; and one can of course explain the +incident, as we did on its first publication, as the endangered man's +projection of the scene upon his brother's mind. The passive dozing +brother, on the other hand, feels as though he were suddenly _present_ +in the scene,--say in response to some sudden call from the brother in +danger,--and I am here bringing into relief _that_ aspect of the +incident, on account of its analogy with cases soon to be quoted. But +the main lesson no doubt may be that no hard and fast line can be drawn +between the two explanations.[51] + +And here I feel bound to introduce a sample of a certain class of +dreams,--more interesting, perhaps, and certainly more perplexing than +any;--but belonging to a category of phenomena which at present I can +make no attempt to explain. I mean precognitive dreams;--pictures or +visions in which future events are foretold or depicted, generally with +more or less of symbolism,--and generally also in a mode so remote from +the previsions of our earthly sagacity that we shall find ourselves +driven, in a later discussion, to speak in vague terms of glimpses into +a cosmic picture-gallery;--or of scenic representations composed and +offered to us by intelligences higher and more distant than any spirit +whom we have known. I give in Appendix IV. C, a thoroughly +characteristic example;--characteristic alike in its definiteness, its +purposelessness, its isolated unintelligibility. + +Dr. Bruce's narrative, which I next give in Appendix IV. D, written by +an intelligent man, while the facts were yet fresh, seems to me of high +importance. If we accept the rest of his story, we must, I think, +suppose that the sense of spiritual presence with which the incident +began was more than a mere subjective fancy. Shall we refer it to the +murdered man's wife;--with whom the dreamer seemed afterwards to be in +telepathic relation? Or shall we interpret it as a kind of summons from +the dying man, drawing on, as it were, his friend's spirit to witness +the actual murder and the subsequent scene? The fact that another +friend, in another locality apparently, had a vision of similar nature, +tells somewhat in favour of the supposition that the decedent's spirit +was operative in both cases; since we very seldom--if ever--find an +agent producing an impression in two separate places at once--or nearly +so--except at or just after the moment of death. + +In this view, the incident resembles a scene passing in a spiritual +world. The dying man summons his brother-in-law; the brother-in-law +visits the scene of murder, and there spiritually communicates with his +sister, the widow, who is corporeally in that scene, and then sees +further details of the scene after death, which he does not understand, +and which are not explained to him. + +Fantastic though this explanation seems, it is not easy to hit on a +simpler one which will cover the facts as stated. Could we accept it, we +should have a kind of transition between two groups of cases, which +although apparently so different may form parts of a continuous series. +I mean the cases where the dreamer visits a distant scene, and the cases +where another spirit visits the dreamer. + +Taking, then, Dr. Bruce's case to bridge the interval between these two +groups, I go on to a case which properly belongs to the _second_, though +it still has much in common with the _first_. I shall quote Mrs. +Storie's narrative at full length in the text; because the case is, in +my judgment, both evidentially very strong, and also, in the naiveté of +its confusion, extremely suggestive of the way in which these psychical +communications are made. Mrs. Storie, who is now dead, was, by the +testimony of Edmund Gurney, Professor Sidgwick, and others, a witness +eminently deserving of trust; and, besides a corroboration from her +husband of the manifestation of a troubled dream, before the event was +known, we have the actual notes written down by her, as she informed us, +the day, or the day after, the news of the fatal accident arrived, +solely for her own use, and unmistakably reflecting the incoherent +impressiveness of the broken vision. These notes form the narrative +given in _Phantasms of the Living_ (vol. i. p. 370) which I reproduce +here. The fact that the deceased brother was a _twin_ of Mrs. Storie's +adds interest to the case, since one clue (a vague one as yet) to the +causes directing and determining telepathic communications lies in what +seems their exceptional frequency between _twins_;--the closest of all +relations. + + +HOBART TOWN, _July 1874_. + + On the evening of the 18th July, I felt unusually nervous. This + seemed to begin [with the occurrence of a small domestic annoyance] + about half past eight o'clock. When I went to my room I even felt + as if some one was there. I fancied, as I stepped into bed, that + some one _in thought_ tried to stop me. At 2 o'clock I woke from + the following dream. It seemed like in dissolving views. In a + twinkle of light I saw a railway, and the puff of the engine. I + thought, "What's going on up there? Travelling? I wonder if any of + us are travelling and I dreaming of it." _Some one_ unseen by me + answered, "No; something quite different--something wrong." "I + don't like to look at these things," I said. Then I saw behind and + above my head William's upper half reclining, eyes and mouth half + shut; his chest moved forward convulsively, and he raised his right + arm. Then he bent forward, saying, "I suppose I should move out of + this." Then I saw him lying, eyes shut, on the ground, flat. The + chimney of an engine at his head. I called in excitement, "That + will strike him!" The _some one_ answered "Yes--well, here's what + it was"; and immediately I saw William sitting in the open + air--faint moonlight--on a raised place sideways. He raised his + right arm, shuddered, and said, "I can't go on, or back, _No_." + Then he seemed lying flat. I cried out, "Oh! Oh!" and others seemed + to echo, "Oh! Oh!" He seemed then upon his elbow, saying, "Now it + comes." Then as if struggling to rise, turned twice round quickly, + saying, "Is it the train? _the train, the train_," his right + shoulder reverberating as if struck from behind. He fell back like + fainting; his eyes rolled. A large dark object came between us like + panelling of wood, and rather in the dark something rolled over, + and like an arm was thrown up, and the whole thing went away with a + _swish_. Close beside me on the ground there seemed a long dark + object. I called out, "They've left something behind; it's like a + man." It then raised its shoulders and head, and fell down again. + The same _some one_ answered, "_Yes, sadly_." [? "_Yes_," sadly.] + After a moment I seemed called on to look up, and said, "Is that + _thing_ not away yet?" Answered, "_No_." And in front, in light, + there was a railway compartment in which sat Rev. Mr. Johnstone, of + Echuca. I said, "What's he doing there?" Answered, "He's there." A + railway porter went up to the window asking, "Have you seen any + of----." I caught no more, but I _thought_ he referred to the + _thing_ left behind. Mr. Johnstone seemed to answer "_No_"; and the + man went quickly away--I thought to look for it. After all this the + _some one_ said close to me, "Now I'm going." I started, and at + once saw + {a tall dark figure at my head} + {William's back at my side. } He put his right hand (in grief) over + his face, and the other almost touching my shoulder, he crossed in front, + looking stern and solemn. There was a flash from the eyes, and I + caught a glimpse of a fine pale face like ushering him along, and + indistinctly another. I felt frightened, and called out, "Is he angry?" + "Oh, no." "Is he going away?" Answered, "_Yes_," by the same _some one_, + and I woke with a loud sigh, which woke my husband, who said, "What is + it?" I told him I had been dreaming "something unpleasant"--named a + "railway," and dismissed it all from my mind as a dream. As I fell + asleep again I fancied the _some one_ said, "It's all gone," and another + answered, "I'll come and remind her." + + The news reached me one week afterwards. The accident had happened + to my brother on the same night about half past 9 o'clock. Rev. Mr. + Johnstone and his wife were actually in the train which struck him. + He was walking along the line which is raised two feet on a level + country. He seemed to have gone 16 miles--must have been tired and + sat down to take off his boot, which was beside him, dozed off and + was very likely roused by the sound of the train; 76 sheep-trucks + had passed without touching him, but some wooden projection, likely + the step, had touched the _right_ side of his head, bruised his + right shoulder, and killed him instantaneously. The night was very + dark. I believe now that the _some one_ was (from something in the + _way_ he spoke) William _himself_. The face with him was white as + alabaster and something like this [a small sketch pasted on] in + profile. There were many other thoughts or words seemed to pass, + but they are too many to write down here. + + The voice of the _some one_ unseen seemed _always above_ the figure + of William which I saw. And when I was shown the compartment of the + carriage with Mr. Johnstone, the _some one_ seemed on a line + between me and it--_above_ me. + + [In an account-book of Mrs. Storie's, on a page, headed July 1874, + we find the 18th day marked, and the words, "Dear Willie died," and + "Dreamed, dreamed of it all," appended. + + The first letter, from the Rev. J. C. Johnstone to the Rev. John + Storie, announcing the news of the accident, is lost. The following + are extracts from his second and third letters on the subject:--] + + +ECHUCA, _10th August 1874_. + + The place where Hunter was killed is on an open plain, and there + was consequently plenty of room for him to escape the train had he + been conscious; but I think Meldrum's theory is the correct one, + that he had sat down to adjust some bandages on his leg and had + thoughtlessly gone off to sleep. There is only one line of rails, + and the ground is raised about 2 feet--the ground on which the + rails rest. He had probably sat down on the edge, and lain down + backwards so as to be within reach of some part of the train. It + was not known at the time that an accident had occurred. Mrs. + Johnstone and myself were in the train. Meldrum says he was not + very much crushed. The top of the skull was struck off, and some + ribs were broken under the armpit on one side. His body was found + on the Sunday morning by a herd-boy from the adjoining station. + + +_August 29th, 1874._ + + The exact time at which the train struck poor Hunter must have been + about 9.55 P.M., and his death must have been instantaneous. + + [The above corresponds with the account of the inquest in the + _Riverine Herald_ for July 22nd. The _Melbourne Argus_ also + describes the accident as having taken place on the night of + Saturday, the 18th. + + The following remarks are taken from notes made by Professor + Sidgwick, during an interview with Mrs. Storie, in April 1884, and + by Mrs. Sidgwick after another interview in September 1885:--] + + Mrs. Storie cannot regard the experience exactly as a dream, though + she woke up from it. She is sure that it did not grow more definite + in recollection afterwards. She never had a series of scenes in a + dream at any other time; and she has never had anything like a + hallucination. They were introduced by a voice in a whisper, not + recognised as her brother's. He had sat on the bank as he appeared + in the dream. The engine she saw behind him had a chimney of + peculiar shape, such as she had not at that time seen; and she + remembers that Mr. Storie thought her foolish about insisting on + the chimney--unlike (he said) any which existed; but he informed + her when he came back from Victoria, where her brother was, that + engines of this kind had just been introduced there. She had no + reason to think that any conversation between the porter and the + clergyman actually occurred. The persons who seemed to lead her + brother away were not recognised by her, and she only saw the face + of one of them. + + Mr. Storie confirms his wife having said to him at the time of the + dream, "What is that light?" Before writing the account first + quoted, she had just mentioned the dream to her husband, but had + not described it. She desired not to think of it, and also was + unwilling to worry him about it because of his Sunday's work. This + last point, it will be observed, is a confirmation of the fact that + the dream took place on the Saturday night; and "it came out + clearly" (Mrs. Sidgwick says) "that her recollection about the + Saturday night was an independent recollection, and not read back + after the accident was known." The strongly nervous state that + preceded the dream was quite unique in Mrs. S.'s experience. But as + it appeared that, according to her recollection, it commenced at + least an hour before the accident took place, it must be regarded + as of no importance evidentially. The feeling of a presence in the + room was also quite unique. + +"Here," says Gurney, "the difficulty of referring the true elements of +the dream to the agent's mind [is very great]. For Mr. Hunter was +asleep; and even if we can conceive that the image of the advancing +engine may have had some place in his mind, the presence of Mr. +Johnstone could not have been perceived by him. But it is possible, of +course, to regard this last item of correspondence as accidental, even +though the dream was telepathic. It will be observed that the dream +followed the accident by about four hours; such _deferment_ is, I +think, a strong point in favour of telepathic, as opposed to +independent, clairvoyance." + +I propose as an alternative explanation,--for reasons which I endeavour +to justify in later chapters,--that the deceased brother, aided by some +other dimly discerned spirit, was endeavouring to present to Mrs. Storie +a series of pictures representing his death--as realised _after_ his +death. I add this last clause, because one of the marked points in the +dream was the presence in the train of Mr. Johnstone of Echuca--a fact +which (as Gurney remarks) the dying man could not possibly know. + +I have dwelt on these two cases of Dr. Bruce and Mrs. Storie, because +the reader will, I think, come to feel, as our evidence unrolls itself, +that he has here complex experiences which are confirmed at various +points by simpler experiences, in such a way as to make these stories +seem a confused but an intimate transcript of what other narratives show +in hints and glimpses alone. + +In Mrs. Storie's case the whole experience, as we have seen, presented +itself as a _dream_; yet as a dream of quite unusual type, like a series +of pictures presented to the sleeper who was still conscious that she +was lying in bed. In other cases the "psychical invasion" of the spirit +either of a living or of a deceased person seems to set up a variety of +sleep-waking states--both in agent and percipient. In one bizarre +narrative a man dreaming that he has returned home is _heard_ in his +home calling for hot water--and has himself a singular sense of +"bilocation" between the railway carriage and his bedroom.[52] In +another curious case is recorded a kind of _encounter_ in dreamland, +apparently more or less remembered by both persons.[53] + +An invasion of this type coming upon a sleeping person is apt to induce +some change in the sleeper's state, which, even if he regards it as a +complete awakening, is generally shown not to be so in fact by the +dreamlike character of his own recorded feelings and utterances. Gurney +called these "Borderland Cases," and the whole collection in _Phantasms +of the Living_ will repay perusal. I introduce one such case in Appendix +IV. E, as being at once very perplexing and, I think, very strongly +attested. I knew Mr. and Mrs. T., who certainly were seriously anxious +for complete accuracy, and who had (as the narrative shows) made a +brief memorandum and consulted various persons on the incident at the +time. + +These cases of invasion by the spirits of living persons pass on into +cases of invasion by the dying, the impression being generally that of +the presence of the visitant in the percipient's surroundings.[54] +Sometimes the phantasm is seen as nearly as can be ascertained at the +time of death. But there is no perceptible break in the series at this +point. Some appear shortly after death, but before the death is known to +the percipient. [See Appendix IV. F]. Finally, there are cases when the +appearance takes place some time after death, but presents features +unknown to the percipient.[55] + +We have now briefly reviewed certain phenomena of sleep from a +standpoint somewhat differing from that which is commonly taken. We have +not (as is usual) fixed our attention primarily on the _negative_ +characteristics of sleep, or the extent to which it lacks the capacities +of waking hours. On the contrary, we have regarded sleep as an +independent phase of personality, existing with as good a right as the +waking phase, and dowered with imperfectly expressed faculties of its +own. In investigating those faculties we have been in no wise deterred +by the fact of the apparent uselessness of some of them for our waking +ends. _Useless_ is a pre-scientific, even an anti-scientific term, which +has perhaps proved a greater stumbling-block to research in psychology +than in any other science. In science the _use_ of phenomena is to prove +laws, and the more bizarre and trivial the phenomena, the greater the +chance of their directing us to some law which has been overlooked till +now. In reviewing the phenomena of sleep, then, we found in the first +place that it possesses a specific recuperative energy which the +commonly accepted data of physiology and psychology cannot explain. We +saw that in sleep there may be an increased co-ordination or +centralisation of muscular control, and also an increased vividness of +entencephalic perception, indicating a more intimate appreciation of +intra-peripheral changes than is manifest in waking life. In accordance +with this view, we found that the dreaming self may undergo sensory and +emotional experiences apparently more intense than those of vigilance, +and may produce thereby lasting effects upon the waking body and mind. +Similarly again, we saw that that specific impress on body and mind +which we term memory may in sleeping or hypnotic states be both wider in +range and fuller in content than the evocable memory of the waking day. +Nay, not memory only, but power of inference, of argument, may be thus +intensified, as is shown by the solution in sleep of problems which have +baffled waking effort. + +All these are fragmentary indications,--useless for practical purposes +if you will,--of sleeping faculty exercised on the same order of things +as waking faculty, and with comparable or even superior power. But we +were bound to push our inquiry further still--we were bound to ask +whether the self of sleep showed any faculty of a quite different order +from that by which waking consciousness maintains the activity of man. +We found that this was so indeed; that there was evidence that the +sleeping spirit was susceptible of relations unfettered by spatial +bonds; of telæsthetic perception of distant scenes; of telepathic +communication with distant persons, or even with spirits of whom we can +predicate neither distance nor nearness, since they are released from +the prison of the flesh. + +The inference which all this evidence suggests is entirely in accordance +with the hypothesis on which my whole work is based. + +I have assumed that man is an organism informed or possessed by a soul. +This view obviously involves the hypothesis that we are living a life in +two worlds at once; a planetary life in this material world, to which +the organism is intended to react; and also a cosmic life in that +spiritual or metetherial world, which is the native environment of the +soul. From that unseen world the energy of the organism needs to be +perpetually replenished. That replenishment we cannot understand: we may +figure it to ourselves as a protoplasmic process;--as some relation +between protoplasm, ether, and whatever is beyond ether, on which it is +at present useless to speculate. + +Admitting, for the sake of argument, these vast assumptions, it will be +easy to draw the further inference that it may be needful that the +soul's attention should be frequently withdrawn from the business of +earthly life, so as to pursue with greater intensity what we may call +its protoplasmic task,--the maintenance of the fundamental, pervading +connection between the organism and the spiritual world. Nay, this +profounder condition, as responding to more primitive, more fundamental +needs, will itself be more primitive than the waking state. And this is +so: sleep is the infant's dominant phase: the pre-natal state resembles +sleep rather than waking; and so does the whole life-condition of our +lowly ancestors. And as the sleeping state is the more _primitive_, so +also is it the more _generalised_, and the more _plastic_. Out of this +dreamy abeyance between two worlds, the needs of the material world are +constantly developing some form of alert activity, some faculty which +was _potential_ only until search for food and the defence against +enemies compelled a closer heed to "the life of relation," lest the +relation should become only that of victim to devourer. + +We shall thus have two phases of personality developing into separate +purposes and in separate directions from a parent stem. The waking +personality will develop external sense organs and will fit itself +progressively for the life of relation to the external world. It will +endeavour to attain an ever completer control over the resources of the +personality, and it will culminate in what we term _genius_ when it has +unified the subliminal as far as possible with the supraliminal in its +pursuit of deliberate waking ends. + +The sleeping personality will develop in ways less easy to foresee. +What, on any theory, will it aim at, beyond the familiar intensification +of recuperative power? We can only guess, on my theory, that its +development will show some increasing trace of the soul's less exclusive +absorption in the activity of the organism. The soul has withdrawn from +the specialised material surface of things (to use such poor metaphor as +we can) into a realm where the nature of the connection between matter +and spirit--whether through the intermediacy of the ether or +otherwise--is more profoundly discerned. That same withdrawal from the +surface which, while it diminishes power over complex muscular +processes, increases power over profound organic processes, may at the +same time increase the soul's power of operating in that spiritual world +to which sleep has drawn it nearer. + +On this view of sleep, be it observed, there will be nothing to surprise +us in the possibility of increasing the proportion of the sleeping to +the waking phase of life by hypnotic suggestion. All we can say is that, +while the soul must insist on at least the minimum quantity of sleep +needful to keep the body alive, we can see no superior limit to the +quantity of sleep which it may choose to take,--the quantity of +attention, that is, which it may choose to give to the special +operations of sleep as compared with those of waking life. + +At this point we must for the present pause. The suggested hypothesis +will indeed cover the actual facts as to sleep adduced in this chapter. +But it covers them by virtue of assumptions too vast to be accepted +without further confirmation. It must necessarily be our duty in later +chapters to trace the development of the sleeping personality in both +the directions indicated above;--in the direction of organic +recuperation through the hypnotic trance, and in the direction of the +soul's independent operation through that form of trance which leads to +possession and to ecstasy. We shall begin at once in the next chapter to +trace out that great experimental modification of sleep, from which, +under the names of mesmerism or of hypnotism, results of such +conspicuous practical value have already been won. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +HYPNOTISM + +εἱλετο ἑ ῥἁβδον, τὑ τ' ἁνδρὡν δμματα θελγει, +ὁν ἑθἑλει, τοὑς δ' αὑτε κἱ ὑπνὡοτας ἑγεἱρι. + + --HOMER. + + +In the last chapter we were led on to adopt a conception of sleep which, +whether or not it prove ultimately in any form acceptable by science, is +at any rate in deep congruity with the evidence brought forward in this +work. Our human life, in this view, exists and energises, at the present +moment, both in the material and in the spiritual world. Human +personality, as it has developed from lowly ancestors, has become +differentiated into two phases; one of them mainly adapted to material +or planetary, the other to spiritual or cosmic operation. The subliminal +self, mainly directing the sleeping phase, is able either to rejuvenate +the organism by energy drawn in from the spiritual world;--or, on the +other hand, temporarily and partially to relax its connection with that +organism, in order to expatiate in the exercise of supernormal +powers;--telepathy, telesthæsia, ecstasy. + +Such were the suggestions of the evidence as to dream and vision; such, +I may add, will be seen to be the suggestions of _spontaneous +somnambulism_, which has not yet fallen under our discussion. Yet claims +so large as these demand corroboration from observation and experiment +along many different lines of approach. Some such corroboration we have, +in anticipatory fashion, already acquired. Discussing in Chapter II. the +various forms of disintegration of personality, we had frequent glimpses +of beneficent subliminal powers. We saw the deepest stratum of the self +intervening from time to time with a therapeutic object, or we caught it +in the act of exercising, even if aimlessly or sporadically, some +faculty beyond supraliminal reach. And we observed, moreover, that the +agency by which these subliminal powers were invoked was generally the +_hypnotic trance_. Of the nature of that trance I then said nothing; it +was manifest only that here was some kind of induced or artificial +somnambulism, which seemed to systematise that beneficial control of +the organism which spontaneous sleep-waking states had exercised in a +fitful way. It must plainly be our business to understand _ab initio_ +these hypnotic phenomena; to push as far as may be what seems like an +experimental evolution of the sleeping phase of personality. + +Let us suppose, then, that we are standing at our present point, but +with no more knowledge of hypnotic phenomena than existed in the boyhood +of Mesmer. We shall know well enough what, as experimental +psychologists, we desire to do; but we shall have little notion of how +to set about it. We desire to summon at our will, and to subdue to our +use, these rarely emergent sleep-waking faculties. On their physical +side, we desire to develop their inhibition of pain and their +reinforcement of energy; on their intellectual side, their concentration +of attention; on their emotional side, their sense of freedom, +expansion, joy. Above all, we desire to get hold of those supernormal +faculties--telepathy and telæsthesia--of which we have caught fitful +glimpses in somnambulism and in dream. + +Yet to such hopes as these the so-called "experience of ages" (generally +a very short and scrappy induction!) will seem altogether to refuse any +practical outcome. History, indeed,--with the wonted vagueness of +history,--will offer us a long series of stories of the strange sanative +suggestion or influence of man on man;--beginning, say, with David and +Saul, or with David and Abishag, and ending with Valentine +Greatrakes,--or with the Stuarts' last touch for the King's evil. But in +knowledge of how actually to set about it, we should still be just on +the level of the Seven Sages.[56] + +And now let the reader note this lesson on the unexhausted possibilities +of human organisms and human life. Let him take his stand at one of the +modern centres of hypnotic practice,--in Professor Bernheim's +hospital-ward, or Dr. van Renterghem's _clinique_; let him see the +hundreds of patients thrown daily into hypnotic trance, in a few +moments, and as a matter of course; and let him then remember that this +process, which now seems as obvious and easy as giving a pill, was +absolutely unknown not only to Galen and to Celsus, but to Hunter and to +Harvey; and when at last discovered was commonly denounced as a +fraudulent fiction, almost up to the present day. Nay, if one chances to +have watched as a boy some cure effected in Dr. Elliotson's Mesmeric +Hospital, before neglect and calumny had closed that too early effort +for human good;--if one has seen popular indifference and professional +prejudice check the new healing art for a generation;--is not one likely +to have imbibed a deep distrust of all _a priori_ negations in the +matter of human faculty;--of all _obiter dicta_ of eminent men on +subjects with which they do not happen to be acquainted? Would not one, +after such an experience, rather choose (with Darwin) "the fool's +experiment" than any immemorial ignorance which has stiffened into an +unreasoning incredulity? + +Mesmer's experiment was almost a "fool's experiment," and Mesmer himself +was almost a charlatan. Yet Mesmer and his successors,--working from +many different points of view, and following many divergent +theories,--have opened an ever-widening way, and have brought us now to +a position where we can fairly hope, by experiments made no longer at +random, to reproduce and systematise most of those phenomena of +spontaneous somnambulism which once seemed to lie so tantalisingly +beyond our grasp. + +That promise is great indeed; yet it is well to begin by considering +precisely how far it extends. We must not suppose that we shall at once +be subduing to our experiment a central, integrated, reasonable Self. + +We must be content (at first at any rate) if we can affect the +personality in the same limited way as hysteria and somnambulism have +affected it; but yet can act deliberately and usefully where these have +acted hurtfully and at random. It is enough to hope that we may inhibit +pain, as it is inhibited for the hysteric; or concentrate attention, as +it is concentrated for the somnambulist; or change the tastes and +passions, as these are changed in alternating personalities; or (best of +all) recover and fix something of that supernormal faculty of which we +have caught fugitive glimpses in vision and dream. Our proof of the +origination of any phenomenon in the deeper strata of our being must lie +in the intrinsic nature of the faculty exhibited;--not in the wisdom of +its actual direction. _That_ must often depend on the order given from +above the threshold; just as the magic mill of the fable continues +magical, although, for lack of the proper formula to stop it, it be +still grinding out superfluous salt at the bottom of the sea. + +This brief introduction will, I hope, show that hypnotism is no +disconnected or extraneous insertion into experimental psychology, but +rather a summary name for a group of necessary, though empirical and +isolated, attempts to bring under control that range of submerged +faculty which has already from time to time risen into our observation. +The inquiry has been mainly the work of a few distinguished men, who +have each of them pushed some useful ideas as far as they could, but +whose work has not been adequately supported by successors. + +I should much doubt whether there have been a hundred men in all +countries together, at the ordinary level of professional intelligence, +who during the century since Mesmer have treated hypnotism as the +serious study of their lives. Some few of the men who have so treated it +have been men of great force and strong convictions; and it will be +found that there has consequently been a series of sudden developments +of groups of phenomena, differing much from each other, but +corresponding with the special beliefs and desires of the person who +headed each movement in turn. I will mention some of the chief examples, +so as to show the sporadic nature of the efforts made, and the great +variety of the phenomena elicited. + +The first name that must be mentioned is, of course, that of Mesmer +himself. He believed primarily in a sanative effluence, and his method +seems to have been a combination of passes, suggestion, and a supposed +"metallotherapy" or "magneto-therapy"--the celebrated _baquet_--which no +doubt was merely a form of suggestion. His results, though very +imperfectly described, seem to have been peculiar to himself. The +_crise_ which many of his patients underwent sounds like a hysterical +attack; but there can be no doubt that rapid improvement in symptoms +often followed it, or he would not have made so great an impression on +_savants_ as well as on the fashionable world of Paris. To Mesmer, then, +we owe the first conception of the therapeutic power of a sudden and +profound nervous change. To Mesmer, still more markedly, we owe the +doctrine of a nervous influence or effluence passing from man to man,--a +doctrine which, though it must assume a less exclusive importance than +he assigned to it, cannot, in my view, be altogether ignored or denied. + +The leading figure among his immediate successors, the Marquis de +Puységur, seems from his writings[57] to have been one of the ablest and +most candid men who have practised mesmerism; and he was one of the very +few who have conducted experiments, other than therapeutic, on a large +scale. The somnambulic state may also be said to have been his +discovery; and he obtained clairvoyance or telæsthesia in so many +instances, and recorded them with so much of detail, that it is hard to +attribute all to mal-observation, or even to telepathy from persons +present. Other observers, as Bertrand, a physician of great promise, +followed in the same track, and this brief period was perhaps the most +fertile in disinterested experiments that our subject has yet known. +Much was then done in Germany also; and there, too, there is scattered +testimony to supernormal powers.[58] + +Next came the era of Elliotson in England, and of Esdaile in his +hospital at Calcutta. Their method lay in mesmeric passes, Elliotson's +object being mostly the direct cure of maladies, Esdaile's a deep +anæsthesia, under which he performed hundreds of serious operations. His +success in this direction was absolutely unique;--was certainly (setting +aside supernormal phenomena) the most extraordinary performance in +mesmeric history. Had not his achievements been matters of official +record, the apparent impossibility of repeating them would probably by +this time have been held to have disproved them altogether. + +The next great step which hypnotism made was actually regarded by +Elliotson and his group as a hostile demonstration. When Braid +discovered that hypnosis could be induced without passes, the mesmerists +felt that their theory of a sanative effluence was dangerously attacked. +And this was true; for that theory has in fact been thrown into the +shade,--too completely so, in my opinion,--first by the method used in +Braid's earlier work of the production of hypnotic phenomena by means of +the upward and inward squint, and secondly, by the much wider and more +important discovery of the efficacy of mere _suggestion_, set forth in +his later writings. Braid's hypnotic experience differed much from that +of hypnotists before and after him. His early method of the convergent +squint produced results which no one else has been able to produce; and +the state which it induced appeared in his view to arrest and dissipate +even maladies of which neither hypnotist nor patient had thought as +capable of cure. But he afterwards abandoned this method in favour of +simple verbal suggestion, as he found that what was required was merely +to influence the ideas of his patients. He showed further that all +so-called phrenological phenomena and the supposed effects of magnets, +metals, etc., could be produced equally well by suggestion.[59] He also +laid stress on the subject's power both of resisting the commands of the +operator and of inducing hypnotic effects in himself without the aid of +an operator. To my mind the most important novelty brought out by Braid +was the possibility of self-hypnotisation by concentration of will. This +inlet into human faculty, in some ways the most important of all, has +been as yet but slackly followed. But it is along with Braid's group of +ideas that I should place those of an able but much inferior +investigator, Dr. Fahnestock, although it is not clear that the latter +knew of Braid's work. His book, _Statuvolism, or Artificial +Somnambulism_ (Chicago, 1871), has received less attention than it +merits;--partly perhaps from its barbarous title, partly from the +crudities with which it is encumbered, and partly from the fact of its +publication at what was at that date a town on the outskirts of +civilisation. Fahnestock seems to have obtained by self-suggestion with +healthy persons results in some ways surpassing anything since recorded. + +There is no reason to doubt these results, except the fact that they +have not yet been repeated with equal success; and my present purpose is +to show how little importance can as yet be attached in the history of +hypnotic experiment to the mere absence thus far of successful +repetition. + +The next great stage was again strikingly different. It was mainly +French; the impulse was given largely by Professor Charles Richet, whose +work has proved singularly free from narrowness or misconception; but +the movement was developed in a special and a very unfortunate direction +by Charcot and his school. It is a remarkable fact that although Charcot +was perhaps the only man of eminence whose professional reputation has +ever been raised by his dealings with hypnotism, most of his work +thereon is now seen to have been mistaken and aberrant,--a mere +following of a blind alley, from which his disciples are now gradually +returning. Charcot's leading phenomena (as with several of his +predecessors above mentioned) were of a type which has seldom since been +obtained. The once celebrated "three stages" of the _grand hypnotisme_ +are hardly anywhere now to be seen. But in this case the reason is not +that other hypnotists could not obtain the phenomena if they would; it +is rather (as I have already indicated) that experience has convinced +them that the sequences and symptoms on which Charcot laid stress were +merely very elaborate products of the long-continued, and, so to say, +endemic suggestions of the Salpêtrière. + +We come next to the movement which is now on the whole dominant, and to +which the greatest number of cures may at present be credited. The +school of Nancy--which originated with Liébeault, and which is now +gradually merging into a general consensus of hypnotic practice--threw +aside more and more decisively the supposed "somatic signs" of +Charcot,--the phenomena of neuro-muscular irritability and the like, +which he regarded as the requisite proof of hypnosis;--until Bernheim +boldly affirmed that hypnotic trance was no more than sleep, and that +hypnotic suggestion was at once the sole cause of hypnotic +responsiveness and yet was undifferentiated from mere ordinary advisory +speech. This was unfortunately too good to be true. Not one sleep in a +million is really hypnosis; not one suggestion in a million reaches or +influences the subliminal self. If Bernheim's theories, in their extreme +form, were true, there would by this time have been no sufferers left to +heal. + +What Bernheim has done is to cure a number of people without mesmeric +passes, and without any special predisposing belief on either +side,--beyond a trust in his own power. And this is a most valuable +achievement, especially as showing how much may be _dispensed with_ in +hypnotic practice--to how simple elements it may be reduced. + +"Hypnotic trance," says Bernheim, in effect, "is ordinary sleep; +hypnotic suggestion is ordinary command. You tell the patient to go to +sleep, and he goes to sleep; you tell him to get well, and he gets well +immediately." Even thus (one thinks) has one heard the conjuror +explaining "how it's done,"--with little resulting hope of emulating his +brilliant performance. An ordinary command does _not_ enable an ordinary +man to get rid of his rheumatism, or to detest the previously too +acceptable taste of brandy. In suggestion, in short, there must needs be +something more than a name; a profound nervous change must needs be +started by some powerful nervous stimulus from without or from within. +Before contenting ourselves with Bernheim's formula, we must consider +yet again what change we want to effect, and whether hypnotists have +actually used any form of stimulus which was likely to effect it. + +According to Bernheim we are all naturally suggestible, and what we want +to effect through suggestion is increased suggestibility. But let us get +rid for the moment of that oracular word. What it seems to mean here is +mainly a readier obedience of the organism to what we wish it to do. The +sleep or trance with which hypnotism is popularly identified is not +essential to our object, for the subliminal modifications are sometimes +attained without any trace of somnolence. Let us consider, then, whether +any known nervous stimuli, either massive or specialised, tend to +induce--not mere sleep or catalepsy--but that kind of ready +modifiability,--of _responsiveness_ both in visible gesture and in +invisible nutritive processes,--for the sake of which hypnosis is in +serious practice induced. + +Now of the external stimuli which influence the whole nervous system the +most conspicuous are narcotic drugs. Opium, alcohol, chloroform, +cannabis indica, etc., affect the nerves in so many strange ways that +one might hope that they would be of use as hypnotic agents. And some +observers have found that slight chloroformisation rendered subjects +more suggestible. Janet has cited one case where suggestibility was +developed during recovery from delirium tremens. Other hypnotisers (as +Bramwell) have found chloroform fail to render patients hypnotisable; +and alcohol is generally regarded as a positive hindrance to hypnotic +susceptibility. More experiment with various narcotics is much needed; +but thus far the scantiness of proof that narcotics help towards +hypnosis goes rather against the view that hypnosis is a direct +physiological sequence from any form of external stimulus. + +The apparent resemblance, indeed, between narcosis and hypnosis +diminishes on a closer analysis. A stage may occur both in narcotised +and in hypnotised subjects where there is incoherent, dream-like +mentation; but in the narcotised subject this is a step towards +inhibition of the whole nervous energy--the highest centres being +paralysed first; whereas in hypnosis the inhibition of supraliminal +faculty seems often at least to be merely a necessary preliminary to the +liberation of fresh faculty which presently manifests itself from a +profounder region of the self. + +Next take another group of massive effects produced on the nervous +system by external stimuli;--those forms, namely, of trance and +cataplexy which are due to sudden shock. With human beings this +phenomenon varies from actual death from failure of heart-action, or +paralysis, or _stupor attonitus_ (a recognised form of insanity), any of +which may result from a mere alarming sight or unwelcome announcement, +down to the cataleptic immobility of a Salpêtrière patient, when she +hears a sudden stroke on the gong. + +Similar phenomena in certain animals, as frogs, beetles, etc., are well +known. It is doubtful, however, whether any of these sudden disablements +should be classed as true hypnoses. It has not, I think, been shown that +in any case they have induced any real responsiveness to control, or +power of obeying suggestion; unless it be (as in some Salpêtrière cases) +a form of suggestion so obvious and habitual that the obedience thereto +may be called part of the actual cataplexy itself. Thus the "wax-like +flexibility" of the cataleptic, whose arms remain in the position where +you place them, must not be regarded as a readier obedience to control, +but rather as a state which involves not a more but a less alert and +capable responsiveness of the organism to either external or internal +stimuli. + +So with regard to animals--crocodiles, frogs, and the like. I hold +theoretically that animals are probably hypnotisable and suggestible; +and the records of Rarey's horse-taming, etc., seem to point in that +direction.[60] But in the commoner experiments with frogs, where mere +passivity is produced, the resemblance seems to extend only to the +lethargic stage in human beings,[61] and what relation that lethargy +bears to suggestibility is not, I think, really known; although I shall +later on suggest some explanation on psychological grounds. + +It seems plain, at any rate, that it must be from stimuli applied to men +and not to animals, and from stimuli of a special and localised rather +than of a massive kind, that we shall have to learn whatever can be +learnt as to the genesis of the true hypnotic control. + +Now there exists a way of inducing hypnosis in some hysterical persons +which seems intermediate between massive and localised stimulations. It +is indeed a local stimulation; but there seems no reason beyond some +deep-seated caprice of the organism why the special tract which is thus +sensitive should have become developed in that direction. + +I speak of the induction of trance in certain subjects by pressure upon +so-called _hypnogenous zones_. These zones form a curious development of +hysterical _cliniques_. Their starting-point is the well-known +phenomenon of patches of anæsthesia found upon hysterical subjects--the +"witch-marks" of our ancestors. + +So far as we at present know, the situation of these "marks" is +altogether capricious. It does not apparently depend, that is to say, +upon any central lesion, in the same way as do the "referred pains," +familiar in deep-seated organic complaints, which manifest themselves by +superficial patches of tenderness, explicable by the distribution of +nerve-trunks. The anæsthetic patches are an example of what I have +called the irrational self-suggestions of the hypnotic +stratum;--determined by dream-like fancies rather than necessitated by +purely physiological antecedents. + +Quite in accordance with this view, we find that under favourable +conditions--especially in a hospital of hysterics--these anomalous +patches or zones develop and specialise themselves in various ways. +Under Dr. Pitres at Bordeaux (for example), we have _zones +hystérogènes_, _zones hypnogènes_, _zones hypnofrénatrices_, etc.; that +is to say, he finds that pressure on certain spots in certain subjects +will bring on or will check hysterical accesses, or accesses of what is +ranked as hypnotic sleep. There is no doubt that this sleep does in +certain subjects follow instantly upon the pressure of certain +spots,--constant for each subject, but different for one subject and for +another;--and this without any conscious co-operation, or even +foreknowledge, on the patient's part. Stated thus nakedly, this seems +the strongest possible instance of the induction of hypnosis by +localised stimulus. The reader, however, will at once understand that in +my view there is here no simple physiological sequence of cause and +effect. I must regard the local pressure as a mere _signal_--an appeal +to the pre-formed capacities of lawlessly acting centres in the hypnotic +stratum. A scrap of the self has decided, in dreamlike fashion, that +pressure on a certain point of the body's surface shall produce +sleep;--just as it has decided that pressure on that same point or on +some other point shall _not_ produce pain. Self-suggestion, and no mere +physiological nexus, is responsible for the sleep or the hysterical +access which follows the touch. The anæsthetic patches are here a +direct, but a capriciously chosen avenue to the subliminal being, and +the same random self-suggestiveness which is responsible for frequent +determinations that hysterical subjects shall _not_ be hypnotised has in +this case decided that they _shall_ be hypnotised, if you go about it in +exactly the right way. + +Next in order among forms of localised stimulus used for inducing +hypnosis may be placed _monotonous stimulation_,--to whatever part of +the body it be applied. It was at one time the fashion to attribute +almost all hypnotic phenomena to this cause, and Edmund Gurney and I +endeavoured to point out the exaggeration.[62] Of this presently; but +first let us consider the few cases where the monotonous stimulation has +undoubtedly been of a kind to affect the organism strongly. The late Dr. +Auguste Voisin, of Paris, was perhaps more markedly successful than any +physician in producing hypnosis in extreme cases;--in maniacal persons +especially, whose attention it seemed impossible to fix. He often +accomplished this by holding their eyes open with the blepharostat, and +compelling them to gaze, sometimes for hours together, at a brilliant +electric light. Exhaustion produces tranquillity and an almost comatose +sleep--in which the physician has often managed to give suggestions of +great value. This seems practically the only class of cases where a +directly physiological antecedent for the sleep can be proved; and even +here the provable effect is rather the exhaustion of morbid excitability +than any direct induction of suggestibility. This dazzling process is +generally accompanied with vigorous verbal suggestion; and it is, of +course, quite possible that the patients might have been thrown into +hypnosis by that suggestion alone, had their minds been capable at first +of sufficient attention to receive it. + +Braid's upward and inward squint has an effect of the same deadening +kind as the long gazing at a light, and helps in controlling wandering +attention; but Braid himself in later years (as mentioned above) +attributed his hypnotic successes wholly to _suggestion_. + +From monotonous excitations which, whatever their part in inducing +hypnosis, are, at any rate, such as can sensibly affect the organism, I +come down to the trivial monotonies of watch-tickings, "passes," etc., +which are still by a certain school regarded as capable of producing a +profound change in the nervous condition of the person before whose face +the hypnotiser's hands are slowly waved for ten or twenty minutes. I +regard this as a much exaggerated view. The clock's ticking, for +instance, if it is marked at all, is at least as likely to irritate as +to soothe; and the constant experience of life shows that continued +monotonous stimuli, say the throbbing of the screw at sea, soon escape +notice and produce no hypnotic effect at all. It is true, indeed, that +monotonous rocking sends some babies to sleep; but other babies are +merely irritated by the process, and such soporific effect as rocking +may possess is probably an effect on spinal centres or on the +semicircular canals. It depends less on mere monotony than on massive +movement of the whole organism. + +I think, then, that there is no real ground for supposing that the +trivial degree of monotonous stimulation produced by passes often +repeated can induce in any ordinary physiological manner that "profound +nervous change" which is recognised as the prerequisite condition of any +hypnotic results. I think that passes are effectual generally as mere +suggestions, and must _primâ facie_ be regarded in that light, as they +are, in fact, regarded by many experienced hypnotisers (as Milne +Bramwell) who have employed them with good effect. Afterwards, when +reason is given for believing in a telepathic influence or impact +occasionally transmitted from the operator to the subject at a distance, +we shall consider whether passes may represent some other form of the +same influence, operating in close physical contiguity. + +First, however, let us consider the point which we have now reached. We +have successively dismissed various supposed modes of physiologically +inducing hypnotic trance. We stand at present in the position of the +Nancy school;--we have found nothing but _suggestion_ which really +induces the phenomena. + +But on the other hand we cannot possibly regard the word suggestion as +any real answer to the important question _how_ the hypnotic +responsiveness is induced, on _what_ conditions it depends.[63] + +It must be remembered that many of the results which follow upon +suggestion are of a type which no amount of willingness to follow the +suggestion could induce, since they lie quite outside the voluntary +realm. However disposed a man may be to believe me, however anxious to +please me, one does not see how that should enable him, for instance, to +govern the morbidly-secreting cells in an eruption of erysipelas. He +already fruitlessly wishes them to stop their inflammation; the mere +fact of my expressing the same wish can hardly alter his cellular +tissue. + +Here, then, we come to an important conclusion which cannot well be +denied, yet is seldom looked fully in the face. Suggestion from without +must for the most part resolve itself into suggestion from within. +Unless there be some telepathic or other supernormal influence at work +between hypnotiser and patient (which I shall presently show ground for +believing to be sometimes, though not often, the case), the hypnotiser +can plainly do nothing by his word of command beyond starting a train of +thought which the patient has in most cases started many times for +himself with no result; the difference being that now at last the +patient starts it again, and it _has_ a result. But _why_ it thus +succeeds on this particular occasion, we simply do not know. We cannot +predict when the result will occur; still less can we bring it about at +pleasure. + +Nay, we do not even know whether it might not be possible to dispense +altogether with suggestion from outside in most of the cases now treated +in this way, and merely to teach the patient to make the suggestions for +himself. If there be no "mesmeric effluence" passing from hypnotiser to +patient, the hypnotiser seems little more than a mere _objet de +luxe_;--a personage provided simply to impress the imagination, who must +needs become even absurdly useless so soon as it is understood that he +has no other function or power. + +Self-suggestion, whatever this may really mean, is thus in most cases, +whether avowedly or not, at the bottom of the effect produced. It has +already been used most successfully, and it will probably become much +commoner than it now is;--or, I should rather say (since every one no +doubt suggests to himself when he is in pain that he would like the pain +to cease), I anticipate that self-suggestion, by being in some way +better directed, will become more _effective_, and that the average of +voluntary power over the organism will rise to a far higher level than +it at present reaches. I believe that this is taking place even now; and +that certain _schemes of self-suggestion_, so to call them, are coming +into vogue, where patients in large masses are supplied with effective +conceptions, which they thus impress repeatedly upon themselves without +the need of a hypnotiser's attendance on each occasion. The "Miracles +of Lourdes" and the cures effected by "Christian Science" fall, in my +view, under this category. We have here suggestions given to a quantity +of more or less suitable people _en masse_, much as a platform +hypnotiser gives suggestions to a mixed audience, some of whom may then +be affected without individual attention from himself. The suggestion of +the curative power of the Lourdes water, for instance, is thus thrown +out, partly in books, partly by oral addresses; and a certain percentage +of persons succeed in so persuading themselves of that curative efficacy +that when they bathe in the water they are actually cured. + +These _schemes of self-suggestion_, as I have termed them, constitute +one of the most interesting parts of my subject, but space forbids that +I should enter into a discussion of them here. It is sufficient to point +out that in order to make self-suggestion operative, no strong belief or +enthusiasm, such as those schemes imply, is really necessary. No +recorded cases of self-suggestion, I think, are more instructive than +those published by Dr. Hugh Wingfield in _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. v. +p. 279. (The paper was printed anonymously.) Dr. Wingfield was a +Demonstrator in Physiology in the University of Cambridge, and his +subjects were mainly candidates for the Natural Sciences Tripos. In +these cases there was no excitement of any kind, and no previous belief. +The phenomena occurred incidentally during a series of experiments on +other points, and were a surprise to every one concerned. The results +achieved were partly automatic writing and partly phenomena of +neuro-muscular excitability;--stiffening of the arms, and so forth. "It +seems probable," says Dr. Wingfield, "that all phenomena capable of +being produced by the suggestion of the hypnotiser can also be produced +by self-suggestion in a self-suggestive subject." + +Experiments like these--confirming with modern care the conclusions +reached by Fahnestock and others at various points in hypnotic +history--seem to me to open a new inlet into human faculty, as +surprising in its way as those first wild experiments of Mesmer himself. +Who would have supposed that a healthy undergraduate could "by an effort +of mind" throw his whole body into a state of cataleptic rigidity, so +that he could rest with his heels on one chair and his head on another? +or that other healthy young men could "close their own eyes so that they +were unable to open them," and the like? The trivial character of these +laboratory experiments makes them physiologically the more remarkable. +There is the very minimum of predisposing conditions, of excited +expectation, or of external motive prompting to extraordinary effort. +And the results are not subjective merely--relief of pain and so +on--but are definite neuro-muscular changes, capable (as in the case of +the head and heels on separate chairs) of unmistakable test. + +Yet, important though these and similar experiments in self-suggestion +may be, they do not solve our problem as to the ultimate origin and +distribution of the faculty thus displayed. We know no better with +self-suggestion than with suggestion from outside _why_ it is that one +man succeeds where others fail, or why a man who succeeds once fails in +his next attempt. Within the ordinary range of physiological +explanations nothing (I repeat) has as yet been discovered which can +guide us to the true nature or exciting causes of this characteristic +responsiveness of hypnosis. If we are to find any light, it must be in +some direction which has as yet been little explored. + +The hint which I have to offer here involves, I hope, something more +than a mere change of appellation. I define suggestion as "successful +appeal to the subliminal self";--not necessarily to that self in its +most central, most unitary aspect; but to some one at least of those +strata of subliminal faculty which I have in an earlier chapter +described. I do not indeed pretend that my explanation can enable us to +reduce hypnotic success to a certainty. I cannot say why the process +should be so irregular and capricious; but I can show that this puzzle +is part and parcel of a wider mystery;--of the obscure relationships and +interdependencies of the supraliminal and the subliminal self. In split +personalities, in genius, in dreams, in sensory and motor automatisms, +we find the same fitfulness, the same apparent caprice. + +Leaving perforce this problem for the present unsolved, let us consider +the various ways in which this conception of subliminal operation may +throw light on the actual phenomena of hypnotism;--phenomena at present +scattered in bewildering confusion. + +The word _hypnotism_ itself implies that some kind of _sleep_ or trance +is regarded as its leading characteristic. And although so-called +hypnotic suggestions do often take effect in the waking state,[64] our +usual test of the hypnotiser's success lies in the slumber--light or +deep--into which his subject is thrown. It is, indeed, a slumber which +admits at times of strange wakings and activities; but it is also +manifestly profounder than the sleep which we habitually enjoy. + +If sleep, then, be the phase of personality specially consecrated to +subliminal operation, it follows that any successful appeal to the +subliminal self will be likely to induce some form of sleep. And +further, if that form of sleep be in fact not an inevitable result of +physiological needs, but a response to a psychological appeal, it seems +not unlikely that we should be able to communicate with it without +interrupting it;--and should thus be able to guide or supplement +subliminal operations, just as in genius the subliminal self guided or +supplemented supraliminal operations. + +Now I hold that in all the varied trances, lethargies, sleep-waking +states, to which hypnotism introduces us, we see the subliminal self +coming to the surface in ways already familiar, and displacing just so +much of the supraliminal as may from time to time be needful for the +performance of its own work. That work, I say, will be of a character +which we know already; the difference is that what we have seen done +spontaneously we now see done in response to our appeal. + +Armed with this simplifying conception,--simplifying in spite of its +frank admission of an underlying mystery,--we shall find no added +difficulty in several points which have been the subjects of eager +controversy. The _sequence_ of hypnotic phenomena, the question of the +_stages_ of hypnotism, is one of these. I have already briefly described +how Charcot propounded his three stages--lethargy, catalepsy, +somnambulism--as though they formed the inevitable development of a +physiological law;--and how completely this claim has now had to be +withdrawn. Other schemes have been drawn out, by Liébeault, etc., but +none of them seems to do more than reflect the experience of some one +hypnotist's practice. The simplest arrangement is that of Edmund Gurney, +who spoke only of an "alert stage" and a "deep stage" of hypnosis; and +even here we cannot say that either stage invariably precedes the other. +The alert stage, which often came first with Gurney's subjects, comes +last in Charcot's scheme; and it is hardly safe to say more than that +hypnotism is apt to show a series of changes from sleep-waking to +lethargy and back again, and that the advanced stages show more of +subliminal faculty than the earlier ones. There is much significance in +an experiment of Dr. Jules Janet, who, by continued "passes," carried on +Wittman, Charcot's leading subject, beyond her usual somnambulic state +into a new lethargic state, and out again from thence into a new +sleep-waking state markedly superior to the old. + +Gurney held the view that the main distinction of kind between his +"alert" and his "deep" stage of hypnosis was to be found in the domain +of memory, while memory also afforded the means for distinguishing the +hypnotic state as a whole from the normal one. As a general rule (though +with numerous exceptions), the events of ordinary life are remembered +in the trance, while the trance events are forgotten on waking, but tend +to recur to the memory on rehypnotisation. But the most interesting part +of his observations consisted in showing alternations of memory in the +alert and deep stages of the trance itself;--the ideas impressed in the +one sort of state being almost always forgotten in the other, and as +invariably again remembered when the former state recurs. (_Proceedings_ +S.P.R. vol. ii., pp. 61 _et seq._ [523 A].) On experimenting further, he +met with a stage in which there was a distinct third train of memory, +independent of the others;--and this, of course, suggests a further +doubt as to there being any fixed number of stages in the trance. The +later experiments of Mrs. Sidgwick [523 B] on the same subject, in which +eight or nine distinct trains of memory were found--each recurring when +the corresponding stage of depth of the trance was reached--seem to show +conclusively that the number, may vary almost indefinitely. We have +already seen that in cases of alternating personalities the number of +personalities similarly varies, and the student who now follows or +repeats Gurney's experiments, with the increased knowledge of split +personalities which recent years have brought, cannot fail to be struck +with the analogies between Gurney's artificial light and deep +states,--with their separate chains of memory,--and those morbid +alternating personalities, with their complex mnemonic cleavages and +lacunæ, with which we dealt in Chapter II. The hypnotic stages are in +fact secondary or alternating personalities of very shallow type, but +for that very reason all the better adapted for teaching us from what +kinds of subliminal disaggregation the more serious splits in +personality take their rise. + +And beneath and between these awakenings into limited, partial alertness +lies that profound hypnotic trance which one can best describe as a +scientific or purposive rearrangement of the elements of sleep;--a +rearrangement in which what is helpful is intensified, what is merely +hindering or isolating is removed or reduced. A man's ordinary sleep is +at once unstable and irresponsive. You can wake him with a pin-prick, +but if you talk to him he will not hear or answer you, until you rouse +him with the mere noise. That is sleep as the needs of our timorous +ancestors determined that it should be. + +Hypnotic sleep, on the contrary, is at once stable and responsive; +strong in its resistance to such stimuli as it chooses to ignore; ready +in its accessibility to such appeals as it chooses to answer. + +Prick or pinch the hypnotised subject, and although some stratum of his +personality may be aware, in some fashion, of your act, the sleep will +generally remain unbroken. But if you speak to him,--or even speak +before him,--then, however profound his apparent lethargy, there is +something in him which will hear.[65] + +All this is true even of earlier stages of trance. Deeper still lies the +stage of highest interest;--that sleep-waking in which the subliminal +self is at last set free,--is at last able not only to receive but to +respond: when it begins to tell us the secrets of the sleeping phase of +personality, beginning with directions as to the conduct of the trance +or of the cure, and going on to who knows what insight into who knows +what world afar? + +Without, then, entering into more detail as to the varying forms which +hypnosis at different stages may assume, I have here traced its central +characteristic;--the development, namely, of the sleeping phase of +personality in such fashion as to allow of some supraliminal guidance of +the subliminal self. + +We have here a definition of much wider purview than any which has been +habitually applied to the process of hypnotisation or to the state of +hypnosis. To test its validity, to explain its scope, we need a survey +of hypnotic results much wider in range than any enumeration of the kind +at present usual in text-books. Regarding hypnotic achievements mainly +in their _mental_ aspects, I must seek for some broad principle of +classification which on the one hand may not be so exclusively moral as +to be physiologically untranslatable,--like the distinction between vice +and virtue;--or on the other hand so exclusively physiological as to be +morally untranslatable,--like the distinction between cerebral anæmia +and hyperæmia. + +Perhaps the broadest contrast which is expressible in both moral and +physiological terms is the contrast between check and stimulus,--between +_inhibition_ and _dynamogeny_. Not, indeed, that such terms as _check_ +and _stimulus_ can be pressed in detail. The central power,--the ruling +agency within the man which gives the command,--is no doubt the same in +both cases. But the common contrast between negative and positive +exhortations,--"this you shall _not_ do," "this you _shall_ do,"--will +help to give clearness to our review of the influences of hypnotism in +its bearings on intelligence and character,--its psychological efficacy. + +The most rudimentary form of restraint or inhibition lies in our effort +to preserve the infant or young child from acquiring what we call "bad +tricks." These morbid affections of motor centres, trifling in their +inception, will sometimes grow until they are incurable by any régime or +medicament;--nay, till an action so insignificant as sucking the thumb +may work the ruin of a life. + +In no direction, perhaps, do the results of suggestion appear more +inexplicable than here. Nowhere have we a more conspicuous touching of a +spring;--a more complete achievement, almost in a single moment, of the +deliverance which years of painful effort have failed to effect.[66] + +These cases stand midway between ordinary therapeutics and moral +suasion. No one can here doubt the importance of finding the shortest +and swiftest path to cure. Nor is there any reason to think that cures +thus obtained are less complete or permanent than if they had been +achieved by gradual moral effort. These facts should be borne in mind +throughout the whole series of the higher hypnotic effects, and should +serve to dispel any anxiety as to the possible loss of moral training +when cure is thus magically swift. Each of these effects consists, as we +must suppose, in the modification of some group of nervous centres; and, +so far as we can tell, that is just the same result which moral effort +made above the conscious threshold more slowly and painfully attains. +This difference, in fact, is like the difference between results +achieved by diligence and results achieved by genius. Something valuable +in the way of training,--some exercise in patience and resolve,--no +doubt may be missed by the man who is "suggested" into sobriety;--in the +same way as it was missed by the schoolboy Gauss,--writing down the +answers to problems as soon as set, instead of spending on them a +diligent hour. But moral progress is in its essence as limitless as +mathematical; and the man who is thus carried over rudimentary struggles +may still find plenty of moral effort in life to train his character and +tax his resolution. + +Among these morbid tricks _kleptomania_ has an interest of its own, on +account of the frequent doubt whether it is not put forward as a mere +excuse for pilfering. It may thus happen that the cure is the best proof +of the existence of the disease; and certain cures indicate that the +impulse has veritably involved a morbid excitability of motor centres, +acted on by special stimuli,--an _idée fixe_ with an immediate outcome +in act.[67] + +Many words and acts of _violence_ fall under the same category, in cases +where the impulse to swear or to strike has acquired the unreasoning +automatic promptness of a _tic_, and yet may be at once inhibited by +suggestion. Many undesirable impulses in the realm of _sex_ are also +capable of being thus corrected or removed. + +The stimulants and narcotics, to which our review next leads us, form a +standing menace to human virtue. By some strange accident of our +development, the impulse of our organisms towards certain +drugs--alcohol, opium, and the like--is strong enough to overpower, in a +large proportion of mankind, not only the late-acquired altruistic +impulses, but even the primary impulses of self-regard and +self-preservation. We are brought back, one may almost say, to the +"chimiotaxy" of the lowest organisms, which arrange themselves +inevitably in specific relation to oxygen, malic acid, or whatever the +stimulus may be. We thus experience in ourselves a strange conflict +between moral responsibility and molecular affinities;--the central will +overborne by dumb unnumbered elements of our being. With this condition +of things hypnotic suggestion deals often in a curious way. The +suggestion is not generally felt as a strengthening of the central will. +It resembles rather a molecular redisposition; it leaves the patient +indifferent to the stimulus, or even disgusted with it. The man for whom +alcohol has combined the extremes of delight and terror now lives as +though in a world in which alcohol did not exist at all.[68] + +Even for the slave of morphia the same sudden freedom is sometimes +achieved. It has been said of victims to morphia-injection that a cure +means death;--so often has suicide followed on the distress caused by +giving up the drug. But in certain cases cured by suggestion it seems +that no craving whatsoever has persisted after the sudden disuse of the +drug. There is something here which is in one sense profounder than +moral reform. There is something which suggests a spirit within us less +injured than we might have feared by the body's degradation. The +morphinomaniac _character_--the lowest type of subjection to a ruling +vice--disappears from the personality in proportion as the drug is +eliminated from the system. The shrinking outcast turns at once into the +respectable man.[69] + +But apart from troubles consequent on any intelligible instinct, any +discoverable stimulus of pleasure, there are a multitude of impulses, +fears, imaginations, one or more of which may take possession of persons +not otherwise apparently unhealthy or hysterical, sometimes to an extent +so distressing as to impel to suicide. + +Some of these "phobies" have been often described of late years,--as, +for instance, _agoraphobia_, which makes a man dread to cross an open +space; and its converse _claustrophobia_, which makes him shrink from +sitting in a room with closed doors; or the still more distressing +_mysophobia_, which makes him constantly uneasy lest he should have +become dirty or defiled. + +All these disorders involve a kind of displacement or cramp of the +attention; and for all of them, one may broadly say, hypnotic suggestion +is the best and often the only cure. Suggestion seems to stimulate +antagonistic centres; to open clogged channels; to produce, in short, +however we imagine the process, a rapid disappearance of the insistent +notion. + +I have spoken of this effect as though it were mainly to be valued +intellectually, as a readjustment of the dislocated attention. But I +must note also that the moral results may be as important here as in the +cases of inhibition of dipsomania and the like, already mentioned. These +morbid fears which suggestion relieves may be ruinously degrading to a +man's character. The ingredients of antipathy, of jealousy, which they +sometimes contain, may make him dangerous to his fellows as well as +loathsome to himself. One or two cases of the cure of morbid jealousy +are to my mind among the best records which hypnotism has to show.[70] + +But this is not all. The treasure of memory is mixed with rubbish; the +caution which experience has taught has often been taught too well; +philosophic calm has often frozen into apathy. Plato would have the old +men in his republic plied well with wine on festal days, that their +tongues might be unloosed to communicate their wisdom without reserve. +"Accumulated experience," it has been said with much truth in more +modern language,[71] "hampers action, disturbs the logical reaction of +the individual to his environment. The want of control which marks the +decadence of mental power is [sometimes] itself undue control, a +preponderance of the secondary over the primary influences." + +Now the removal of shyness, or _mauvaise honte_, which hypnotic +suggestion can effect, is in fact a _purgation of memory_,--inhibiting +the recollection of previous failures, and setting free whatever group +of aptitudes is for the moment required. Thus, for the boy called on to +make an oration in a platform exhibition, hypnotisation sets free the +_primary_ instinct of garrulity without the restraining fear of +ridicule. For the musical executant, on the other hand, a similar +suggestion will set free the _secondary_ instinct which the fingers have +acquired, without the interference of the learner's puzzled, hesitating +thoughts. + +I may remark here (following Gurney and Bramwell) how misleading a term +is _mono-ideism_ for almost any hypnotic state. There is a _selection_ +of ideas to which the hypnotic subject will attend, and there is a +_concentration_ upon the idea thus selected; but those ideas themselves +may be both complex and constantly shifting, and indeed this is just one +of the ways in which the hypnotic trance differs from the +somnambulic--in which it may happen that only a relatively small group +of brain-centres are awake enough to act. The somnambulic servant-girl, +for instance, may persist in laying the tea-table, whatever you say to +her, and this may fairly be called mono-ideism; but the hypnotic subject +(as Bramwell has justly insisted) can be made to obey simultaneously a +greater number of separate commands than he could possibly attend to in +waking life. + +From these inhibitions of memory,--of attention as directed to the +experiences of the past,--we pass on to attention as directed to the +experiences of the present. And here we are reaching a central point; we +are affecting the _macula lutea_ (as it has been well called) of the +mental field. Many of the most important of hypnotic results will be +best described as modifications of _attention_. + +Any modification of attention is of course likely to be at once a check +and a stimulus;--a check to certain thoughts and emotions, a stimulus to +others. And in many cases it will be the _dynamogenic_ aspect of the +change--the new vigour supplied in needed directions--which will be for +us of greatest interest. Yet from the _inhibitive_ side also we have +already had important achievements to record. All these arrests and +destructions of _idées fixes_, of which so much has been said, were +powerful modifications of attention, although the limited field which +they covered made it simpler to introduce them under a separate heading. + +And even now it may not be without surprise that the reader finds +described under the heading of _inhibition of attention_ a phenomenon so +considerable and so apparently independent as _hypnotic suppression of +pain_. This induced _analgesia_ has from the first been one of the main +triumphs of mesmerism or hypnotism. All have heard that mesmerism will +stop headaches;--that you can have a tooth out "under mesmerism" without +feeling it. The rivalry between mesmerism and ether, as anæsthetic +agents in capital operations, was a conspicuous fact in the medical +history of early Victorian times. But the ordinary talk, at any rate of +that day, seemed to assume that if mesmerism produced an effect at all +it was an effect _resembling_ that produced by narcotics--a modification +of the intimate structure of the nerve or of the brain which rendered +them for the time incapable of transmitting or of feeling painful +sensations. The state of a man's nervous system, in fact, when he is +poisoned by chloroform, or stunned by a blow, or almost frozen to death, +or nearly drowned, etc., is such that a great part of it is no longer +fit for its usual work,--is no longer capable of those prolongations of +neurons, or whatever they be, which constitute its specific nervous +activity. We thus get rid of pain by getting rid for the time of a great +deal of other nervous action as well; and we have to take care lest by +pushing the experiment too far we get rid of life into the bargain. But +on the other hand, a man's nervous system, when hypnotic suggestion has +rendered him incapable of pain, is quite as active and vigorous as +ever,--quite as capable of transmitting and feeling pain,--although +capable also of inhibiting it altogether. In a word, the hypnotic +subject is _above_ instead of _below_ pain. + +To understand this apparent paradox we must remind ourselves that pain +probably originated as a warning of danger,--a warning which, while +useful to active creatures with miscellaneous risks, has become only a +mixed advantage to beings of more advanced intelligence and +sensitivity. There are many occasions when, knowing it to be useless, we +wish to shut off pain, to rise as definitely _above_ it as our earliest +ancestors were _below_ it, or as the drunken or narcotised man is below +it. This is just what hypnotic suggestion enables us to do. + +Hypnotism attacks the real _origo mali_;--not, indeed, the pressure on +the tooth-nerve, which can only be removed by extraction, but the +representative power of the central sensorium which converts that +pressure for us into pain. It _diverts attention_ from the pain, as the +excitement of battle might do; but diverts it without any competing +excitement whatever. To this topic of _influence on attention_ we shall +have to recur again and again. For the present it may suffice if I refer +the reader to a few cases--chosen from among some thousands where +hypnotic practice has removed or obviated the distress or anguish till +now unmistakably associated with various bodily incidents--from the +extraction of a tooth to the great pain and peril of childbirth.[72] + +This suppression of pain has naturally been treated from the therapeutic +point of view, as an end in itself; and neither physician nor patient +has been inclined to inquire exactly _what_ has occurred;--what +physiological or psychological condition has underlain this great +subjective relief. Yet in the eye of experimental psychology the matter +is far from a simple one. We are bound to ask _what_ has been altered. +Has there been a total _ablation_, or some mere _translation_ of pain? +What objective change on the bodily side has occurred in nerve or +tissue? and, on the mental side, how far does the change in +consciousness extend? How deep does it go? Does any subliminal knowledge +of the pain persist? + +The very imperfect answers which can at present be given to these +questions may, at any rate, suggest directions for further inquiry. + +(1) In the first place, it seems clear that when pain is inhibited in +any but the most simple cases, a certain group of changes is produced +whose _nexus_ is psychological rather than physiological. That is to +say, one suggestion seems to relieve at once all the symptoms which form +one idea of pain or distress in the patient's mind; while another +suggestion is often needed to remove some remaining symptom, which the +patient regards as a different trouble altogether. The suggestion thus +differs both from a specific remedy, which might relieve a specific +symptom, and from a general narcotisation, which would relieve all +symptoms equally. In making suggestions, moreover, the hypnotiser finds +that he has to consider and meet the patient's own subjective feelings, +describing the intended relief as the patient wishes it to be described, +and not attempting technical language which the patient could not +follow. In a word, it is plain that in this class, as in other classes +of suggestion, we are addressing ourselves to a _mind_, an +_intelligence_, which can of itself select and combine, and not merely +to a tissue or a gland responsive in a merely automatic way. + +(2) It will not then surprise us if,--pain being thus treated as a +psychological entity,--there shall prove to be a certain psychological +complexity in the response to analgesic suggestion. + +By this I mean that there are occasional indications that some memory of +the pain, say, of an operation has persisted in some stratum of the +personality;--thus apparently indicating that there was somewhere an +actual consciousness of the pain when the operation was performed.[73] +We find accounts of the revival of pain in dreams after operations +performed under chloroform.[74] + +(3) Such experiences, if more frequent, might tempt us to suppose that +the pain is not wholly abrogated, but merely translated to some stratum +of consciousness whose experiences do not enter into our habitual chain +of memories. Yet we possess (strangely enough) what seems direct +evidence that the profoundest organic substratum of our being is by +suggestion wholly freed from pain. It had long been observed that +recoveries from operations performed in hypnotic trance were unusually +benign;--there being less tendency to inflammation than when the patient +had felt the knife. The same observation--perhaps in a less marked +degree--has since been made as to operations under chemical anæsthesia. +The shock to the system, and the irritation to the special parts +affected, are greatly diminished by chloroform. And more recently +Professor Delbœuf, by an experiment of great delicacy on two +symmetrical wounds, of which one was rendered painless by suggestion, +has distinctly demonstrated that pain tends to induce and keep up +inflammation.[75] + +Thus it seems that pain is abrogated at once on the highest and on the +lowest level of consciousness; yet possibly in some cases (though not +usually[76]) persists obscurely in some stratum of our personality into +which we gain only occasional and indirect glimpses. And if indeed this +be so, it need in no way surprise us. We need to remember at every point +that we have no reason whatever to suppose that we are cognisant of all +the trains of consciousness, or chains of memory, which are weaving +themselves within us. I shall never attain on earth--perhaps I never +shall in any world attain--to any complete conspectus of the variously +interwoven streams of vitality which are, in fact, obscurely present in +my conception of myself. + +It is to hypnotism in the first place that we may look for an increased +power of analysis of these intercurrent streams, these irregularly +super-posed strata of our psychical being. In the meantime, this power +of _inhibiting_ almost any fraction of our habitual consciousness at +pleasure gives for the first time to the ordinary man--if only he be a +suggestible subject--a power of concentration, of _choice_ in the +exercise of faculty, such as up till now only the most powerful +spirits--a Newton or an Archimedes--have been able to exert. + +The man who sits down in his study to write or read,--in perfect safety +and intent on his work,--continues nevertheless to be involuntarily and +inevitably armed with all that alertness to external sights and sounds, +and all that sensibility to pain, which protected his lowly ancestors at +different stages of even pre-human development. It is much as though he +were forced to carry about with him all the external defences which his +forefathers have invented for their defence;--to sit at his +writing-table clad in chain-mail and a respirator, and grasping an +umbrella and a boomerang. Let him learn, if he can, inwardly as well as +outwardly, to get rid of all that, to keep at his command only the half +of his faculties which for his purpose is worth more than the whole. +Dissociation and choice;--dissociation between elements which have +always hitherto seemed inextricably knit;--choice between faculties +which till now we have had to use all together or not at all;--such is +the promise, such is the incipient performance of hypnotic plasticity in +its aspect of _inhibitive suggestion_. + +I come now to the division of hypnotic achievement with which I next +proposed to deal, namely, the _dynamogenic_ results of hypnotic +suggestion. These I shall arrange in an order resembling that which we +try to follow in education:--proceeding from external senses to internal +sensory and other central operations; and thence again to attention and +will, and so to character which is a kind of resultant of all these. + +I will begin, then, with what seems the most external and measurable of +these different influences--the influence, namely, of suggestion upon +man's _perceptive_ faculties;--its power to educate his external organs +of sense. + +This wide subject is almost untouched as yet; and there is no direction +in which one could be more confident of interesting results from further +experiment. + +The exposition falls naturally into three parts, as suggestion effects +one or other of the three following objects: + + (1) Restoration of ordinary senses from some deficient condition. + (2) Verification of ordinary senses;--hyperæsthesiæ. + (3) Development of new senses;--heteræsthesiæ. + +(1) The first of these three headings seems at first sight to belong to +therapeutics rather than to psychology. It is, however, indispensable as +a preliminary to the other two heads; since by learning how and to what +extent suggestion can repair _defective_ senses we have the best chance +of guessing at its _modus operandi_ when it seems to excite the +_healthy_ senses to a point beyond their normal powers.[77] + +Two points may be mentioned here. Improvement of _vision_ seems +sometimes to result from relaxation of an involuntary ciliary spasm, +which habitually over-corrects some defect of the lens. This is +interesting, from the analogy thus shown in quite healthy persons to the +fixed ideas, the subliminal errors and fancies characteristics of +hysteria. The stratum of self whose business it is to correct the +mechanical defect of the eye has in these instances done so amiss, and +cannot set itself right. The corrected form of vision is as defective as +the form of vision which it replaced. But if the state of trance be +induced, or if it occur spontaneously, it sometimes happens that the +error is suddenly righted; the patient lays aside spectacles; and since +we must assume that the original defect of mechanism remains, it seems +that that defect is now perfectly instead of imperfectly met. This shows +a subliminal adjusting power operating during trance more intelligently +than the supraliminal intelligence had been able to operate during +waking life. + +Another point of interest lies in the effect of increased attention, as +stimulated by suggestion, upon the power of hearing. Dr. Liébeault[78] +records two cases which are among the most significant that I know. If +such susceptibility to self-suggestion could be reached by patients +generally, there might be, with no miracle at all, a removal of perhaps +half the annoyance which deafness inflicts on mankind. + +I pass on to cases of the production by suggestion or self-suggestion of +hyperæsthesia,--of a degree of sensory delicacy which overpasses the +ordinary level, and the previous level of the subject himself. + +The rudimentary state of our study of hypnotism is somewhat strangely +illustrated by the fact that most of the experiments which show +hyperæsthesia most delicately have been undertaken with a view of +proving something else--namely, mesmeric _rapport_, or the mesmerisation +of objects, or telepathy. In these cases the proof of _rapport_, +telepathy, etc., generally just falls short,--because one cannot say +that the action of the ordinary senses might not have reached the point +necessary for the achievement, though there is often good reason to +believe that the subject was supraliminally ignorant of the way in which +he was, in fact, attaining the knowledge in question. + +In these extreme cases, indeed, the explanation by hyperæsthesia is not +always proved. There _may_ have been telepathy, although one has not the +right to assume telepathy, in view of certain slighter, but still +remarkable, hyperæsthetic achievements, which are common subjects of +demonstration. The ready recognition of _points de repère_, on the back +of a card or the like, which are hardly perceptible to ordinary eyes, is +one of the most usual of these performances. + +In this connection the question arises as to the existence of +physiological limits to the exercise of the ordinary senses. In the case +of the eye a _minimum visibile_ is generally assumed; and there is +special interest in a case of clairvoyance versus cornea-reading, where, +if the words were read (as appears most probable) from their reflection +upon the cornea of the hypnotiser, the common view as to the _minimum +visibile_ is greatly stretched.[79] + +With regard to the other senses, whose mechanism is less capable of +minute dissection, one meets problems of a rather different kind. What +are the definitions of smell and touch? Touch is already split up into +various factors--tactile, algesic, thermal; and thermal touch is itself +a duplicate sense, depending apparently on one set of nerve-terminations +adapted to perceive heat, and another set adapted to perceive cold. +Taste is similarly split up; and we do not call anything taste which is +not definitely referred to the mouth and adjacent regions. Smell is +vaguer; and there are cognate sensations (like that of the presence of a +cat) which are not referred by their subject to the nose. The study of +hyperæsthesia does in this sense prepare the way for what I have termed +heteræsthesia; in that it leaves us more cautious in definition as to +what the senses are, it accustoms us to the notion that people become +aware of things in many ways which they cannot definitely realise. + +Let us now consider the evidence for heteræsthesia;--for the existence, +that is to say, under hypnotic suggestion, of any form of sensibility +decidedly different from those with which we are familiar. It would +sound more accurate if one could say "demanding some end-organ different +from those which we know that we possess." But we know too little of the +range of perceptivity of these end-organs in the skin which we are +gradually learning to distinguish--of the heat-feeling spots, +cold-feeling spots, and the like--to be able to say for what purposes a +new organ would be needed. For certain heteræsthetic sensations, indeed, +as the perception of a magnetic field, one can hardly assume that any +end-organ would be necessary. It is better, therefore, to speak only of +modes of sensibility. + +Looking at the matter from the evolutionary point of view, the question +among sensations was one of the development of the fittest; that is to +say that, as the organism became more complex and needed sensations more +definite than sufficed for the protozoon, certain sensibilities got +themselves defined and stereotyped upon the organism by the evolution of +end-organs.[80] Others failed to get thus externalised; but may, for +aught we know, persist nevertheless in the central organs;--say, for +instance, in what for man are the optic or olfactory tracts of the +brain. There will then be no apparent reason why these latent powers +should not from time to time receive sufficient stimulus, either from +within or from without, to make them perceptible to the waking +intelligence, or perceptible at least in states (like trance) of narrow +concentration. + +As the result of these considerations, I approach alleged heteræsthesiæ +of various kinds with no presumption whatever against their real +occurrence. Yet on the other hand, my belief in the extent of possible +_hyperæsthesia_ continually suggests to me that the apparently new +perceptions may only consist of a mixture of familiar forms of +perception, pushed to a new extreme, and centrally interpreted with a +new acumen, while there is no doubt that many experiments supposed to +furnish evidence of such new perceptions merely illustrate the effect of +suggestion or self-suggestion. + +Without, however, presuming to criticise past evidence wholesale, I yet +hope that the experience now attained may lead to a much greater number +of well-guarded experiments in the near future. In Appendix V.A, I very +briefly present the actual state of this inquiry. In default of any +logical principle, I shall there divide these alleged forms of +sensibility according as they are excited by inorganic objects on the +one hand, or by organisms (dead or living) on the other. + +In the meantime I pass on to that group of the dynamogenic effects of +suggestion which affect the more central vital operations--either the +vaso-motor system, or the neuro-muscular system, or the central sensory +tracts. The effects of suggestion on character--induced changes to which +we can hardly guess the nervous concomitant--will remain to be dealt +with later. + +First, then, as to the effects of suggestion on the vaso-motor system. +Simple effects of this type form the commonest of "platform +experiments." The mesmerist holds ammonia under his subject's nose, and +tells him it is rose-water. The subject smells it eagerly, and his eyes +do not water. The suggestion, that is to say, that the stinging vapour +is inert has inhibited the vaso-motor reflexes which would ordinarily +follow, and which no ordinary effort of will could restrain. _Vice +versâ_, when the subject smells rose-water, described as ammonia, he +sneezes and his eyes water. These results, which his own will could not +produce, follow on the mesmerist's word. No one who sees these simple +tests applied can doubt the genuineness of the influence at work. We +find then, as might be expected, that action on glands and secretions +constitutes a large element in hypnotic therapeutics. The literature of +suggestion is full of instances where a suppressed secretion has been +restored at a previously arranged moment, almost with "astronomical +punctuality." And yet to what memory is that command retained? by what +signal is it announced? or by what agency obeyed? + +In spite of this underlying obscurity, common to every branch of +suggestion, these vaso-motor phenomena are by this time so familiar that +no further description of them is necessary. + +This delicate responsiveness of the vaso-motor system has given rise to +some curious spontaneous phenomena, and has suggested some experiments, +which are probably as yet in their infancy. The main point of interest +is that at this point spontaneous self-suggestion, and subsequently +suggestion from without, have made a kind of first attempt at the +modification of the human organism in what may be called fancy +directions,--at the production of a change which has no therapeutic aim, +and so to say, no physiological unity; but which is guided by an +intellectual caprice along lines with which the organism is not +previously familiar. I speak of the phenomenon commonly known as +"stigmatisation," from the fact that its earliest spontaneous +manifestations were suggested by imaginations brooding on the stigmata +of Christ's passion;--the marks of wounds in hands and feet and side. +This phenomenon, which was long treated both by _savants_ and by +devotees as though it must be either fraudulent or miraculous,--_ou +supercherie, ou miracle_,--is now found (like a good many other +phenomena previously deemed subject to that dilemma) to enter readily +within the widening circuit of natural law. Stigmatisation is, in fact, +a form of vesication; and suggested vesication--with the quasi-burns and +real blisters which obediently appear in any place and pattern that is +ordered--is a high development of that same vaso-motor plasticity of +which the ammonia-rose-water experiment was an early example.[81] + +The group of suggestive effects which we reach next in order is a wide +and important one. The education of the _central sensory faculties_,--of +our power of inwardly representing to ourselves sights and sounds, +etc.,--is not less important than the education of the external senses. +The powers of construction and combination which our central organs +possess differ more widely in degree in different healthy individuals +than the degrees of external perception itself. And the stimulating +influence of hypnotism on _imagination_ is perhaps the most conspicuous +phenomenon which the whole subject offers; yet it has been little dwelt +upon, save from one quite superficial point of view. + +Every one knows that a hypnotised subject is easily hallucinated;--that +if he is told to see a non-existent dog, he sees a dog,--that if he is +told _not_ to see Mr. A., he sees everything in the room, Mr. A. +excepted. Common and conspicuous, I say, as this experiment is, even the +scientific observer has too often dealt with it with the shallowness of +the platform lecturer. The lecturer represents this induced +hallucinability simply as an odd illustration of his own power over the +subject. "I tell him to forget his name, and he forgets his name; I tell +him that he has a baby on his lap, and he sees and feels and dandles +it." At the best, such a hallucination is quoted as an instance of +"mono-ideism." But the real kernel of the phenomenon is not the +inhibition but the dynamogeny;--not the abstraction of attention or +imagination from other topics, but the increased power which imagination +gains under suggestion;--the development of faculty, useless, if you +will, in that special form of imagining the baby, but faculty mentally +of a high order--faculty in one shape or another essential to the +production of almost all the most admired forms of human achievement. + +On this theme I shall have much to say; yet here again it will be +convenient to defer fuller discussion until I review what I have termed +"sensory automatism" in a more general way. We shall then see that this +quickened imaginative faculty is not educed by hypnosis alone; that it +is a part of the equipment of the subliminal self, and will be better +treated at length in connection with other spontaneous manifestations. +Enough here to have pointed out the main fact; for when pointed out it +can hardly be disputed, although its significance for the true +comprehension of hypnotic phenomena has been too often overlooked. + +Yet here, and in direct connection with hypnotism, certain special +features of hallucinations need to be insisted upon, both as partly +explaining certain more advanced hypnotic phenomena, and also as +suggesting lines of important experiment. The first point is this. + +Post-hypnotic hallucinations can be _postponed_ at will. That is to say, +a constant watchfulness is exercised by the subject, so that if, for +example, the hypnotiser tells him that he will (when awakened) poke the +fire when the hypnotiser has coughed three times, the awakened subject, +although knowing nothing of the order in his waking state, will be on +the look-out for the coughs, amid all other disturbances, and will poke +the fire at the fore-ordained signal.[82] Moreover, when the +post-hypnotic suggestion is executed there will often be a slight +momentary relapse into the hypnotic state, and the subject will not +afterwards be aware that he _has_ (for instance) poked the fire at all. +This means that the suggested act belongs properly to the hypnotic, not +to the normal chain of memory; so that its performance involves a brief +reappearance of the subliminal self which received the order. + +Another characteristic of these suggested hallucinations tells in +exactly the same direction. It is possible to suggest no mere isolated +picture,--a black cat on the table, or the like,--but a whole complex +series of responses to circumstances not at the time predictable. This +point is well illustrated by what are called "negative hallucinations" +or "systematised anæsthesiæ." Suppose, for instance, that I tell a +hypnotised subject that when he awakes there will be no one in the room +with him but myself. He awakes and remembers nothing of this order, but +sees me alone in the room. Other persons present endeavour to attract +his attention in various ways. Sometimes he will be quite unconscious of +their noises and movements; sometimes he will perceive them, but will +explain them away, as due to other causes, in the same irrational manner +as one might do in a dream. Or he may perceive them, be unable to +explain them, and feel considerable terror until the "negative +hallucination" is dissolved by a fresh word of command. It is plain, in +fact, throughout, that some element in him is at work all the time in +obedience to the suggestion given,--is keeping him by ever fresh +modifications of his illusion from discovering its unreality. Nothing +could be more characteristic of what I have called a "middle-level +centre" of the subliminal self--of some element in his nature which is +potent and persistent without being completely intelligent;--a kind of +dream-producer, ready at any moment to vary and defend the dream. + +Another indication of the subliminal power at work to produce these +hallucinations is their remarkable _range_--a range as wide, perhaps, as +that over which therapeutic effects are obtainable by suggestion. The +post-hypnotic hallucination may affect not sight and hearing alone (to +which spontaneous hallucinations are in most cases confined), but all +kinds of vaso-motor responses and organic sensations--cardiac, +stomachic, and the like--which no artifice can affect in a waking +person. The legendary flow of perspiration with which the flatterer +sympathises with his patron's complaint of heat--_si dixeris "Æstuo," +sudat_--is no exaggeration if applied to the hypnotic subject, who will +often sweat and shiver at your bidding as you transplant him from the +Equator to frosty Caucasus. + +Well, then, given this strength and vigour of hallucination, one sees a +possible extension of knowledge in more than one direction. To begin +with, by suggestion to the subject that he is feeling or doing something +which is beyond his normal range of faculties, we may perhaps enable him +to perceive or to act as thus suggested. + +What we need is to address to a sensitive subject a series of strong +suggestions of the increase of his sensory range and power. We must +needs begin by suggesting hallucinatory sensations:--the subject should +be told that he perceives some stimulus which is, in fact, too feeble +for ordinary perception. If you can make him _think_ that he perceives +it, he probably will after a time perceive it; the direction given to +his attention heightening either peripheral or central sensory faculty. +You may then be able to attack the question as to how far his +specialised end-organs are really concerned in the perception;--and it +may then be possible to deal in a more fruitful way with those alleged +cases of _transposition of senses_ which have so great a theoretical +interest as being apparently intermediate between hyperæsthesia and +telæsthesia or clairvoyance. If we once admit (as I, of course, admit) +the reality of telæsthesia, it is just in some such way as this that we +should expect to find it beginning. + +I start from the thesis that the perceptive power within us precedes and +is independent of the specialised sense-organs, which it has developed +for earthly use. + + νοὑς ὁρα καἱ νοὑς ἁκοὑει τἁλλα κωφἁ καἱ τυφλα. + +I conceive further that under certain circumstances this primary +telæsthetic faculty resumes direct operations, in spite of the fleshly +barriers which are constructed so as to allow it to operate through +certain channels alone. And I conceive that in thus resuming exercise of +the wider faculty, the incarnate spirit will be influenced or hampered +by the habits or self-suggestions of the more specialised faculty; so +that there may be apparent _compromises_ of different kinds between +telæsthetic and hyperæsthetic perception,--as the specialised senses +endeavour, as it were, to retain credit for the perception which is in +reality widening beyond their scope. + +In this attitude of mind, then, I approach the recorded cases of +transposition of special sense.[83] + +Two main hypotheses have been put forward as a general explanation of +such cases, neither of which seems to me quite satisfactory. (1) The +common theory would be that these are merely cases of erroneous +self-suggestion;--that the subject really sees with the eye, but thinks +that he sees with the knee, or the stomach, or the finger-tips. This may +probably have been so in many, but not, I think, in all instances. (2) +Dr. Prosper Despine and others suppose that, while the accustomed +cerebral centres are still concerned in the act of sight, the finger-end +(for example) acts for the nonce as the end-organ required to carry the +visual sensation to the brain. I cannot here get over the mechanical +difficulty of the absence of a lens. However hyperæsthetic the +finger-end might be (say) to light and darkness, I can hardly imagine +its acting as an organ of definite sight. + +My own suggestion (which, for aught I know, may have been made before) +is that the finger-end is no more a true organ of sight than the +arbitrary "hypnogenous zone" is a true organ for inducing trance. I +think it possible that there may be actual telæsthesia,--not necessarily +involving any perception by the bodily organism;--and that the spirit +which thus perceives in wholly supernormal fashion may be under the +impression that it is perceiving through some bizarre corporeal +channel--as the knee or the stomach. I think, therefore, that the +perception may not be _optical_ sight at all, but rather some +generalised telæsthetic perception represented as visual, but +_incoherently_ so represented; so that it may be referred to the knee +instead of the retina. And here again, as at several previous points in +my argument, I must refer the reader to what will be said in my chapter +on _Possession_ by external spirits (Chapter IX.) to illustrate the +operation even of the subject's own spirit acting without external aid. + +And now I come to the third main type of the dynamogenic efficacy of +suggestion: its influence, namely, on _attention_, on _will_, and on +_character_--character, indeed, being largely a resultant of the +direction and persistence of voluntary attention. + +It will be remembered that for convenience' sake I have discussed the +dynamogenic effect of suggestion first upon the external senses, then +upon the internal sensibility,--the mind's eye, the mind's ear, and the +imagination generally;--and now I am turning to similar effects +exercised upon that central power which reasons upon the ideas and +images which external and internal senses supply, which chooses between +them, and which reacts according to its choice. These are "highest-level +centres," which I began by saying that the hypnotist could rarely hope +to reach;--since those spontaneous somnambulisms which the hypnotic +trance imitates and develops do so seldom reach them. We have, however, +already found a good deal of intelligence of a certain kind in hypnotic +phenomena; what we do here is to pass from one stage to another and +higher stage of consciousness of intelligent action. + +To explain this statement, let us dwell for a moment upon the degree of +intelligence which is sometimes displayed in those modifications of the +organism which suggestion effects. Take, for instance, the formation of +a cruciform blister, as recorded by Dr. Biggs, of Lima.[84] In this +experiment the hypnotised subject was told that a red cross would appear +on her chest every Friday during a period of four months. For the +carrying out of this suggestion an unusual combination of capacities was +needed;--the capacity of directing physiological changes in a new way, +and also, and combined therewith, the capacity of recognising and +imitating an abstract, arbitrary, non-physiological idea, such as that +of _cruciformity_. + +All this, in my view, is the expression of _subliminal_ control over the +organism--more potent and profound than _supraliminal_, and exercised +neither blindly nor wisely, but with intelligent caprice. + +Bearing this in mind as we go on to suggestions more directly affecting +central faculty, in which _highest-level_ centres begin to be involved, +we need not be surprised to find an intermediate stage in which high +faculties are used in obedience to suggestion, for purely capricious +ends. + +I speak of _calculations_ subliminally performed in the carrying out of +post-hypnotic suggestions. + +These suggestions _à échéance_--commands, given in the trance, to do +something under certain contingent circumstances, or after a certain +time has elapsed--form a very convenient mode of testing the amount of +mentation which can be started and carried out without the intervention +of the supraliminal consciousness. Experiments have been made in this +direction by three men especially who have in recent times done some of +the best work on the psychological side of hypnotism, namely, Edmund +Gurney, Delbœuf, and Milne Bramwell. + +Dr. Milne Bramwell's experiments[85] (to mention these as a sample of +the rest) were post-hypnotic suggestions involving arithmetical +calculations; the entranced subject, for instance, being told to make a +cross when 20,180 minutes had elapsed from the moment of the order. +Their primary importance lay in showing that a subliminal or hypnotic +memory persisted across the intervening gulf of time,--days and nights +of ordinary life,--and prompted obedience to the order when at last it +fell due. But incidentally, as I say, it became clear that the subject, +whose arithmetical capacity in common life was small, worked out these +sums subliminally a good deal better than she could work them out by her +normal waking intelligence. + +Of course, all that was needed for such simple calculations was close +attention to easy rules; but this was just what the waking mind was +unable to give, at least without the help of pencil and paper. If we lay +this long and careful experiment side by side with the accounts already +given of the solution of problems in somnambulic states, it seems clear +that there is yet much to be done in the education of subliminal memory +and acumen as a help to supraliminal work. + +Important in this connection is Dr. Dufay's account of help given to an +actress in the representation of her _rôles_ by hypnotisation.[86] It +seems obvious that stage-fright is just the kind of nervous annoyance +from which hypnotisation should give relief. Somewhat similarly I +believe some persons can secure a cheap substitute for genius on stage +or platform, evoking by suggestion or self-suggestion a helpful +subliminal uprush. Here again, the hypnotisation is a kind of extension +of "secondary automatism,"--of the familiar lapse from ordinary +consciousness of movements (walking, pianoforte-playing, etc.), which +have been very frequently performed. The possibilities thus opened up +are very great: no less than the combination by mankind of the stability +of instinct with the plasticity of reason. There seems no reason why +man's range of automatism should not thus be largely increased in two +main ways: many things now unpleasant to do might be done with +indifference, and many things now difficult to do might be done with +ease. + +And now let us pass on from these specialised influences of suggestion +on certain kinds of attention to its influence on attention generally, +as needed, for instance, in education. If we can arrest the shifting of +the mental focus to undesired ideational centres in at all the same way +as we can arrest the choreic or fidgety shiftings of motor impulse to +undesired motor centres, we shall have done perhaps as much for the +world's ordinary work as if we had raised the average man's actual +intelligence a step higher in the scale. We shall have checked waste, +although we may not have improved quality. The well-known case of Dr. +Forel's warders,[87] who were enabled by hypnotic suggestion to sleep +soundly by the side of the patients they had to watch, and wake only +when the patients required to be restrained, shows us how by this means +the attention may be concentrated on selected impressions and waste of +energy be avoided in a way that could hardly be compassed by any +ordinary exercise of the will. + +How far, indeed, we can go in actually _heightening_ intelligence by +suggestion we have yet to learn. We must not expect to add a cubit to +intellectual any more than to physical stature. Limitations at birth +must prevent our developing the common man into a Newton; but there +seems no reason why we should not bring up his practical achievements +much nearer than at present to the maximum of his innate capacity.[88] + +In passing on from the influence of suggestion on _attention_ to its +influence on _will_, I am not meaning to draw any but the most every-day +distinction between these two forms of inward concentration. The point, +in fact, which I wish now to notice is rather a matter of common +observation than a provable and measurable phenomenon. I speak of the +energy and resolution with which a hypnotic suggestion is carried +out;--the _ferocity_, even, with which the entranced subject pushes +aside the opposition of much more powerful men. I do not, indeed, assert +that he would thus risk very serious injury; for I believe (with +Bramwell and others) that there does exist somewhere within him a +knowledge that the whole proceeding is a mere experiment. But, +nevertheless, he actually risks something; he behaves, in short, as a +confident, resolute man would behave, and this however timid and +unaggressive his habitual character may be. I believe that much +advantage may yet be drawn from this confident temper. We can thus +inhibit the acquired self-distrust and shyness of the supraliminal self, +and get the subliminal self concentrated upon some task which may be as +difficult as we please;--which may, if we can adjust it rightly, draw +out to the uttermost the innate powers of man. + +It has been supposed that the mere fact of being hypnotised tended to +weaken the will; that the hypnotised person fell inevitably more and +more under the control of the hypnotiser, and even that he could at last +be induced to commit crimes by suggestion. In his article "What is +Hypnotism?"[89] Dr. Milne Bramwell shows on how small a foundation of +fact these fanciful theories have been erected. It may suffice to say +here that nothing is easier, either for subject or for hypnotiser, than +to _avert_ undue influence. A trusted friend has only to suggest to the +hypnotised subject that _no one else_ will be able to affect him, and +the thing is done. As to the crimes supposed to be committed by +hypnotised persons under the influence of suggestion, the evidence for +such crimes, in spite of great efforts made to collect it and set it +forth, remains, I think, practically _nil_. + +This fact, I must add, is quite in harmony with the views expressed in +the present chapter. For it implies that the higher subliminal centres +(so to term them) never really abdicate their rule; that they may indeed +remain passive while the middle centres obey the experimenter's caprice, +but are still ready to resume their control if such experiment should +become really dangerous to the individual. And this runs parallel with +common experience in the spontaneous somnambulisms. The sleeper may +perform apparently rash exploits; but yet, unless he be suddenly +awakened, serious accidents are very rare. Nevertheless, both in +spontaneous and in induced somnambulism, accidents _may_ occur; nor +should any experiment be undertaken in a careless or jesting spirit. + +But the rôle of the hypnotiser, as our command over hypnotic artifice +increases, is likely to become continually smaller in proportion to the +rôle played by the subject himself. Especially must this be so where the +object is to strengthen the subject's own power of will. All that can be +done from _without_ in such a case is to imbue the man's spirit with the +sense of its unexhausted prerogatives,--the strength which he may then +employ, not only to avert pain or anxiety, but in any active direction +which his original nature itself admits. + +These last words may naturally lead us on to our next topic: the +influence of suggestion on _character_,--on that function of combined +attention and will, which is, of course, also ultimately a function of +the possibilities latent in the individual germ. + +First of all, then, and going back to the evidence already given as to +the cure of the victims of morphia, we may say with truth that _there_ +we have seen as tremendous a moral _lift_--as sudden an elevation from +utter baseness to at least normal living--as can be anywhere presented +to us. + +Here, then, the question arises as to the possible range of such sudden +reformations. Did we succeed with the morphinomaniac only because his +was a _functional_, and not an _organic_, degradation? + +And may it not be a much harder task to create honesty, purity, +unselfishness in a brain whose very conformation must keep the spirit +that thinks through it nearly on the level of the brute? The question is +of the highest psychological interest; the answer, though as yet +rudimentary, is unexpectedly encouraging. The examples given in Appendix +V. B show that if the subject is hypnotisable, and if hypnotic +suggestion be applied with sufficient persistency and skill, no depth of +previous baseness and foulness need prevent the man or woman whom we +charge with "moral insanity," or stamp as a "criminal-born," from rising +into a state where he or she can work steadily, and render services +useful to the community.[90] + +I purposely limit my assertion to these words. We must still work within +the bounds of natural capacity. Just as we cannot improvise a genius, we +cannot improvise a saint. But what experience seems to show is that we +can _select_ from the lowest and poorest range of feelings and faculties +enough of sound feeling, enough of helpful faculty, to keep the man in a +position of moral stability, and capable of falling in with the common +labours of his kind. + +And here we approach a point of much interest. Hypnotic suggestion or +self-suggestion is not an agency which stands wholly alone. It melts +into the suasion of ordinary life. Ministers of religion as well as +physicians have always wielded with authority the suasive power. From +the crude animistic dances and ceremonies of the savage up to the +"missions" and "revivals" in English and American churches and chapels, +we find sudden and exciting impressions on mind and sense called into +play for the purpose of producing religious and moral change.[91] Among +the lower races especially these exciting reunions often involve both +hysterical and hypnotic phenomena. There are sometimes convulsive +accesses and there is sometimes the milder phenomenon of a deep +restorative sleep. The influence exerted upon the convert is +intermediate between hypnotic artifice, dependent on trance-states for +access to subliminal plasticity, and ordinary moral suasion, addressed +primarily to ordinary waking reason. + +Let us pause here to consider the point which we have already reached. +We began by defining hypnotism as the empirical development of the +sleeping phase of man's personality. In that sleeping phase the most +conspicuous element--the most obvious function of the subliminal +self--is the repair of wasted tissues, the physical, and therefore also +largely the moral, refreshment and rejuvenation of the tired organism. + +But we found reason to believe that the subliminal self has other +functions to fulfil during sleep. Those other functions are concerned in +some unknown way with the spiritual world; and the indication of their +exercise is given by the sporadic occurrence, in the sleeping phase, of +supernormal phenomena. Such phenomena, as we shall presently see, occur +also at various points in hypnotic practice. To them we must now turn, +if our account of the phenomena of induced somnambulism is to be +complete. + +Yet here, in order to give completeness to our intended review, we shall +need a certain apparent extension of the scope of this chapter. We shall +need to consider a group of cases which might have been introduced at +various points in our scheme, but which are perhaps richest in their +illustrations of the supernormal phenomena of hypnotism. + +_Spontaneous somnambulisms_,--those crude uprushes of incoherent +subliminal faculty which sometimes break through the surface of +sleep,--seem to occupy a kind of midway position among the various +phenomena through which our inquiry has thus far carried us. + +The somnambulism often _starts_ as an exaggerated dream; it _develops_ +into a kind of secondary personality. The thoughts and impulses which +the upheaval raises into manifestations--the psychical output--resemble +sometimes the inspirations of genius, sometimes the follies of hysteria. +And, finally, the spontaneous sleep-waking state itself is manifestly +akin to hypnosis,--is sometimes actually interchangeable with the +induced somnambulisms of the hypnotic trance. The _chain of memory_ +which repeated spontaneous somnambulisms gradually form,--while lying +quite outside the primary or waking memory,--will often be found to form +a part of the _hypnotic_ memory, which gradually accretes in similar +fashion from repeated hypnosis. + +For one form of sleep-waking capacity we are already prepared by what +has been said in Chapter IV. of the solution of problems in sleep. This +is one of the ways in which we can watch the gradual merging of a vivid +dream into a definite somnambulic act. The solution of a problem (as we +have seen) may present itself merely as a sentence or a diagram, +constructed in dream and remembered on waking. Or the sleeper (as in +various cases familiar in text-books) may rise from bed and _write out_ +the chain of reasoning, or the sermon, or whatever it may be. Or again, +in rarer cases the somnambulic output may take the form of oratory, and +edifying discourses may be delivered by a preacher whom no amount of +shaking or pinching will silence or, generally, even interrupt. This, so +to speak, is genius with a vengeance; this is a too persistent uprush of +subliminal zeal, co-operating even out of season with the hortatory +instincts of the waking self. + +The group of sleep-waking cases which we may next discuss illustrates a +natural evolution of the faculty of the sleeping phase of personality. +The subliminal self, exercising in sleep a profounder _influence_ over +the organism than the supraliminal can exert, may also be presumed to +possess a profounder _knowledge_ of the organism--of its present, and +therefore of its future--than the supraliminal self enjoys. + +There are cases[92] in which the somnambulic personality is discerned +throughout as a wiser self--advising a treatment, or at least foreseeing +future developments of the disease with great particularity. Of course, +in such a case prediction is often simply a form of suggestion; the +symptom occurs simply because it has been ordained beforehand. In the +case of cures of long-standing disease the sagacity which foresees +probably co-operates with the control which directs the changes in the +organism. + +The next stage is a very important one. We come to the manifestation in +spontaneous sleep-waking states of manifestly supernormal +powers,--sometimes of telepathy, but more commonly of clairvoyance or +telæsthesia. Unfortunately, these cases have been, as a rule, very +insufficiently observed. Still, it appears that in spontaneous +somnambulism there is frequently some indication of supernormal powers, +though the observers--even if competent in other ways--have generally +neglected to take account of the hyperæsthesia and heightening of memory +and of general intelligence that often accompany the state. + +Before leaving this subject of spontaneous sleep-waking states I ought +briefly to mention a form of trance with which we shall have to deal +more at length in a later chapter. I speak of trance ascribed to +_spirit-possession_. As will be seen, I myself fully adopt this +explanation in a small number of the cases where it is put forward. Yet +I do not think that spirit-agency is necessarily present in all the +trances even of a true subject of possession. With all the leading +sensitives--with D. D. Home, with Stainton Moses, with Mrs. Piper and +with others--I think that the depth of the trance has varied greatly on +different occasions, and that sometimes the subliminal self of the +sensitive is vaguely simulating, probably in an unconscious dream-like +way, an external intelligence. This hypothesis suggested itself to +several observers in the case especially of D. D. Home, with whom the +moments of strong characterisation of a departed personality, though far +from rare, were yet scattered among tracts of dreamy improvisation which +suggested only the utterance of Home's subliminal self. However we +choose to interpret these trances, they should be mentioned in +comparison with all the other sleep-waking states. They probably form +the best transition between those shallow somnambulisms, on the one +hand, which are little more than a vivid dream, and those profound +trances, on the other hand, in which the native spirit quits, as nearly +as may be, the sensitive's organism, and is for the time replaced, as +nearly as may be, by an invading spirit from that unseen world. + +This brief review of non-hypnotic somnambulisms has not been without its +lessons. It has shown us that the supernormal powers which we have +traced in each of the preceding chapters in turn do also show +themselves, in much the same fashion, in spontaneous sleep-waking states +of various types. We must now inquire how far they occur in sleep-waking +states experimentally induced. + +And here the very fact of _induction_ suggests to us a question +specially applicable to the hypnotic state itself. Is hypnosis ever +supernormally induced? Can any one, that is to say, be thrown into +hypnotic trance by a telepathic impact? or, to phrase it more generally, +by any influence, inexplicable by existing science, which may pass from +man to man? + +In the first place one may say that of the anti-mesmeric schools of +opinion, the "purely physiological" school has on the whole failed, the +"purely suggestive" school has triumphantly succeeded. The school of +Nancy, reinforced by hypnotists all over Europe, has abundantly proved +that "pure suggestion" (whatever that be) is the determining cause of a +very large proportion of hypnotic phenomena. That is beyond dispute; and +the two other schools, the "pure physiologists" and the "mesmerists" +alike, must now manage to prove as best they can that their favourite +methods play any real part in the induction of any case of hypnosis. For +to the pure suggestionist, monotonous stimulation and mesmeric passes +are alike in themselves inert, are alike mere facilitations of +suggestion, acting not directly on the patient's organism, but rather +on his state of mental expectation. + +I reply that there is absolutely no need to go as far as this. In +admitting suggestion as a _vera causa_ of hypnosis, we are recognising a +cause which, if we really try to grasp it, resolves itself into +_subliminal operation, brought about we know not how_. So far, +therefore, from negativing and excluding any obscure and perhaps +supernormal agency, the suggestion theory leaves the way for any such +agency broadly open. Some unknown cause or other must determine whether +each suggestion is to "take" or no; and that unknown cause must +presumably act somehow upon the subliminal self. We should have +something like a real explanation of suggestion, if we could show that a +suggestion's success or failure was linked with some telepathic impact +from the suggester's mind, or with some mesmeric effluence from his +person. + +I know well that in many cases we can establish no link of this kind. In +Bernheim's rapid hospital practice there seems no opportunity to bring +the hypnotist's will, or the hypnotiser's organism, into any effective +_rapport_ with the subject. Rather, the subject seems to do all that is +wanted for himself almost instantaneously. He often falls into the +suggested slumber almost before the word "_Dormez!_" has left the +physician's mouth. But on the other hand, this is by no means the only +type of hypnotic success. Just as in the mesmeric days, so also now +there are continual instances where much more than the mere command has +been needed for effective hypnotisation. Persistence, proximity, +passes--all these prove needful still in the practice even of physicians +who place no faith at all in the old mesmeric theory. + +The fact is, that since the days of those old controversies between +mesmerists proper and hypnotists proper, the conditions of the +controversy have greatly changed. The supposed mesmeric effluence was +then treated as an entirely isolated, yet an entirely physiological +phenomenon. There was supposed to be a kind of radiation or infection +passing from one nervous system to another. It was of this that Cuvier +(for instance) was convinced; it was this theory which Elliotson +defended in the _Zoist_ with a wealth of illustration and argument to +which little justice has even yet been done. Yet it was hard to prove +_effluence_ as opposed to _suggestion_, because where there was +proximity enough for effluence to be effective there was also proximity +enough for suggestion to be possible. Only in some few +circumstances,--such as Esdaile's mesmerisation of a blind man over a +wall,[93]--was it possible to claim that the mesmeric trance had been +induced without any suspicion whatever on the subject's part that the +mesmerist was trying to entrance him. + +Since those days, however, the evidence for _telepathy_--for psychical +influence from a distance--has grown to goodly proportions. A new form +of experiment has been found possible, from which the influence of +suggestion can be entirely excluded. It has now, as I shall presently +try to show, been actually proved that the hypnotic trance can be +induced from a distance so great, and with precautions so complete, that +telepathy or some similar supernormal influence is the only efficient +cause which can be conceived. + +I subjoin one of a series of experiments in this "telepathic hypnotism." +(See Appendix V. C.) These experiments are not easy to manage, since it +is essential at once to prevent the subject from suspecting that the +experiment is being tried, and also to provide for his safety in the +event of its success. In Dr. Gibert's experiment, for instance, it was a +responsible matter to bring this elderly woman in her dream-like state +through the streets of Havre. It was needful to provide her with an +unnoticed escort; and, in fact, several persons had to devote themselves +for some hours to a single experiment. + +I have cited first this experiment at a distance, without attempting to +analyse the nature of the suggestion given or power employed by the +hypnotist. Of course it is plain that if one can thus influence +unexpectant persons from a distance there must be sometimes some kind of +power actually exercised by the hypnotiser;--something beyond the mere +tact and impressiveness of address, which is all that Bernheim and his +followers admit or claim. Evidence of this has been afforded by the +occasional production of organic and other effects in hypnotised +subjects by the unuttered will of the operator when near them. The +ingenious experiments of Gurney[94] in the production of local rigidity +and anæsthesia were undertaken to test whether the agency employed were +more in the nature of an effort of will or,--as the early mesmerists +claimed,--of an emission of actual "mesmeric fluid" or physical +effluence of some sort. Gurney was inclined to think that his results +could not be explained solely by mental suggestion or telepathy, because +the physical proximity of the operator's hand seemed necessary to +produce them, and he thought it probable that they were due to a direct +nervous influence, exercised through the hand of the operator, but not +perceptible through the ordinary sensory channels. Mrs. Sidgwick's +experiments[95] of the same kind, however, in which success was obtained +when the operator was standing with folded arms several feet away from +the subject, removed Gurney's main objection to the telepathic +explanation. The fact that a thick sheet of glass over the subject's +hands did not interfere with the results also afforded some presumption +against the hypothesis of a physical influence; and Mrs. Sidgwick +pointed out that the delicate discrimination involved in the specific +limitations of the effects is much more easily attributable to mental +suggestion, through the action of the operator's mind on that of the +subject, than to any direct physical influence on the latter's nerves. + +It is, however, in my view, by no means improbable that effluences, as +yet unknown to science, but perceptible by sensitive persons as the +telepathic impulse is perceptible, should radiate from living human +organisms. I see no reason to assume that the varied and concordant +statements made by patients in the _Zoist_ and early mesmeric works +merely reflect subjective fancies. I have myself performed and witnessed +experiments on intelligent persons expressly designed to test whether or +no the sensation following the hand was a mere fancy. It seems to me +hardly likely that persons who have never experienced other purely +subjective sensations, and who are expressly alive to the question here +at issue, should nevertheless again and again feel the classical +tingling, etc., along the track of the hypnotiser's passes without any +real external cause. To assume that all which they feel is a mere result +of suggestion, may be a premature attempt at simplifying modes of +supernormal communication which, in fact, are probably not simpler but +more complex than any idea which we have as yet formed of them. + +And here at last we arrive at what is in reality the most interesting +group of inquiries connected with the hypnotic trance. + +We have just seen that the subliminal state of the hypnotised subject +may be approached by ways subtler than mere verbal suggestion--by +telepathic impacts and perhaps by some effluence of kindred supernormal +type. We have now to trace the supernormal elements in the hypnotic +_response_. Whether those elements are most readily excited by a +directly subliminal appeal, or whether they depend mainly on the special +powers innate in the hypnotised person, we can as yet but imperfectly +guess. We can be pretty sure, at any rate, that they are not often +evoked in answer to any rapid and, so to say, perfunctory hypnotic +suggestion; they do not spring up in miscellaneous hospital practice; +they need an education and a development which is hardly bestowed on +one hypnotised subject in a hundred. The first stage of this response +lies in a subliminal relation established between the subject and his +hypnotiser, and manifesting itself in what is called _rapport_, or in +_community of sensation_. The earlier stages of _rapport_--conditions +when the subject apparently bears or feels the hypnotiser only, and so +forth--arise probably from mere self-suggestion or from the suggestions +of the operator, causing the conscious attention of the subject to be +exclusively directed to him. Indications of the possible development of +a real link between the two persons may rather be found in the cases +where there is provable community of sensation,--the hypnotised subject +tasting or feeling what the hypnotiser (unknown to the subject) does +actually at that moment taste or feel. + +We have thus brought the hypnotised subject up to the point of knowing +supernormally, at any rate, the superficial sensations of his +hypnotiser. From that starting-point,--or, at any rate, from some +supernormal perception of narrow range,--his cognition widens and +deepens. He may seem to discern some picture of the past, and may +retrace the history of some object which he holds in his hand, or he may +seem to wander in spirit over the habitable globe, and to bring back +knowledge of present facts discernible by no other means. Perhaps he +seems to behold the future, predicting oftenest the organic history of +some person near him; but sometimes discerning, as it were pictorially, +scattered events to which we can guess at no attainable due. For all +this there is already more of positive evidence than is generally +realised; nor (I must repeat) is there any _negative_ evidence which +might lead us to doubt that further care in developing hypnotic subjects +may not at any moment be rewarded in the same way. We have here, in +fact, a successful branch of investigation which has of late years been +practically dropped from mere inattention to what has been done +already,--mere diversion of effort to the easier and more practical +triumphs of suggestive therapeutics.[96] + +The next group of cases to which I pass relate chiefly to knowledge of +present facts. I may first refer to some experiments in +thought-transference with hypnotised persons[97] analogous to the +experiments with persons in a normal condition recorded in my next +chapter. Here the subject seems simply to become aware telepathically +of the thoughts of his hypnotiser, the hypnotic condition perhaps +facilitating the transfer of the impression. Next come the cases of what +used to be called "travelling clairvoyance" in the hypnotic state. These +are more like the partially retrocognitive cases in that they cannot be +traced with certainty to the contemporary thoughts of any particular +person. In travelling clairvoyance we seem to have a development of +"invasive dreams,"--of those visions of the night in which the sleeper +seems to visit distant scenes and to bring back intelligence otherwise +unattainable. These distant hypnotic visions seem to develop out of +thought-transference; thus the subject may discern an imaginary picture +as it is conceived in the hypnotiser's mind. Thence he may pass on and +discern a true contemporaneous scene,[98] unknown to any one present, +and in some few cases there is an element of apparent prevision in the +impression.[99] + +Our survey of that important, though inchoate, appeal to the subliminal +self which passes under the name of hypnotism is now nearly as +complete--in its brief sketchy form--as the present state of knowledge +permits. + +I have attempted to trace the inevitable _rise_ of hypnotism--its +necessary development out of the spontaneous phenomena which preceded +and which might so naturally have suggested it. I have shown, +nevertheless, its almost accidental initiation, and then its rapid +development in ways which no single experimenter has ever been able to +correlate or to foresee. I am bound to say something further as to its +prospect in the future. A systematic appeal to the deeper powers in +man--conceived with the generality with which I have here conceived +it--cannot remain a mere appanage of medical practice. It must be fitted +on in some way to the whole serious life of man; it must present itself +to him as a development of faiths and instincts which lie already deep +in his heart. In other words, there must needs be some _scheme of +self-suggestion_,--some general theory which can give the individual a +basis for his appeal, whether he regards that appeal as directed to an +intelligence outside himself or to his own inherent faculties and +informing soul. These helps to the power of generalisation--to the +feeling of confidence--we must consider now. + +The schemes of self-suggestion which have actually been found effective +have covered, not unnaturally, a range as wide as all the superstition +and all the religion of men. That is to say that each form of +supernatural belief in turn has been utilised as a means of securing +that urgently-needed temporal blessing--relief from physical pain. We +see the same tendency running through fetichistic, polytheistic, +monotheistic forms of belief. Beginning with fetichistic peoples, we +observe that _charms_ of various kinds,--inert objects, arbitrary +gestures, meaningless words,--have probably been actually the most +general means which our race has employed for the cure of disease. We +know how long some forms of primitive belief persisted in medicine,--as, +for example, the doctrine of _likenesses_, or the cure of a disease by +some object supposed to resemble its leading symptom. What is, however, +even more remarkable is the efficacy which charms still continue in some +cases to possess, even when they are worn merely as an experiment in +self-suggestion by a person who is perfectly well aware of their +intrinsic futility. Experiments on this subject seem to show that the +mere continual contact of some small unfamiliar object will often act as +a reminder to the subliminal self, and keep, at any rate, some nervous +disturbances in check. Until one reads these modern examples, one can +hardly realise how veritably potent for good may have been the savage +amulet, the savage incantation. + +The transition from fetichistic to polytheistic conceptions of cure is, +of course, a gradual one. It may be said to begin when curative +properties are ascribed to objects not arbitrarily, nor on account of +the _look_ of the objects themselves, but on account of their having +been blessed or handled by some divine or semi-divine personage, or +having formed part of his body or surroundings during some incarnation. +Thus Lourdes water, bottled and exported, is still held to possess +curative virtue on account of the Virgin's original blessing bestowed +upon the Lourdes spring. But generally the influence of the divine or +divinised being is more directly exercised, as in oracles, dreams, +invisible touches, or actual _theophanies_, or appearances of the gods +to the adoring patient. It will be seen as we proceed how amply the +tradition of Lourdes has incorporated these ancient aids to faith. + +But at this point our modern experience suggests to us a remarkable +interpolation in the antique chain of ideas. It is now alleged that +departed persons need not exert influence through their dead bones +alone, nor yet only by their supposed intermediacy with higher powers. +There intervenes, in fact, the whole topic of _spirit-healing_,--which +cannot, however, be treated fully here. + +Next in the ascending scale from polytheism to monotheism we come to the +"Miracles of Lourdes," to which I have just alluded, where the supposed +healer is the Virgin Mary, reverenced as semi-divine. This form of +belief, however, retains (as has been said) some affinity with +fetichism, since the actual _water_ from the Lourdes spring, supposed to +have been blessed by the Virgin, is an important factor in the +cures.[100] + +Much further removed from primitive belief is the appeal made by +Christian scientists to the aid of Jesus Christ;--either as directly +answering prayer, or as enabling the worshippers to comprehend the +infinite love on which the universe is based, and in face of which pain +and sickness become a vain imagination or even a sheer nonentity. To the +readers of this chapter, however, there will be nothing surprising in my +own inclination to include all these efforts at health under the general +category of schemes of self-suggestion. + +In my view they are but crude attempts at a practical realisation of the +essential truth that it is possible by a right disposition of our own +minds to draw energy from an environing world of spiritual life. + +It seems, at least, that no real explanation of hypnotic vitalisation +can, in fact, be given except upon the general theory supported in this +work--the theory that a world of spiritual life exists, an environment +profounder than those environments of matter and ether which in a sense +we know. Let us look at this hypothesis a little more closely. When we +say that an organism exists in a certain environment, we mean that its +energy, or some part thereof, forms an element in a certain system of +cosmic forces, which represents some special modification of the +ultimate energy. The life of the organism consists in its power of +interchanging energy with its environment,--of appropriating by its own +action some fragment of that pre-existent and limitless Power. We human +beings exist in the first place in a world of matter, whence we draw the +obvious sustenance of our bodily functions. + +We exist also in a world of ether;--that is to say, we are constructed +to respond to a system of laws,--ultimately continuous, no doubt, with +the laws of matter, but affording a new, a generalised, a profounder +conception of the Cosmos. So widely different, indeed, is this new +aspect of things from the old, that it is common to speak of the ether +as a newly-known environment. On this environment our organic existence +depends as absolutely as on the material environment, although less +obviously. In ways which we cannot fathom, the ether is at the +foundation of our physical being. Perceiving heat, light, electricity, +we do but recognise in certain conspicuous ways,--as in perceiving the +"X rays" we recognise in a way less conspicuous,--the pervading +influence of etherial vibrations which in range and variety far +transcend our capacity of response. + +Within, beyond, the world of ether,--as a still profounder, still more +generalised aspect of the Cosmos,--must lie, as I believe, the world of +spiritual life. That the world of spiritual life does not depend upon +the existence of the material world I hold as now proved by actual +evidence. That it is in some way continuous with the world of ether I +can well suppose. But for our minds there must needs be a "critical +point" in any such imagined continuity; so that the world where life and +thought are carried on apart from matter, must certainly rank again as a +new, a _metetherial_ environment. In giving it this name I expressly +imply only that from our human point of view it lies after or beyond the +ether, as metaphysic lies after or beyond physics. I say only that what +does not originate in matter or in ether originates _there_; but I well +believe that beyond the ether there must be not one stage only, but +countless stages in the infinity of things. + +On this hypothesis there will be an essential concordance between all +views--spiritual or materialistic--which ascribe to any direction of +attention or will any practical effect upon the human organism. "The +prayer of faith shall save the sick," says St. James. "There is nothing +in hypnotism but suggestion," says Bernheim. In my clumsier language +these two statements (setting aside a possible telepathic element in St. +James' words) will be expressible in identical terms. "There will be +effective therapeutical or ethical self-suggestion whenever by any +artifice subliminal attention to a bodily function or to a moral purpose +is carried to some unknown pitch of intensity which draws energy from +the metetherial world." + +A great practical question remains, to which St. James' words supply a +direct, though perhaps an inadequate answer, while Bernheim's words +supply no answer at all. + +What is this saving faith to be, and how is it to be attained? Can we +find any sure way of touching the spring which moves us so potently, at +once from without and from within? Can we propose any form of +self-suggestion effective for all the human race? any controlling +thought on which all alike can fix that long-sought mountain-moving +faith? + +Assuredly no man can extemporise such a faith as this. Whatever form it +may ultimately take, it must begin as the purification, the +intensification, of the purest, the intensest beliefs to which human +minds have yet attained. It must invoke the whole strength of all +philosophies, of all religions;--not indeed the special arguments or +evidence adduced for each, which lie outside my present theme, but all +the spiritual energy by which in truth they live. And so far as this +purpose goes, of drawing strength from the unseen, if one faith is true, +all faiths are true; in so far at least as human mind can grasp or human +prayer appropriate the unknown metetherial energy, the inscrutable Grace +of God. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +SENSORY AUTOMATISM + + Βλἑπομεν γἁρ ἁρτι δἱ'ἑσὑπτρου ἑν ἁινἱγματι. + + +Each of the several lines of inquiry pursued in the foregoing chapters +has brought indications of something transcending sensory experience in +the reserves of human faculty; and we have come to a point where we need +some further colligating generalisation--some conception under which +these scattered phenomena may be gathered in their true kinship. + +Some steps at least towards such a generalisation the evidence to be +presented in these next chapters may allow us to take. Considering +together, under the heading of sensory and motor _automatism_, the whole +range of that subliminal action of which we have as yet discussed +fragments only, we shall gradually come to see that its distinctive +faculty of telepathy or telæsthesia is in fact an introduction into a +realm where the limitations of organic life can no longer be assumed to +persist. Considering, again, the evidence which shows that that portion +of the personality which exercises these powers during our earthly +existence does actually continue to exercise them after our bodily +decay, _we shall recognise a relation--obscure but indisputable--between +the subliminal and the surviving self_. + +I begin, then, with my definition of _automatism_, as the widest term +under which to include the range of subliminal emergences into ordinary +life. The turbulent uprush and downdraught of hysteria; the helpful +uprushes of genius, co-operating with supraliminal thought; the profound +and recuperative changes which follow on hypnotic suggestion; these have +been described under their separate headings. But the main mass of +subliminal manifestations remains undescribed. I have dealt little with +veridical hallucinations, not at all with automatic writing, nor with +the utterances of spontaneous trance. The products of inner vision or +inner audition externalised into quasi-percepts,--these form what I term +_sensory automatisms_. The messages conveyed by movement of limbs or +hand or tongue, initiated by an inner motor impulse beyond the +conscious will--these are what I term _motor automatisms_. And I claim +that when all these are surveyed together their essential analogy will +be recognised beneath much diversity of form. They will be seen to be +_messages_ from the subliminal to the supraliminal self; +endeavours--conscious or unconscious--of submerged tracts of our +personality to present to ordinary waking thought fragments of a +knowledge which no ordinary waking thought could attain. + +I regard supraliminal life merely as a _privileged case_ of personality; +a special phase of our personality, which is easiest for us to study, +because it is simplified for us by our ready consciousness of what is +going on in it; yet which is by no means necessarily either central or +prepotent, could we see our whole being in comprehensive view. + +Now if we thus regard the whole supraliminal personality as a special +case of something much more extensive, it follows that we must similarly +regard all human faculty, and each sense severally, as mere special or +privileged cases of some more general power. + +All human terrene faculty will be in this view simply a selection from +faculty existing in the metetherial world; such part of that antecedent, +even if not individualised, faculty as may be expressible through each +several human organism. + +Each of our special senses, therefore, may be conceived as straining +towards development of a wider kind than earthly experience has as yet +allowed. And each special sense is both an internal and an external +sense; involves a tract of the brain, of unknown capacity, as well as an +end-organ, whose capacity is more nearly measurable. The relation of +this internal, mental, mind's-eye vision to non-sensory psychological +perception on the one hand, and to ocular vision on the other hand, is +exactly one of the points on which some profounder observation will be +seen to be necessary. One must at least speak of "mind's eye" perception +in these sensory terms, if one is to discuss it at all. + +But ordinary experience at any rate assumes that the end-organ alone can +acquire fresh information, and that the central tract can but combine +this new information already sent in to it. This must plainly be the +case, for instance, with optical or acoustic knowledge;--with such +knowledge as is borne on waves of ether or of air, and is caught by a +terminal apparatus, evolved for the purpose. But observe that it is by +no means necessary that all seeing and all hearing should be through eye +or ear. + +The vision of our dreams--to keep to vision alone for greater +simplicity--is non-optical vision. It is usually generated in the +central brain, not sent up thither from an excited retina. Optical laws +can only by a stretch of terms be said to apply to it at all. + +Let us attempt some rough conspectus, which may show something of the +relation in which central and peripheral vision stand to each other. + +We start from a region below the specialisation of visual faculty. The +study of the successive dermal and nervous modifications which have led +up to that faculty belongs to Biology, and all that our argument needs +here is to point out that the very fact that this faculty has been +developed in a germ, animated by metetherial life, indicates that some +perceptivity from which sight could take its origin pre-existed in the +originating, the unseen world. We know vaguely how vision differentiated +itself peripherally, with the growing sensibility of the pigment-spot to +light and shadow. But there must have been a cerebral differentiation +also, and also a psychological differentiation, namely, a gradual +shaping of a distinct feeling from obscure feelings, whose history we +cannot recover. + +Yet I believe that we have still persistent in our brain-structure some +dim vestige of the transition from that early undifferentiated +continuous sensitivity to our existing specialisation of sense. Probably +in all of us, though in some men much more distinctly than in others, +there exist certain _synæsthesiæ_ or concomitances of sense-impression, +which are at any rate not dependent on any recognisable link of +association.[101] My present point is that such synæsthesiæ stand on the +dividing line between percepts externally and internally originated. +These irradiations of sensitivity, sometimes apparently congenital, +cannot, on the one hand, be called a purely mental phenomenon. Nor again +can they be definitely classed under external vision; since they do +sometimes follow upon a mental process of association. It seems safer to +term them _entencephalic_, on the analogy of _entoptic_, since they seem +to be due to something in brain-structure, much as entoptic percepts are +due to something in the structure of the eye. + +I will, then, start with the synæsthesiæ as the most generalised form of +inward perception, and will pass on to other classes which approach more +nearly to ordinary external vision. + +From these entencephalic photisms we seem to proceed by an easy +transition to the most inward form of unmistakable entoptic +vision--which is therefore the most inward form of all external +vision--the flash of light consequent on electrisation of the optic +nerve. Next on our outward road we may place the phosphenes caused by +pressure on the optic nerve or irritation of the retina. Next Purkinje's +figures, or shadows cast by the blood-vessels of the middle layer upon +the bacillary layer of the retina. Then _muscæ volitantes_, or shadows +cast by motes in the vitreous humour upon the fibrous layer of the +retina. + +Midway, again, between entoptic and ordinary external vision we may +place _after-images_; which, although themselves perceptible with shut +eyes, presuppose a previous retinal stimulation from without;--forming, +in fact, the entoptic sequelæ of ordinary external vision. + +Next comes our ordinary vision of the external world--and this, again, +is pushed to its highest degree of externality by the employment of +artificial aids to sight. He who gazes through a telescope at the stars +has mechanically improved his end-organs to the furthest point now +possible to man. + +And now, standing once more upon our watershed of entencephalic vision, +let us trace the advancing capacities of internal vision. The forms of +vision now to be considered are virtually independent of the eye; they +can persist, that is to say, after the destruction of the eye, if only +the eye has worked for a few years, so as to give visual education to +the brain. We do not, in fact, fully know the limits of this +independence, which can only be learnt by a fuller examination of +intelligent blind persons than has yet been made. Nor can we say with +certainty how far in a seeing person the eye is in its turn influenced +by the brain. I shall avoid postulating any "retropulsive current" from +brain to retina, just as I have avoided any expression more specific +than "the brain" to indicate the primary seat of sight. The arrangement +here presented, as already explained, is a psychological one, and can +be set forth without trespassing on controverted physiological ground. + +We may take _memory-images_ as the simplest type of internal vision. +These images, as commonly understood, introduce us to no fresh +knowledge; they preserve the knowledge gained by conscious gaze upon the +outer world. In their simplest spontaneous form they are the _cerebral_ +sequelæ of external vision, just as after-images are its _entoptic_ +sequelæ. These two classes of vision have been sometimes confounded, +although the distinction is a marked one. Into the cerebral storage of +impressions one element habitually enters which is totally absent from +the mere retinal storage, namely, a psychical element--a rearrangement +or generalisation of the impressions retinally received. + +Next we come to a common class of memory-images, in which the subliminal +rearrangement is particularly marked. I speak of _dreams_--which lead us +on in two directions from memory-images; in the direction of +_imagination-images_, and in the direction of _hallucinations_. Certain +individual dreams, indeed, of rare types point also in other directions +which later on we shall have to follow. But dreams as a class consist of +confused memory-images, reaching a kind of low hallucinatory intensity, +a glow, so to say, sufficient to be perceptible in darkness. + +I will give the name of _imagination-images_ to those conscious +recombinations of our store of visual imagery which we compose either +for our mere enjoyment, as "waking dreams," or as artifices to help us +to the better understanding of facts of nature confusedly discerned. +Such, for instance, are imagined geometrical diagrams; and Watt, lying +in bed in a dark room and conceiving the steam-engine, illustrates the +utmost limit to which voluntary internal visualisation can go. + +Here at any rate the commonly admitted category of stages of inward +vision will close. Thus far and no farther the brain's capacity for +presenting visual images can be pushed on under the guidance of the +conscious will of man. It is now my business to show, on the contrary, +that we have here reached a mere intermediate point in the development +of _internal_ vision. These imagination-images, valuable as they are, +are merely attempts to control supraliminally a form of vision which--as +spontaneous memory-images have already shown us--is predominantly +subliminal. The memory-images welled up from a just-submerged stratum; +we must now consider what other images also well upward from the same +hidden source. + +To begin with, it is by no means certain that some of Watt's images of +steam-engines did not well up from that source,--did not emerge +ready-made into the supraliminal mind while it rested in that merely +_expectant_ state which forms generally a great part of invention. We +have seen in Chapter III. that there is reason to believe in such a +conveyance in the much inferior mental processes of calculating boys, +etc., and also in the mental processes of the painter. In short, without +pretending to judge of the proportion of voluntary to involuntary +imagery in each several creative mind, we must undoubtedly rank the +spontaneously emergent visual images of genius as a further stage of +internal vision. + +And now we have reached, by a triple road, the verge of a most important +development of inward vision--namely, that vast range of phenomena which +we call _hallucination_. Each of our last three classes had led up to +hallucination in a different way. _Dreams_ actually _are_ +hallucinations; but they are usually hallucinations of low intensity; +and are only rarely capable of maintaining themselves for a few seconds +(as hypnopompic illusions) when the dreamer wakes to the stimuli of the +material world. _Imagination-images_ may be carried to a hallucinatory +pitch by good visualisers.[102] And the _inspirations of +genius_--Raphael's San Sisto is the classical instance--may present +themselves in hallucinatory vividness to the astonished artist. + +A hallucination, one may say boldly, is in fact a _hyperæsthesia_; and +generally a _central_ hyperæsthesia. That is to say, the hallucination +is in some cases due indirectly to peripheral stimulation; but often +also it is the result of a stimulus to "mind's-eye vision," which sweeps +the idea onwards into visual form, regardless of ordinary checks. + +Here, then, is a comprehensive and reasonable way of regarding these +multifarious hallucinations or sensory automatisms. They are phenomena +which must neither be feared nor ignored, but rather controlled and +interpreted. Nor will that interpretation be an easy matter. The +interpretation of the symbols by which the retina represents the +external world has been, whether for the race or for the individual, no +short or simple process. Yet ocular vision is in my view a simple, easy, +privileged case of vision generally; and the symbols which represent our +internal percepts of an immaterial world are likely to be far more +complex than any impressions from the material world on the retina. + +All inward visions are like symbols abridged from a picture-alphabet. In +order to understand any one class of hallucinations we ought to have all +classes before us. At the lower limit of the series, indeed, the +analysis of the physician should precede that of the psychologist. We +already know to some extent, and may hope soon to know more accurately, +what sensory disturbance corresponds to what nervous lesion. Yet these +violent disturbances of inward perception--the snakes of the drunkard, +the scarlet fire of the epileptic, the jeering voices of the +paranoiac--these are perhaps of too gross a kind to afford more than a +kind of neurological introduction to the subtler points which arise when +hallucination is unaccompanied by any observable defect or malady. + +It is, indeed, obvious enough that the more idiognomonic the +hallucination is, the more isolated from any other disturbance of +normality, the greater will be its psychological interest. _An +apparently spontaneous modification of central percepts_--what +phenomenon could promise to take us deeper into the mystery of the mind? + +Yet until quite recently--until, in short, Edmund Gurney took up the +inquiry in 1882--this wide, important subject was treated, even in +serious text-books, in a superficial and perfunctory way. Few statistics +were collected; hardly anything was really known; rather there was a +facile assumption that all hallucinations or sensory automatisms _must_ +somehow be due to physical malady, even when there was no evidence +whatever for such a connection. I must refer my readers to Gurney's +résumé in his chapter on "Hallucinations" in _Phantasms of the Living_, +if they would realise the gradual confused fashion in which men's minds +had been prepared for the wider view soon to be opened, largely by +Gurney's own statistical and analytical work. The wide collection of +first-hand experiences of sensory automatisms of every kind which he +initiated, and which the S.P.R. "Census of Hallucinations" continued +after his death, has for the first time made it possible to treat these +phenomena with some surety of hand.[103] + +The results of these inquiries show that a great number of sensory +automatisms occur among sane and healthy persons, and that for many of +these we can at present offer no explanation whatever. For some of them, +however, we can offer a kind of explanation, or at least an indication +of a probable determining cause, whose mode of working remains wholly +obscure. + +Thus, in some few instances, although there is no disturbance of health, +there seems to be a predisposition to the externalisation of figures or +sounds. Since this in no way interferes with comfort, we must simply +class it as an idiosyncratic central hyperæsthesia--much like the +tendency to extremely vivid dreams, which by no means always implies a +poor quality of sleep. + +In a few instances, again, we can trace moral predisposing +causes--expectation, grief, anxiety. + +These causes, however, turn out to be much less often effective than +might have been expected from the popular readiness to invoke them. In +two ways especially the weakness of this predisposing cause is impressed +upon us. In the first place, the bulk of our percipients experience +their hallucinations at ordinary unexciting moments; traversing their +more anxious crises without any such phenomenon. In the second place, +those of our percipients whose hallucination is in fact more or less +coincident with some distressing external event, seldom seem to have +been predisposed to the hallucination by a knowledge of the event. For +the event was generally unknown to them when the corresponding +hallucination occurred. + +This last remark, it will be seen, introduces us to the most interesting +and important group of percipients and of percepts; the percipients +whose gift constitutes a fresh faculty rather than a degeneration; the +percepts which are _veridical_--which are (as we shall see cause to +infer) in some way generated by some event outside the percipient's +mind, so that their correspondence with that event conveys some new +fact, in however obscure a form. It is this group, of course, which +gives high importance to the whole inquiry; which makes the study of +inward vision no mere curiosity, but rather the opening of an inlet into +forms of knowledge to which we can assign no bound. + +Now these telepathic hallucinations will introduce us to very varying +forms of inward vision. It will be well to begin their study by +recalling and somewhat expanding the thesis already advanced: that man's +_ocular_ vision is but a special or privileged case of visual power, of +which power his _inner_ vision affords a more extensive example. + +Ocular vision is the perception of material objects, in accordance with +optical laws, from a definite point in space. Our review of +hallucinations has already removed two of these limitations. If I see a +hallucinatory figure--and figures seen in _dreams_ come under this +category--I see something which is not a material object, and I see it +in a manner not determined by optical laws. A dream-figure may indeed +seem to _conform_ to optical laws; but that will be the result of +self-suggestion, or of organised memories, and will vary according to +the dreamer's visualising power. While a portrait-painter may see a face +in dream which he can paint from memory when he wakes, the ordinary +man's dream-percept will be vague, shifting, and unrememberable. + +Similarly, if I see a subjective hallucinatory figure "out in the room," +its aspect is not _determined_ by optical laws (it may even seem to +stand _behind_ the observer, or otherwise _outside_ his visual field), +but it will more or less _conform_--by my mere self-suggestion, if by +nothing else--to optical laws; and, moreover, it will still seem to be +seen from a fixed point in space, namely, from the stationary observer's +eyes or brain. + +All this seems fairly plain, so long as we are admittedly dealing with +hallucinatory figures whose origin must be in the percipient's own mind. +But so soon as we come to quasi-percepts which we believe to exist or to +originate somewhere outside the percipient's mind, our difficulties come +thick and fast. + +If there be some external origin for our inward vision (which thereby +becomes _veridical_) we must not any longer assume that all veridical +inward vision starts or is exercised from the same point. If it gets +hold of _facts_ (veridical impressions or pictures, not mere subjective +fancies), we cannot be sure _a priori_ whether it somehow goes to find +the facts, or the facts come to find it. Again, we cannot any longer +take for granted that it will be cognisant only of phantasmal or +immaterial percepts. If it can get at phantasmal percepts outside the +organism, may it not get at _material_ percepts also? May it not see +distant houses, as well as the images of distant souls? + +Hazardous as these speculations may seem, they nevertheless represent an +attempt to get our notions of supersensory things as near down to our +notions of sensory things as we fairly can. Whatever may be our ultimate +conception of an ideal world, we must not for the present attempt to +start from any standpoint too far removed from the temporal and spatial +existence which alone we know. + +As telepathy is a conception intermediate between the apparent isolation +of minds here communicating only as a rule through material organs, and +the ultimate conception of the unity of all mind, so the conception +which I am about to propose, of a recognition of space without our +concomitant subjection to laws of matter, is strictly intermediate +between man's incarnate condition and the condition which we may imagine +him ultimately to attain. We cannot possibly infer _a priori_ that all +recognition of space must needs disappear with the disappearance of the +particular bodily sensations by means of which our conception of space +has been developed. But we can imagine that a spirit should be +essentially _independent_ of space, and yet capable of recognising it. + +Provisionally admitting this view, let us consider what range we are now +led to assign to inner vision, when it is no longer merely subjective +but veridical; bringing news to the percipient of actual fact outside +his own organism. + +We infer that it may represent to us (1) material objects; or (2) +symbols of immaterial things; (3) in ways not necessarily accordant with +optical laws; and (4) from a point of view not necessarily located +within the organism, by means of what I have called a _psychical +excursion_. I will take an illustration from a case which is recorded in +detail in _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. vii. p. 41 [666 C]. + +A Mrs. Wilmot has a vision of her husband in a cabin in a distant +steamer. Besides her husband, she sees in the cabin a stranger (who was +in fact present there), with certain material details. Now here I should +say that Mrs. Wilmot's inner vision discerned material objects, from a +point of view outside her own organism. But, on the other hand, although +the perception came to her in visual terms, I do not suppose that it was +really _optical_, that it came through the eye. + +Mrs. Wilmot might believe, say, that her husband's head concealed from +her some part of the berth in which he lay; but this would not mean a +real optical concealment, but only a special direction of her attention, +guided by preconceived notions of what would be optically visible from a +given point. + +As we proceed further we shall see, I think, in many ways how needful is +this _excursive_ theory to explain _many_ telepathic and _all_ +telæsthetic experiences; _many_, I mean, of the cases where two minds +are in communication, and _all_ the cases where the percipient learns +material facts (as words in a closed book, etc.) with which no other +known mind is concerned. + +Another most important corollary of this excursive theory must just be +mentioned here. If there be spiritual excursion to a particular point of +space, it is conceivable that this should involve not only the migrant +spirit's perception _from_ that point, but also perception of that point +by persons materially present near it. That point may become a +_phantasmogenetic centre_, as well as a centre of outlook. In plain +words, if A has spiritually invaded B's room, and there sees B, B on his +part may see A symbolically standing there; and C and D if present may +see A as well. + +This hint, here thrown out as an additional argument for the excursive +theory, will fall to be developed later on. For the present we must +confine our attention to our immediate subject: the range of man's inner +vision, and the means which he must take to understand, to foster, and +to control it. + +The first and simplest step in the control of inner vision is the +repression by hypnotic suggestion of degenerative hallucinations. It is +a noteworthy fact that such of these as are at all curable are much more +often curable by hypnotism than in any other way. + +The next step is one to which, as the reader of my chapter on hypnotism +already knows, I attribute an importance much greater than is generally +accorded to it. I refer to the hypnotiser's power not only of +controlling but of _inducing_ hallucinations in his subject. + +As I have already said, the evocation of hallucinations is commonly +spoken of as a mere example of the subject's _obedience_ to the +hypnotiser. "I tell my subject to raise his arm, and he raises it; I +tell him to see a tiger in the room, and he sees one accordingly." But +manifestly these two incidents are not on the same level, and only +appear to be so through a certain laxity of language. The usage of +speech allows me to say, "I will make my subject lift his arm," although +I am of course unable to affect the motor centres in his brain which +start that motion. But it is so easy for a man to lift his arm that my +speech takes that familiar power for granted, and notes, only his +readiness to lift it when I tell him--the hypnotic complaisance which +prompts him to obey me if I suggest this trivial action. But when I say, +"I will make him see a tiger," I take for granted a power on his part +which is _not_ familiar, which I have no longer a right to assume. For +under ordinary circumstances my subject simply _cannot_ see a tiger at +will; nor can I affect the visual centres which might enable him to do +so. All that I can ask him to do, therefore, is to choose this +particular way of indicating that in his hypnotic condition he has +become able to stimulate his central sensory tracts more powerfully than +ever before. + +And not only this. His hallucinations are in most cases elaborate +products--complex images which must have needed intelligence to fashion +them--although the process of their fashioning is hidden from our view. +In this respect they resemble the inspirations of genius. For here we +find again just what we found in those inspirations--the uprush of a +complex intellectual product, performed beneath the threshold, and +projected ready-made into ordinary consciousness. The uprushing stream +of intelligence, indeed, in the man of genius flowed habitually in +conformity with the superficial stream. Only rarely does the great +conception intrude itself upon him with such vigour and such +untimeliness as to bring confusion and incoherence into his ordinary +life. But in the case of these induced hallucinations the incongruity +between the two streams of intelligence is much more marked. When a +subject, for instance, is trying to keep down some post-hypnotic +hallucinatory suggestion, one can watch the smooth surface of the +supraliminal river disturbed by that suggestion as though by jets of +steam from below, which sometimes merely break in bubbles, but sometimes +force themselves up bodily through the superficial film. + +It is by considering hallucinations in this generalised manner and among +these analogies, that we can best realise their absence of necessary +connection with any bodily degeneration or disease. Often, of course, +they accompany disease; but that is only to say that the central sensory +tracts, like any other part of the organism, are capable of morbid as +well as of healthful stimulus. Taken in itself, the mere fact of the +quasi-externalisation of a centrally initiated image indicates strong +central stimulation, and absolutely nothing more. There is no +physiological law whatever which can tell us what degree of vividness +our central pictures may assume consistently with health--short of the +point where they get to be so indistinguishable from external +preceptions that, as in madness, they interfere with the rational +conduct of life. That point no well-attested case of veridical +hallucinations, so far as my knowledge goes, has yet approached. + +It was, of course, natural that in the study of these phantasms, as +elsewhere, the therapeutic interest should have preceded the +psychological, but in the newer practical study of _eugenics_--the study +which aims at improving the human organism, instead of merely conserving +it--experimental psychology is indispensable, and one branch of this is +the experimental study of mental visions. + +Let us consider whether, apart from such a rare and startling incident +as an actual hallucination, there is any previous indication of a habit +of receiving, or a power of summoning, pictures from a subliminal +store-house? Any self-suggestion, conscious or unconscious, which places +before the supraliminal intelligence visual images apparently matured +elsewhere? + +Such indications have not been wanting. In the chapter on Genius, and in +the chapter on Sleep, we have traced the existence of many classes of +these pictures; all of them ready, as it would seem, to manifest +themselves on slight inducement. _Dream-figures_ will rise in any +momentary blur of consciousness; _inspirations_ will respond to the +concentrated desire or the mere passing emotion of the man of genius; +_after-images_ will recur, under unknown conditions, long after the +original stimulus has been withdrawn; _memory-images_ will surge up into +our minds with even unwished-for vividness; the brilliant exactness of +_illusions hypnagogiques_ will astonish us in the revealing transition +from waking to sleep. + +All is prepared, so to say, for some empirical short-cut to a fuller +control of these subjacent pictures; just as before Mesmer and Puységur +all was prepared for an empirical short-cut to trance, somnambulism, +suggestibility. + +All that we want is to hit on some simple empirical way of bringing out +the correlation between all these types of subjacent vision, just as +mesmerism was a simple empirical way of bringing out the correlation +between various trances and sleep-waking states. + +_Crystal-vision_, then, like hypnotic trance, might have been gradually +evolved by a series of reasoned experiments, along an unexceptionable +scientific road. + +In reality, of course, this prehistoric practice must have been reached +in some quite different way. It does not fall within the scope of this +book to trace the various streams of divination which converge into Dr. +Dee's magic, and "the attracting of spirits into the ball." But it is +really to the Elizabethan Dr. Dee--one of the leading _savants_ of his +time--that the credit must be given of the first systematic attempt to +describe, analyse, and utilise these externalised pictures.[104] + +I will describe briefly the general type of the experiment, and we shall +see how near we can get to a psychological explanation. + +Let the observer gaze, steadily but not fatiguingly, into some speculum, +or clear depth, so arranged as to return as little reflection as +possible. A good example of what is meant will be a glass ball enveloped +in a black shawl, or placed in the back part of a half-opened drawer; so +arranged, in short, that the observer can gaze into it with as little +distraction as may be from the reflection of his own face or of +surrounding objects. After he has tried (say) three or four times, for +ten minutes or so at a time--preferably in solitude, and in a state of +mental passivity--he will perhaps begin to see the glass ball or crystal +_clouding_, or to see some figure or picture apparently _in_ the ball. +Perhaps one man or woman in twenty will have some slight occasional +experience of this kind; and perhaps one in twenty of these seers (the +percentages must as yet be mainly guess-work) will be able by practice +to develop this faculty of inward vision up to a point where it will +sometimes convey to him information not attainable by ordinary means. + +How comes it, in the first place, that he sees any figure in the crystal +at all? Common hypnotic experiments supply two obvious answers, each of +which no doubt explains some part of the phenomena. + +In the first place, we know that the hypnotic trance is often induced by +gazing at some small bright object. This may or may not be a mere effect +of suggestion; but it certainly sometimes occurs, and the "scryer" +consequently may be partially hypnotised, and in a state which +facilitates hallucinations. + +In the second place, a hypnotised subject--hypnotised but in a fully +alert state--can often be caused by suggestion to see (say) a portrait +upon a blank card; and will continue to see that portrait on that card, +after the card has been shuffled with others; thus showing that he +discerns with unusual acuteness such _points de repère_, or little +guiding marks, as may exist on the surface of even an apparently blank +card. + +Correspondently with the _first_ of these observations, we find that +crystal-vision is sometimes accompanied by a state of partial +hypnotisation, perhaps merging into trance. This has been the case with +various French hysterical subjects; and not only with them but with that +exceptionally sound and vigorous observer, Mr. J. G. Keulemans. His +evidence (in _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. viii. pp. 516-521) is just what +one would have expected _a priori_ on such a matter. + +Correspondently with the _second_ of the above observations, we find +that _points de repère_ do occasionally seem to determine crystal +visions. + +This, again, has been noticed among the French hysterical subjects; and +not only with them, but with another among our best observers, Mrs. +Verrall. + +These things being so--both these causes being apparently operative +along the whole series of "scryers," or crystal-gazers, from the most +unstable to the most scientific--one might be tempted to assume that +these two clues, if we could follow them far enough, would explain the +whole group of phenomena. Persons who have not _seen_ the phenomena, +indeed, can hardly be persuaded to the contrary. But the real fact is, +as even those who have seen much less of crystal-gazing than I have will +very well know, that these explanations cannot be stretched to cover a +quarter--perhaps not even a tenth--of the phenomena which actually +occur. + +Judging both from the testimony of scryers themselves, and from the +observations of Dr. Hodgson and others (myself included), who have had +many opportunities of watching them, it is very seldom that the gaze +into the glass ball induces any hypnotic symptoms whatever. It does not +induce such symptoms with successful scryers any more than with +unsuccessful. Furthermore, there is no proof that the gift of +crystal-vision goes along with hypnotic sensibility. The most that one +can say is that the gift often goes along with _telepathic_ sensibility; +but although telepathic sensibility may sometimes be quickened by +hypnotism, we have no proof that those two forms of sensitiveness +habitually go together. + +The ordinary attitude of the scryer, I repeat, is one of complete +detachment; an interested and often puzzled scrutiny and analysis of the +figures which display themselves in swift or slow succession in the +crystal ball. + +This last sentence applies to the theory of _points de repère_ as well. +As a general rule, the crystal vision, however meaningless and +fantastic, is a thing which changes and develops somewhat as a dream +does; following, it may be, some trivial chain of associations, but not +maintaining, any more than a dream maintains, any continuous scheme of +line or colour. At the most, the scraps of reflection in the crystal +could only _start_ such a series of pictures as this. And the start, the +initiation of one of these series, is often accompanied by an odd +phenomenon mentioned above--a _milky clouding_ of the crystal, which +obscures any fragments of reflected images, and from out of which the +images of the vision gradually grow clear. I cannot explain this +clouding. It occurs too often and too independently to be a mere effect +of suggestion. It does not seem to depend on any optical condition--to +be, for instance, a result of change of focus of the eye, or of +prolonged gazing. It is a picture like other pictures; it may come when +the eyes are quite fresh (nor ought they ever to be strained); and it +may persist for some time, so that the scryer looks away and back again, +and sees it still. It comes at the beginning of a first series of +pictures, or as a kind of drop scene between one series of pictures and +another. Its closest parallel, perhaps, is the mist or cloud out of +which phantasmal figures, "out in the room," sometimes seem to form +themselves. + +Moreover, the connection, if one can so call it, between the crystal and +the vision is a very variable one. Sometimes the figures seem clearly +defined within the crystal and limited thereby; sometimes all perception +of the crystal or other speculum disappears, and the scryer seems +clairvoyantly introduced into some group of life-sized figures. Nay, +further, when the habit of gazing is fully acquired, some scryers can +dispense with any speculum whatever, and can see pictures in mere +blackness; thus approximating to the seers of "faces in the dark," or of +_illusions hypnagogiques_. + +On the whole it seems safest to attempt at present no further +explanation of crystal-gazing than to say that it is an empirical method +of developing internal vision; of externalising pictures which are +associated with changes in the sensorial tracts of the brain, due partly +to internal stimuli, and partly to stimuli which may come from minds +external to the scryer's own. The hallucinations thus induced appear to +be absolutely harmless. I at least know of no kind of injury resulting +from them; and I have probably heard of most of the experiments made in +England, with any scientific aim or care, during the somewhat limited +revival of crystal-gazing which has proceeded for the last few years. + +The crystal picture is what we must call (for want of knowledge of +determining causes) a _random_ glimpse into inner vision, a reflection +caught at some odd angle from the universe as it shines through the +perturbing medium of that special soul. Normal and supernormal knowledge +and imaginings are blended in strangely mingled rays. Memory, dream, +telepathy, telæsthesia, retrocognition, precognition, all are there. +Nay, there are indications of spiritual communications and of a kind of +ecstasy.[105] + +We cannot pursue all these phenomena at once. In turning, as we must now +turn, to the _spontaneous_ cases of sensory automatism--of every type of +which the _induced_ visions of the crystal afford us a foretaste--we +must needs single out first some fundamental phenomenon, illustrating +some principle from which the rarer or more complex phenomena may be in +part at least derived. Nor will there be difficulty in such a choice. +Theory and actual experience point here in the same direction. If this +inward vision, this inward audition, on whose importance I have been +insisting, are to have any such importance--if they are to have any +validity at all--if their contents are to represent anything more than +dream or meditation--they must receive knowledge from other minds or +from distant objects;--knowledge which is _not_ received by the external +organs of sense. Communication must exist from the subliminal to the +subliminal as well as from the supraliminal to the supraliminal parts of +the being of different individual men. Telepathy, in short, must be the +prerequisite of all these supernormal phenomena. + +Actual experience, as we shall presently see, confirms this view of the +place of telepathy. For when we pass from the induced to the spontaneous +phenomena we shall find that these illustrate before all else this +transmission of thought and emotion directly from mind to mind. + +Now as to telepathy, there is in the first place this to be said, that +such a faculty must absolutely exist somewhere in the universe, if the +universe contains any unembodied intelligences at all. If there be any +life less rooted in flesh than ours--any life more spiritual (as men +have supposed that a higher life would be), then either it must not be +_social_ life--there can be no exchange of thought in it at all--or else +there must exist some method of exchanging thought which does not +depend upon either tongue or brain. + +Thus much, one may say, has been evident since man first speculated on +such subjects at all. But the advance of knowledge has added a new +presumption--it can be no more than a presumption--to all such cosmic +speculations. I mean the presumption of _continuity_. Learning how close +a tie in reality unites man with inferior lives,--once treated as +something wholly alien, impassably separated from the human race--we are +led to conceive that a close tie may unite him also with superior +lives,--that the series may be fundamentally unbroken, the essential +qualities of life the same throughout. It used to be asked whether man +was akin to the ape or to the angel. I reply that the very fact of his +kinship with the ape is proof presumptive of his kinship with the angel. + +It is natural enough that man's instinctive feeling should have +anticipated any argument of this speculative type. Men have in most ages +believed, and do still widely believe, in the reality of prayer; that +is, in the possibility of telepathic communication between our human +minds and minds above our own, which are supposed not only to understand +our wish or aspiration, but to impress or influence us inwardly in +return. + +So widely spread has been this belief in prayer that it is somewhat +strange that men should not have more commonly made what seems the +natural deduction--namely, that if our spirits can communicate with +higher spirits in a way transcending sense, they may also perhaps be +able in like manner to communicate with each other. The idea, indeed, +has been thrown out at intervals by leading thinkers--from Augustine to +Bacon, from Bacon to Goethe, from Goethe to Tennyson. + +Isolated experiments from time to time indicated its practical truth. +Yet it is only within the last few years that the vague and floating +notion has been developed into definite theory by systematic experiment. + +To make such experiment possible has indeed been no easy matter. It has +been needful to elicit and to isolate from the complex emotions and +interactions of common life a certain psychical element of whose nature +and working we have beforehand but a very obscure idea. + +If indeed we possessed any certain method of detecting the action of +telepathy,--of distinguishing it from chance coincidence or from +unconscious suggestion,--we should probably find that its action was +widely diffused and mingled with other more commonplace causes in many +incidents of life. We should find telepathy, perhaps, at the base of +many sympathies and antipathies, of many wide communities of feeling; +operating, it may be, in cases as different as the quasi-recognition of +some friend in a stranger seen at a distance just before the friend +himself unexpectedly appears, and the _Phêmê_ or Rumour which in +Hindostan or in ancient Greece is said to have often spread far an +inexplicable knowledge of victory or disaster. + +But we are obliged, for the sake of clearness of evidence, to set aside, +when dealing with experimentation, all these mixed emotional cases, and +to start from telepathic communications intentionally planned to be so +trivial, so devoid of associations or emotions, that it shall be +impossible to refer them to any common memory or sympathy; to anything +save a direct transmission of idea, or impulse, or sensation, or image, +from one to another mind. + +The reader who has studied the evidence originally set forth in Chapters +II. and III. of _Phantasms of the Living_ will, I trust, carry away a +pretty clear notion of what can at present actually be done in the way +of experimental transferences of small definite ideas or pictures from +one or more persons--the "agent" or "agents"--to one or more +persons--the "percipient" or "percipients."[106] In these experiments +actual _contact_ has been forbidden, to avoid the risk of unconscious +indications by pressure. It is at present still doubtful how far close +proximity really operates in aid of telepathy, or how far its advantage +is a mere effect of self-suggestion--on the part either of agent or of +percipient. Some few pairs of experimenters have obtained results of +just the same type at distances of half a mile or more.[107] Similarly, +in the case of induction of hypnotic trance, Dr. Gibert attained at the +distance of nearly a mile results which are usually supposed to require +close and actual presence. [See Appendix V. C.] + +We must clearly realise that in telepathic experiment we encounter just +the same difficulty which makes our results in hypnotic therapeutics so +unpredictable and irregular. We do not know how to get our suggestions +to _take hold_ of the subliminal self. They are liable to fail for two +main reasons. Either they somehow never _reach_ the subliminal centres +which we wish to affect, or they find those centres preoccupied with +some self-suggestion hostile to our behest. This source of uncertainty +can only be removed by a far greater number of experiments than have yet +been made--experiments repeated until we have oftener struck upon the +happy veins which make up for an immense amount of sterile exploration. +Meantime we must record, but can hardly interpret. Yet there is one +provisional interpretation of telepathic experiment which must be +noticed thus early in our discussion, because, if true, it may +conceivably connect our groping work with more advanced departments of +science, while, if seen to be inadequate, it may bid us turn our inquiry +in some other direction. I refer to the suggestion that telepathy is +propagated by "brain-waves"; or, as Sir W. Crookes has more exactly +expressed it, by ether-waves of even smaller amplitude and greater +frequency than those which carry the X rays. These waves are conceived +as passing from one brain to another, and arousing in the _second_ brain +an excitation or image similar to the excitation or image from which +they start in the _first_. The hypothesis is an attractive one; because +it fits an agency which certainly exists, but whose effect is unknown, +to an effect which certainly exists, but whose agency is unknown. + +In this world of vibrations it may seem at first the simplest plan to +invoke a vibration the more. It would be rash, indeed, to affirm that +any phenomenon perceptible by men may not be expressible, in part at +least, in terms of ethereal undulations. But in the case of telepathy +the analogy which suggests this explanation, the obvious likeness +between the picture emitted (so to say) by the agent and the picture +received by the percipient--as when I fix my mind on the two of +diamonds, and he sees a mental picture of that card--goes but a very +short way. One has very soon to begin assuming that the percipient's +mind _modifies_ the picture despatched from the agent: until the +likeness between the two pictures becomes a quite symbolical affair. We +have seen that there is a continuous transition from experimental to +spontaneous telepathy; from our transferred pictures of cards to +monitions of a friend's death at a distance. These monitions may indeed +be pictures of the dying friend, but they are seldom such pictures as +the decedent's brain seems likely to project in the form in which they +reach the percipient. Mr. L.--to take a well-known case in our +collection (_Phantasms of the Living_, vol. i. p. 210)--dies of heart +disease when in the act of lying down undressed, in bed. At or about +the same moment Mr. N. J. S. sees Mr. L. standing beside him with a +cheerful air, dressed for walking and with a cane in his hand. One does +not see how a system of undulations could have transmuted the physical +facts in this way. + +A still greater difficulty for the vibration-theory is presented by +_collective_ telepathic hallucinations. It is hard to understand how A +can emit a pattern of vibrations which, radiating equally in all +directions, shall affect not only his distant friend B, but also the +strangers C and D, who happen to be standing near B;--and affect no +other persons, so far as we know, in the world. + +The above points have been fair matter of argument almost since our +research began. But as our evidence has developed, our conception of +telepathy has needed to be more and more generalised in other and new +directions,--still less compatible with the vibration theory. Three such +directions may be briefly specified here--namely, the relation of +telepathy (_a_) to telæsthesia or clairvoyance, (_b_) to time, and (_c_) +to disembodied spirits. (_a_) It is increasingly hard to refer all the +scenes of which percipients become aware to the action of any given mind +which is perceiving those distant scenes. This is especially noticeable +in crystal-gazing experiments. (_b_) And these crystal visions also show +what, from the strict telepathic point of view, we should call a great +laxity of time relations. The scryer chooses his own time to look in the +ball;--and though sometimes he sees events which are taking place at the +moment, he may also see past events,--and even, as it seems, future +events. I at least cannot deny _precognition_, nor can I draw a definite +line amid these complex visions which may separate precognition from +telepathy (see _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xi. pp. 408-593). (_c_) +Precognition itself may be explained, if you will, as telepathy from +disembodied spirits;--and this would at any rate bring it under a class +of phenomena which I think all students of our subject must before long +admit. Admitting here, for argument's sake, that we do receive +communications from the dead which we should term telepathic if we +received them from the living, it is of course open to us to conjecture +that these messages also are conveyed on ether-waves. But since those +waves do not at any rate emanate from material brains, we shall by this +time have got so far from the original brain-wave hypothesis that few +will care still to defend it. + +I doubt, indeed, whether we can safely say of telepathy anything more +definite than this: _Life has the power of manifesting itself to life._ +The laws of life, as we have thus far known them, have been only laws of +life when already associated with matter. Thus limited, we have learnt +little as to Life's true nature. We know not even whether Life be only +a directive Force, or, on the other hand, an effective Energy. We know +not in what way it operates on matter. We can in no way define the +connection between our own consciousness and our organisms. Just here it +is, I should say, that telepathic observations ought to supply us with +some hint. From the mode in which some element of one individual +life,--apart from material impact,--gets hold of another organism, we +may in time learn something of the way in which our own life gets hold +of our own organism,--and maintains, intermits, or abandons its organic +sway.[108] + +The hypothesis which I suggested in _Phantasms of the Living_ itself, in +my "Note on a possible mode of psychical interaction," seems to me to +have been rendered increasingly plausible by evidence of many kinds +since received; evidence of which the larger part falls outside the +limits of this present work. I still believe--and more confidently than +in 1886--that a "psychical invasion" does take place; that a +"phantasmogenetic centre" is actually established in the percipient's +surroundings; that some movement bearing some relation to space as we +know it is actually accomplished; and some presence is transferred, and +may or may not be discerned by the invaded person; some perception of +the distant scene in itself is acquired, and may or may not be +remembered by the invader. + +But the words which I am here beginning to use carry with them +associations from which the scientific reader may well shrink. Fully +realising the offence which such expressions may give, I see no better +line of excuse than simply to recount the way in which the gradual +accretion of evidence has obliged me, for the mere sake of covering all +the phenomena, to use phrases and assumptions which go far beyond those +which Edmund Gurney and I employed in our first papers on this inquiry +in 1883. + +When in 1882 our small group began the collection of evidence bearing +upon "veridical hallucinations"--or apparitions which coincided with +other events in such a way as to suggest a causal connection--we found +scattered among the cases from the first certain types which were with +difficulty reducible under the conception of telepathy pure and +simple--even if such a conception could be distinctly formed. Sometimes +the apparition was seen by more than one percipient at once--a result +which we could hardly have expected if all that had passed were the +transference of an impression from the agent's mind to another mind, +which then bodied forth that impression in externalised shape according +to laws of its own structure. There were instances, too, where the +percipient seemed to be the agent also--in so far that it was he who had +an impression of having somehow visited and noted a distant scene, whose +occupant was not necessarily conscious of any immediate relation with +him. Or sometimes this "telepathic clairvoyance" developed into +"reciprocity," and each of the two persons concerned was conscious of +the other;--the _scene_ of their encounter being the same in the vision +of each, or at least the experience being in some way common to both. +These and cognate difficulties were present to my mind from the first; +and in the above-mentioned "Note on a suggested mode of psychical +interaction," included in vol. ii of _Phantasms of the Living_, I +indicated briefly the extension of the telepathic theory to which they +seemed to me to point. + +Meantime cases of certain other definite types continued to come +steadily to hand, although in lesser numbers than the cases of +apparition at death. To mention two important types only--there were +apparitions of the so-called _dead_, and there were cases of +_precognition_. With regard to each of these classes, it seemed +reasonable to defer belief until time should have shown whether the +influx of first-hand cases was likely to be permanent; whether +independent witnesses continued to testify to incidents which could be +better explained on these hypotheses than on any other. Before Edmund +Gurney's death in 1888 our cases of apparitions and other manifestations +of the dead had reached a degree of weight and consistency which, as his +last paper showed, was beginning to convince him of their veridical +character; and since that date these have been much further increased; +and especially have drawn from Mrs. Piper's and other trance-phenomena +an unexpected enlargement and corroboration. The evidence for +communication from the departed is now in my personal estimate quite as +strong as that for telepathic communication between the living; and it +is moreover evidence which inevitably alters and widens our conception +of telepathy between living men. + +The evidence for precognition, again, was from the first scantier, and +has advanced at a slower rate. It has increased steadily enough to lead +me to feel confident that it will have to be seriously reckoned with; +but I cannot yet say--as I do say with reference to the evidence for +messages from the departed--that almost every one who accepts our +evidence for telepathy at all, must ultimately accept this evidence +also. It must run on at any rate for some years longer before it shall +have accreted a convincing weight. + +But at whatever point one or another inquirer may happen at present to +stand, I urge that this is the reasonable course for conviction to +follow. First analyse the miscellaneous stream of evidence into definite +types; then observe the frequency with which these types recur, and let +your sense of their importance gradually grow, if the evidence grows +also. + +Now this mode of procedure evidently excludes all definite _a priori_ +views, and compels one's conceptions to be little more than the mere +grouping to which the facts thus far known have to be subjected in order +that they may be realised in their _ensemble_. + +"What definite reason do I know why this should _not_ be true?"--this is +the question which needs to be pushed home again and again if one is to +realise--and not in the ordinary paths of scientific speculation +alone--how profound our ignorance of the Universe really is. + +My own ignorance, at any rate, I recognise to be such that my notions of +the probable or improbable in the Universe are not of weight enough to +lead me to set aside any facts which seem to me well attested, and which +are not shown by experts actually to conflict with any +better-established facts or generalisations. Wide though the range of +established science may be, it represents, as its most far-sighted +prophets are the first to admit, a narrow glance only into the unknown +and infinite realm of law. + +The evidence, then, leading me thus unresisting along, has led me to +this main difference from our early treatment of veridical phantasms. +Instead of starting from a root-conception of a telepathic impulse +merely passing from mind to mind, I now start from a root-conception of +the dissociability of the self, of the possibility that different +fractions of the personality can act so far independently of each other +that the one is not conscious of the other's action. + +Naturally the two conceptions coincide over much of the ground. Where +experimental thought-transference is concerned--even where the commoner +types of coincidental phantasms are concerned--the second formula seems +a needless and unprovable variation on the first. But as soon as we get +among the difficult types--reciprocal cases, clairvoyant cases, +collective cases, above all, manifestations of the dead--we find that +the conception of a telepathic impulse as a message despatched and then +left alone, as it were, to effect its purpose needs more and more of +straining, of manipulation, to fit it to the evidence. On the other +hand, it is just in those difficult regions that the analogies of other +splits of personality recur, and that phantasmal or automatic behaviour +recalls to us the behaviour of segments of personality detached from +primary personality, but operating through the organism which is common +to both. + +The innovation which we are here called upon to make is to suppose that +segments of the personality can operate in apparent separation from the +organism. Such a supposition, of course, could not have been started +without proof of telepathy, and could with difficulty be sustained +without proof of survival of death. But, given telepathy, we have _some_ +psychical agency connected with man operating apart from his organism. +Given survival, we have an element of his personality--to say the least +of it--operating when his organism is destroyed. There is therefore no +very great additional burden in supposing that an element of his +personality may operate apart from his organism, while that organism +still exists. + +_Ce n'est que le premier pas qui coûte._ If we have once got a man's +_thought_ operating apart from his body--if my fixation of attention on +the two of diamonds does somehow so modify another man's brain a few +yards off that he seems to see the two of diamonds floating before +him--there is no obvious halting-place on _his_ side till we come to +"possession" by a departed spirit, and there is no obvious halting-place +on _my_ side till we come to "travelling clairvoyance," with a +corresponding visibility of my own phantasm to other persons in the +scenes which I spiritually visit. No obvious halting-place, I say; for +the point which at first seems abruptly transitional has been already +shown to be only the critical point of a continuous curve. I mean, of +course, the point where consciousness is duplicated--where each segment +of the personality begins to possess a separate and definite, but +contemporaneous stream of memory and perception. That these can exist +concurrently in the same organism our study of hypnotism has already +shown, and our study of motor automatisms will still further prove to +us. + +_Dissociation of personality, combined with activity in the metetherial +environment_; such, in the phraseology used in this book, will be the +formula which will most easily cover those actually observed facts of +veridical apparition on which we must now enter at considerable length. +And after this preliminary explanation I shall ask leave to use for +clearness in my argument such words as are simplest and shortest, +however vague or disputable their connotation may be. I must needs, for +instance, use the word "spirit," when I speak of that unknown fraction +of a man's personality--not the supraliminal fraction--which we discern +as operating before or after death in the metetherial environment. For +this conception I can find no other term, but by the word _spirit_ I +wish to imply nothing more definite than this. Of the spirit's relation +to space, or (which is a part of the same problem) to its own spatial +manifestation in definite form, something has already been said, and +there will be more to say hereafter. And similarly those terms, +_invader_ or _invaded_, from whose strangeness and barbarity our +immediate discussion began, will depend for their meaning upon +conceptions which the evidence itself must gradually supply. + +That evidence, as it now lies before us, is perplexingly various both in +content and quality. For some of the canons needed in its analysis I +have already referred the reader to extracts from Edmund Gurney's +writings. Certain points must still be mentioned here before the +narrative begins. + +It must be remembered, in the first place, that all these veridical or +coincidental cases stand out together as a single group from a +background of hallucinations which involve no coincidence, which have no +claim to veridicality. If purely subjective hallucinations of the senses +affected insane or disordered brains alone,--as was pretty generally the +assumption, even in scientific circles, when our inquiry began,--our +task would have been much easier than it is. But while there can be no +question as to the sound and healthy condition of the great majority of +our percipients, Edmund Gurney's "Census of Hallucinations" of 1884, +confirmed and extended by the wider inquiry of 1889-1892, showed a +frequency, previously unsuspected, of scattered hallucinations among +sane and healthy persons, the experience being often unique in a +lifetime, and in no apparent connection with any other circumstance +whatever.[109] + +Since casual hallucinations of the sane, then, are thus _frequent_, we +can hardly venture to assume that they are all _veridical_. And the +existence of all these perhaps merely subjective hallucinations greatly +complicates our investigation of veridical hallucinations. It prevents +the mere existence of the hallucinations, however strangely interposed +in ordinary life, from having any evidential value, and throws us upon +evidence afforded by external coincidence;--on the mere fact, to put +such a coincidence in its simplest form, that I see a phantom of my +friend Smith at the moment when Smith is unexpectedly dying at a +distance. A coincidence of this general type, if it occurs, need not be +difficult to substantiate, and we have in fact substantiated it with +more or less completeness in several hundred cases. + +The _primâ facie_ conclusion will obviously be that there is a causal +connection between the death and the apparition. To overcome this +presumption it would be necessary either to impugn the accuracy of the +informant's testimony, or to show that chance alone might have brought +about the observed coincidences. + +On both of these questions there have been full and repeated discussions +elsewhere. I need not re-argue them at length here, but will refer the +reader to the "Report on the Census of Hallucinations," _Proceedings_ +S.P.R., vol. x., where every source of error as yet discovered has been +pretty fully considered. + +To that volume also I must refer him for a thorough discussion of the +arguments for and against chance-coincidence. The conclusion to which +the Committee unanimously came is expressed in the closing words: +"Between deaths and apparitions of the dying person a connection exists +which is not due to chance alone." + +We have a right, I think, to say that only by another census of +hallucinations, equally careful, more extensive, and yielding absolutely +different results, could this conclusion be overthrown. + +In forming this conclusion, apparitions at death are of course selected, +because, death being an unique event in man's earthly existence, the +coincidences between death and apparitions afford a favourable case for +statistical treatment. But the coincidences between apparitions and +crises other than death, although not susceptible of the same +arithmetical precision of estimate, are, as will be seen, quite equally +convincing. To this great mass of spontaneous cases we must now turn. + +The arrangement of these cases is not easy; nor are they capable of +being presented in one logically consequent series. + +But the conception of _psychical invasion or excursion_ on which I have +already dwelt has at any rate this advantage, that it is sufficiently +fundamental to allow of our arrangement of all our recorded +cases--perhaps of all possible cases of apparition--in accordance with +its own lines. + +Our scheme will include all observable telepathic action, from the faint +currents which we may imagine to be continually passing between man and +man, up to the point--reserved for the following chapter--where one of +the parties to the telepathic intercourse has definitely quitted the +flesh. The _first_ term in our series must be conveniently vague: the +_last_ must lead us to the threshold of the spiritual world. + +I must begin with cases where the action of the excursive fragment of +the personality is of the weakest kind--the least capable of affecting +other observers, or of being recalled into the agent's own waking +memory. + +Such cases, naturally enough, will be hard to bring up to evidential +level. It must depend on mere chance whether these weak and aimless +psychical excursions are observed at all; or are observed in such a way +as to lead us to attribute them to anything more than the subjective +fancy of the observers. + +How can a casual vision--say, of a lady sitting in her +drawing-room,--of a man returning home at six o'clock--be distinguished +from memory-images on the one hand and from what I may term +"expectation-images" on the other? The picture of the lady may be a +slightly modified and externalised reminiscence; the picture of the man +walking up to the door may be a mere projection of what the observer was +hoping to see. + +I have assumed that these phantoms coincided with no marked event. The +lady may have been thinking of going to her drawing-room; the man may +have been in the act of walking home;--but these are trivial +circumstances which might be repeated any day. + +Yet, however trivial, almost any set of human circumstances are +sufficiently complex to leave room for coincidence. If the sitter in the +drawing-room is wearing a distinctive article of dress, never seen by +the percipient until it is seen in the hallucination;--if the phantasmal +homeward traveller is carrying a parcel of unusual shape, which the real +man does afterwards unexpectedly bring home with him;--there may be +reason to think that there is a causal connection between the apparent +agent's condition at the moment, and the apparition. + +In Appendix VI. A, I quote one of these "arrival-cases," so to term +them, where the peculiarity of dress was such as to make the coincidence +between vision and reality well worth attention. The case is interesting +also as one of our earliest examples of a psychical incident carefully +recorded at the time; so that after the lapse of nearly forty years it +was possible to correct the percipient's surviving recollection by his +contemporary written statement. + +In these _arrival_ cases, there is, I say, a certain likelihood that the +man's mind may be fixed on his return home, so that his phantasm is seen +in what might seem both to himself and to others the most probable +place.[110] But there are other cases where a man's phantasm is seen, in +a place where there is no special reason for his appearing, although +these places seem always to lie within the beat and circuit of his +habitual thought. + +In such cases there are still possible circumstances which may give +reason to think that the apparition is causally connected with the +apparent agent. The phantasm of a given person may be seen _repeatedly_ +by different percipients, or it may be seen _collectively_ by several +persons at a time; or it may combine both these evidential +characteristics, and may be seen several times and by several persons +together. + +Now considering the rarity of phantasmal appearances, considering that +not one person in (say) five thousand is ever phantasmally seen at all; +the mere fact that a given person's phantasm is seen even _twice_, by +different percipients (for we cannot count a second appearance to the +_same_ percipient as of equal value), is in itself a remarkable fact; +while if this happens _three or four times_ (as in the case of Mrs. +Hawkins)[111] we can hardly ascribe such a sequence of rare occurrences +to chance alone. + +Again, impressive as is the _repetition_ of the apparition in these +cases, it is yet less so to my mind than the _collective_ character of +some of the perceptions. In Mrs. Hawkins's first case there were two +simultaneous percipients, and in Canon Bourne's first case (given in +Appendix VI. B) there were three. + +And we now come to other cases, where the percipience has been +collective, although it has not been repeated. There is a case[112] +where two persons at one moment--a moment of no stress or excitement +whatever--see the phantasm of a third; that third person being perhaps +occupied with some supraliminal or subliminal thought of the scene in +the midst of which she is phantasmally discerned. Both the percipients +supposed at the moment that it was their actual sister whom they saw; +and one can hardly fancy that a mere act of tranquil recognition of the +figure by one percipient would communicate to the other percipient a +telepathic shock such as would make _her_ see the same figure as well. + +The question of the true import of collectivity of percipience renews in +another form that problem of _invasion_ to which our evidence so often +brings us back. When two or three persons see what seems to be the same +phantom in the same place and at the same time, does that mean that that +special part of space is somehow modified? or does it mean that a mental +impression, conveyed by the distant agent--the phantom-begetter--to one +of the percipients is reflected telepathically from that percipient's +mind to the minds of the other--as it were secondary--percipients? The +reader already knows that I prefer the former of these views. And I +observe--as telling against that other view, of psychical +contagion--that in certain collective cases we discern no probable link +between any one of the percipient minds and the distant agent. + +In some of that group of collective cases which we are at this moment +considering, this absence of link is noticeable in a special way. There +is nothing to show that any thought or emotion was passing from agent to +percipients at the moment of the apparition. On the contrary, the +indication is that there is no necessary connection whatever between the +agent's condition of mind at the moment and the fact that such and such +persons observed his phantasm. The projection of the phantasm, if I may +so term it, seems a matter wholly automatic on the agent's part, as +automatic and meaningless as a dream. + +Assuming, then, that this is so--that these _bilocations_ or +self-projections to a point apparently remote from one's body do occur +without any appreciable stimulus from without, and in moments of +apparent calm and indifference--in what way will this fact tend to +modify previous conceptions? + +It suggests that the continuous dream-life which we must suppose to run +concurrently with our waking life is potent enough to effect from time +to time enough of dissociation to enable some element of the personality +to be perceived at a distance from the organism. How much of +consciousness, if any, may be felt at the point where the excursive +phantasm is seen, we cannot say. But the notion that a mere incoherent +quasi-dream should thus become perceptible to others is fully in +accordance with the theories suggested in this work. For I regard +subliminal operation as _continuously_ going on, and I hold that the +degree of dissociation which can generate a perceptible phantasm is not +necessarily a profound change, since that perceptibility depends so +largely upon idiosyncrasies of agent and percipient as yet wholly +unexplained. + +That special idiosyncracy on the part of the agent which tends to make +his phantasm easily visible has never yet, so far as I know, received a +name, although for convenience' sake it certainly needs one. I propose +to use the Greek word φυχορραγὡ, which means strictly "to let the soul +break loose," and from which I form the words _psychorrhagy_ and +_psychorrhagic_, on obvious analogies. When I say that the agents in +these cases were born with the _psychorrhagic diathesis_, I express what +I believe to be an important fact, physiological as well as +psychological, in terms which seem pedantic, but which are the only ones +which mean exactly what the facts oblige me to say. That which "breaks +loose" on my hypothesis is not (as in the Greek use of the word) the +whole principle of life in the organism; rather it is some psychical +element probably of very varying character, and definable mainly by its +power of producing a phantasm, perceptible by one or more persons, in +some portion or other of space. I hold that this phantasmogenetic effect +may be produced either on the mind, and consequently on the brain of +another person--in which case he may discern the phantasm somewhere in +his vicinity, according to his own mental habit or prepossession--or +else directly on a portion of space, "out in the open," in which case +several persons may simultaneously discern the phantasm in that actual +spot. + +Let us apply this view to one of our most bizarre and puzzling +cases--that of Canon Bourne (see Appendix VI. B). Here I conceive that +Canon Bourne, while riding in the hunting-field, was also subliminally +dreaming of himself (imagining himself with some part of his submerged +consciousness) as having had a fall, and as beckoning to his +daughters--an incoherent dream indeed, but of a quite ordinary type. I +go on to suppose that, Canon Bourne being born with the psychorrhagic +diathesis, a certain psychical element so far detached itself from his +organism as to affect a certain portion of space--near the daughters of +whom he was thinking--to effect it, I say, not materially nor even +optically, but yet in such a manner that to a certain kind of immaterial +and non-optical sensitivity a phantasm of himself and his horse became +discernible. His horse was of course as purely a part of the phantasmal +picture as his hat. The non-optical distinctness with which the words +printed inside his hat were seen indicates that it was some inner +non-retinal vision which received the impression from the +phantasmogenetic centre. The other phantasmal appearance of Canon Bourne +chanced to affect only one percipient, but was of precisely the same +character; and of course adds, so far as it goes, to the plausibility of +the above explanation. + +That explanation, indeed, suffers from the complexity and apparent +absurdity inevitable in dealing with phenomena which greatly transcend +known laws; but on the other hand it does in its way colligate Canon +Bourne's case with a good many others of odd and varying types. Thus +appearances such as Canon Bourne's are in my view exactly parallel to +the _hauntings_ ascribed to departed spirits. There also we find a +psychorrhagic diathesis--a habit or capacity on the part of certain +spirits of detaching some psychical element in such a manner as to form +a phantasmal picture, which represents the spirit as going through some +dream-like action in a given place. + +The phantasmogenetic centre may thus, in my view, be equally well +produced by an incarnate or by a discarnate spirit. + +Again, my hypothesis of a real modification of a part of space, +transforming it into a phantasmogenetic centre, applies to a phantasmal +voice just as well as to a phantasmal figure. The voice is not heard +acoustically any more than the figure is seen optically. Yet a +phantasmal voice may in a true sense "come from" a given spot. + +These psychorrhagic cases are, I think, important as showing us the +earliest or feeblest stages of self-projection--where the dissociation +belongs to the dream-stratum--implicating neither the supraliminal will +nor the profounder subliminal strata. + +And now let us pass on from these, which hardly concern anybody beyond +the phantom-begetter himself--and do not even add anything to his own +knowledge--to cases where there is some sort of communication from one +mind to another, or some knowledge gained by the excursive spirit. + +It is impossible to arrange these groups in one continuous logical +series. But, roughly speaking, the degree in which the psychical +collision is _recollected_ on either side may in some degree indicate +its _intensity_, and may serve as a guide to our provisional +arrangement. + +Following this scheme I shall begin with a group of cases which seem to +promise but little information,--cases, namely, where A, the agent, in +some way impresses or invades P, the percipient,--but nevertheless +neither A nor P retains in supraliminal memory any knowledge of what has +occurred. + +Now to begin with we shall have no difficulty in admitting that cases of +this type are likely often to occur. The psychical _rapprochement_ of +telepathy takes place, _ex hypothesi_, in a region which is subliminal +for both agent and percipient, and from whence but few and scattered +impressions rise for either of them above the conscious threshold. +Telepathy will thus probably operate far more continuously than our +scattered glimpses would in themselves suggest. + +But how can we outside inquirers know anything of telepathic incidents +which the principals themselves fail altogether to remember? + +In ordinary life we may sometimes learn from bystanders incidents which +we cannot learn from the principals themselves. Can there be bystanders +who look on at a psychical invasion? + +The question is of much theoretical import. On my view that there is a +real transference of something from the agent, involving an alteration +of some kind in a particular part of space, there might theoretically be +some bystander who might discern that alteration in space more clearly +than the person for whose benefit, so to say, the alteration was made. +If, on the other hand, what has happened is merely a transference of +some impulse "from mind to mind";--then one can hardly understand how +any mind except the mind aimed at could perceive the telepathic +impression. Yet, in _collective_ cases, persons in whom the agent feels +no interest, nay, of whose presence along with the intended percipient +he is not aware, do in fact receive the impression in just the same way +as that intended percipient himself. This was explained by Gurney as +probably due to a fresh telepathic transmission,--this time from the +due or original percipient's mind to the minds of his neighbours of the +moment. + +Such a supposition, however, in itself a difficult one, becomes much +more difficult when the telepathic impulse has never, so far as we know, +penetrated into the due or intended percipient's mind at all. If in such +a case a bystander perceives the invading figure, I must think that he +perceives it merely as a bystander,--not as a person telepathically +influenced by the intended percipient, who does not in fact perceive +anything whatsoever. I quote in illustration a bizarre but well-attested +case (see Appendix VI. C) which this explanation seems to fit better +than any other. + +In a somewhat similar case[113] there is strong attestation that a +sailor, watching by a dying comrade, saw figures around his hammock, +apparently representing the dying man's family, in mourning garb. The +family, although they had no ordinary knowledge of the sailor's illness, +had been alarmed by noises, etc., which rightly or wrongly they took as +indications of some danger to him. I conceive, then, that the wife paid +a psychical visit to her husband; and I take the mourning garb and the +accompanying children's figures to be symbolical accompaniments, +representing her thought, "My children will be orphans." I think this +more likely than that the sailor's children also should have possessed +this rare peculiarity of becoming perceptible at a distant point in +space. And secondary figures, as we shall see later on, are not uncommon +in such telepathic presentations. One may picture oneself as though +holding a child by the hand, or even driving in a carriage and pair, as +vividly as though carrying an umbrella or walking across a room; and one +may be thus pictured to others. + +And here I note a gradual transition to the next large class of cases on +which I am about to enter. I am about to deal with _telæsthesia_;--with +cases where an agent-percipient--for he is both in one--makes a +clairvoyant excursion (of a more serious type than the mere +psychorrhagies already described), and brings back some memory of the +scene which he has psychically visited. Now, of course, it may happen +that he fails to bring back any such memory, or that if he _does_ bring +it back, he tells no one about it. In such cases, just as in the +telepathic cases of which I have just spoken, the excursive phantom may +possibly be observed by a bystander, and the circumstances may be such +as to involve some coincidence which negatives the supposition of the +bystander's mere subjective fancy. Such, I think, is the case which I +give in Appendix VI. D. + +There is a similar case in _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. ii. p. 541, +where a girl, who is corporeally present in a certain drawing-room, is +seen phantasmally in a neighbouring grove, whither she herself presently +goes and hangs herself. + +Ponderings on projected suicide form perhaps the strongest instance of +mental preoccupation with a particular spot. But of course, in our +ignorance of the precise quality of thought or emotion needed to prompt +a psychical excursion, we need not be surprised to find such an +excursion observed on some occasions as trivial as the "arrival-case" of +Col. Reed, with which I prefaced the mere psychorrhagic cases. + +Again, there is a strange case,[114] which comes to us on good +authority, where we must suppose one man's subliminal impulse to have +created a picture of himself, his wife, a carriage and a horse, +persistent enough to have been watched for some seconds at least by +three observers in one place, and by a fourth and independent observer +at another point in the moving picture's career. The only alternative, +if the narrative be accepted as substantially true, will be the +hypothesis before alluded to of the flashing of an impending scene, as +in crystal-vision, from some source external to any of the human minds +concerned. I need hardly at this point repeat that in my view the wife +and the horse will be as purely a part of the man's conception of his +own aspect or environment as the coat on his back. + +And here, for purposes of comparison, I must refer to one of the most +bizarre cases in our collection.[115] Four credible persons, to some +extent independently, see a carriage and pair, with two men on the box +and an inside occupant, under circumstances which make it impossible +that the carriage was real. Now this vision cannot have been +_precognitive_; nothing of the kind occurred for years after it, nor +well _could_ occur; and I am forced to regard it as the externalisation +of some dream, whether of an incarnate or of a discarnate mind. The +parallel between this case and the one mentioned above tends therefore +to show that the first, in spite of the paraphernalia of wife, horse, +and dog-cart, may have been the outcome of a single waking dream;--of +the phantasmogenetic dissociation of elements of one sole personality. + +In the cases which I have just been discussing there has been a +psychical excursion, with its possibilities of clairvoyance; but the +excursive element has not brought home any assignable knowledge to the +supraliminal personality. I go on now to cases where such knowledge +_has_ thus been garnered. But here there is need of some further pause, +to consider a little in how many ways we can imagine that knowledge to +be reached. + +Firstly, the distant knowledge may, it would seem, be reached through +hyperæsthesia,--an extended power of the ordinary senses. Secondly, it +sometimes seems to come through crystal-gazing or its correlative +shell-hearing,--artifices which seem to utilise the ordinary senses in a +new way. And besides these two avenues to distant knowledge there is a +_third_, the telepathic avenue, which, as we have already surmised, +sometimes shades off into the purely telæsthetic; when no distant +_mind_, but only the distant _scene_, seems to be attracting the +excursive spirit. And in the _fourth_ place we must remember that it is +mainly in the form of _dream or vision_ that the most striking instances +of telæsthesia which I have as yet recorded have come. Can we in any way +harmonise these various modes of perception? Can we discover any +condition of the percipient which is common to all? + +To a certain limited extent such co-ordination is possible. In each +approach to telæsthesia in turn we find a tendency to something like a +dream-excursion. Hyperæsthesia, in the first place, although it exists +sometimes in persons wide awake, is characteristically an attribute of +sleep-waking states. + +We have seen in discussing hypnotic experiments that it is sometimes +possible to extend the subject's perceptive faculty by gradual +suggestion, so far as to transform a hyperæsthesia which can still be +referred to the action of the sense-organs into a telæsthesia which +cannot be so referred. It is observable that percipients in such cases +sometimes describe their sensation as that of receiving an impression, +or seeing a picture placed before them; sometimes as that of +_travelling_ and visiting the distant scene or person. Or the feeling +may oscillate between these two sensations, just as the sense of +_time-relation_ in the picture shown may oscillate between past, +present, and future. + +To all these complex sensations the phenomena of crystal-gazing offer +close analogies. I have already remarked on the curious fact that the +simple artifice of gazing into a speculum should prove the avenue to +phenomena of such various types. There may be very different origins +even for pictures which in the crystal present very similar aspects; and +certain sensations do also accompany these pictures; sensations not +merely of _gazing_ but sometimes (though rarely) of partial _trance_; +and oftener of _bilocation_;--of psychical _presence_ among the scenes +which the crystal has indeed initiated, but no longer seems to limit or +to contain. + +The idea of psychical excursion thus suggested must, however, be +somehow reconciled with the frequently _symbolic_ character of these +visions. The features of a crystal-vision seem often to be no mere +transcription of material facts, but an abbreviated selection from such +facts, or even a bold modification of such facts with a view of telling +some story more quickly and clearly. We are familiar with the same kind +of succession of symbolical scenes in dream, or in waking reverie. And +of course if an intelligence outside the crystal-gazer's mind is +endeavouring to impress him, this might well be the chosen way. + +And moreover through all telæsthetic vision some element of similar +character is wont to run--some indication that _mind_ has been at work +upon the picture--that the scene has not been presented, so to say, in +crude objectivity, but that there has been some _choice_ as to the +details discerned; and some _symbolism_ in the way in which they are +presented. + +Let us consider how these characteristics affect different theories of +the mechanism of clairvoyance. Let us suppose first that there is some +kind of transition from hyperæsthesia to telæsthesia, so that when +peripheral sensation is no longer possible, central perception may be +still operating across obstacles otherwise insurmountable. + +If this be the case, it seems likely that central perception will shape +itself on the types of perception to which the central tracts of the +brain are accustomed; and that the _connaissance supérieure_, the +telæsthetic knowledge, however it may really be acquired, will present +itself mainly as clairvoyance or clairaudience--as some form of sight or +sound. Yet these telæsthetic sights and sounds may be expected to show +some trace of their unusual origin. They may, for instance, be +_imperfectly co-ordinated_ with sights and sounds arriving through +external channels; and, since they must in some way be a translation of +supernormal impressions into sensory terms, they are likely to show +something _symbolic_ in character. + +This tendency to subliminal symbolism, indeed, meets us at each point of +our inquiry. As an instance of it in its simplest form, I may mention a +case where a botanical student passing inattentively in front of the +glass door of a restaurant thought that he had seen _Verbascum Thapsus_ +printed thereon. The real word was _Bouillon_; and that happens to be +the trivial name in French for the plant Verbascum Thapsus. The actual +optical perception had thus been subliminally transformed; the words +Verbascum Thapsus were the report to the inattentive supraliminal self +by a subliminal self more interested in botany than in dinner. + +Nay, we know that our own optical perception is in its own way highly +symbolic. The scene which the baby sees instinctively,--which the +impressionist painter manages to see by a sort of deliberate +self-simplification,--is very different from the highly elaborate +interpretation and selection of blotches of colour by which the ordinary +adult figures to himself the visible world. + +Now we adults stand towards this subliminal symbolism in much the same +attitude as the baby stands towards our educated optical symbolism. Just +as the baby fails to grasp the third dimension, so may we still be +failing to grasp a fourth;--or whatever be the law of that higher +cognisance which begins to report fragmentarily to man that which his +ordinary senses cannot discern. + +Assuredly then we must not take the fact that any knowledge comes to us +symbolically as a proof that it comes to us from a mind outside our own. +The symbolism may be the inevitable language in which one stratum of our +personality makes its report to another. The symbolism, in short, may be +either the easiest, or the only possible psychical record of actual +objective fact; whether that fact be in the first instance discerned by +our deeper selves, or be conveyed to us from other minds in this +form;--elaborated for our mind's digestion, as animal food has been +elaborated for our body's digestion, from a primitive crudity of things. + +But again one must question, on general idealistic principles, whether +there be in such cases any real distinction between symbolism and +reality,--between subjective and objective as we commonly use those +terms. The resisting matter which we see and touch has "solid" reality +for minds so constituted as to have the same subjective feeling awakened +by it. But to other minds, endowed with other forms of +sensibility--minds possibly both higher and more numerous than our +own--this solid matter may seem disputable and unreal, while thought and +emotion, perceived in ways unknown to us, may be the only reality. + +This material world constitutes, in fact, a "privileged case"--a +simplified example--among all discernible worlds, so far as the +perception of incarnate spirits is concerned. For discarnate spirits it +is no longer a privileged case; to _them_ it is apparently easier to +discern thoughts and emotions by non-material signs.[116] But they need +not therefore be wholly cut off from discerning material things, any +more than incarnate spirits are wholly cut off from discerning +immaterial things--thoughts and emotions symbolised in phantasmal form. +"The ghost in man, the ghost that once was man," to use Tennyson's +words, have each of them to overcome by empirical artifices certain +difficulties which are of different type for each, but are not +insurmountable by either. + +These reflections, applicable at various points in our argument, have +seemed specially needed when we had first to attack the meaning of the +so-called "travelling clairvoyance," of which instances were given in +the chapter on hypnotism. It was needful to consider how far there was a +continuous transition between these excursions and directer +transferences between mind and mind,--between telæsthesia and telepathy. +It now seems to me that such a continuous transition may well exist, and +that there is no absolute gulf between the supernormal perception of +ideas as existing in other minds, and the supernormal perception of what +we know as matter. All matter may, for aught we know, exist as an idea +in some cosmic mind, with which mind each individual spirit may be in +relation, as fully as with individual minds. The difference perhaps lies +rather in the fact that there may be generally a _summons_ from a +cognate mind which starts the so-called agent's mind into action; his +invasion may be in some way _invited_; while a spiritual excursion among +inanimate objects only may often lack an impulse to start it. If this be +so, it would explain the fact that such excursions have mainly succeeded +under the influence of hypnotic suggestion. + +We see in travelling clairvoyance,[117] just as we see in +crystal-visions, a kind of fusion of all our forms of supernormal +faculty. There is telepathy, telæsthesia, retrocognition, precognition; +and in the cases reported by Cahagnet, which will be referred to in +Chapter IX., there is apparently something more besides. We see, in +short, that any empirical inlet into the metetherial world is apt to +show us those powers, which we try to distinguish, coexisting in some +synthesis by us incomprehensible. Here, therefore, just as with the +crystal-visions, we have artificially to separate out the special class +of phenomena with which we wish first to deal. + +In these experiments, then, there seems to be an independent power of +visiting almost any desired place, its position having been perhaps +first explained by reference to some landmark already known. The +clairvoyante (I use the female word, but in several cases a man or boy +has shown this power) will frequently miss her way, and describe houses +or scenes adjacent to those desired. Then if she--almost literally--gets +on the scent,--if she finds some place which the man whom she is sent +to seek has some time traversed,--she follows up his track with greater +ease, apparently recognising past events in his life as well as present +circumstances. + +In these prolonged experimental cases there is thus time enough to allow +of the clairvoyante's traversing certain places, such as empty rooms, +factories, and the like, whither no assignable link from any living +person could draw her. The evidence to prove telæsthesia, unmixed with +telepathy, has thus generally come _incidentally_ in the course of some +experiment mainly telepathic in character. + +These long clairvoyant wanderings are more nearly paralleled by _dreams_ +than by waking hallucinations. + +In a case which I will here quote a physician is impressed, probably in +dream, with a picture of a special place in a street, where something is +happening, which, though in itself unemotional--merely that a man is +standing and talking in the street--is of moment to the physician, who +wants to get unobtrusively into the man's house. + +From _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. i. p. 267. The case is there +described as coming "from a Fellow of the College of Physicians, who +fears professional injury if he were 'supposed to defend opinions at +variance with general scientific belief,' and does not therefore allow +his name to appear." + + +_May 20th, 1884._ + + Twenty years ago [abroad] I had a patient, wife of a parson. She + had a peculiar kind of delirium which did not belong to her + disease, and perplexed me. The house in which she lived was closed + at midnight, that is--the outer door had no bell. One night I saw + her at nine. When I came home I said to my wife, "I don't + understand that case; I wish I could get into the house late." We + went to bed rather early. At about one o'clock I got up. She said, + "What are you about? are you not well?" I said, "Perfectly so." + "Then why get up?" "Because I can get into that house." "How, if it + is shut up?" "I see the proprietor standing under the lamp-post + this side of the bridge, with another man." "You have been + dreaming." "No, I have been wide awake; but dreaming or waking, I + mean to try." I started with the firm conviction that I should find + the individual in question. Sure enough there he was under the + lamp-post, talking to a friend. I asked him if he was going home. + (I knew him very well.) He said he was, so I told him I was going + to see a patient, and would accompany him. I was positively ashamed + to explain matters; it seemed so absurd that I knew he would not + believe me. On arriving at the house I said, "Now I am here, I will + drop in and see my patient." On entering the room I found the maid + giving her a tumbler of strong grog. The case was clear; it was as + I suspected--delirium from drink. The next day I delicately spoke + to the husband about it. He denied it, and in the afternoon I + received a note requesting me not to repeat the visits. Three weeks + ago I was recounting the story and mentioned the name. A lady + present said: "That is the name of the clergyman in my parish, at + B., and his wife is in a lunatic asylum from drink!" + +In conversation with Gurney, the narrator explained that the +vision--though giving an impression of externality and seen, as he +believes, with open eyes--was not definably located in space. He had +never encountered the proprietor in the spot where he saw him, and it +was not a likely thing that he should be standing talking in the streets +at so late an hour. + +In this case we cannot consider either the drunken patient or the +indifferent proprietor as in any sense the _agent_. Somehow or other the +physician's own persistent wish to get some such opportunity induced a +collaboration of his subliminal with his supraliminal self, akin to the +inspirations of genius. Genius, however, operates within ordinary +sensory limits; while in this physician's case the subliminal self +exercised its farthest-reaching supernormal powers. + +With this again may be compared a case in _Phantasms of the Living_ +(vol. ii. p. 368), where a dreamer seems to himself to be present in the +Thames Tunnel during a fatal accident, which did in fact occur during +that night. Here again the drowned workman--who was quite unknown to the +distant dreamer--can hardly be called an _agent_; yet it may have been +the excitement surrounding his death which attracted the dreamer's +spirit to that scene, as a conflagration might attract a waking +night-wanderer. + +There are, on the other hand, a good many cases where a scene thus +discerned in a flash is one of special interest to the percipient, +although no one in the scene may have actually wished to transfer it to +him. + +A case again of a somewhat different type is the sudden waking vision of +Mr. Gottschalk,[118] who sees in a circle of light the chalked hands and +ruffled wrists of Mr. Courtenay Thorpe--a well-known actor--who was +opening a letter of Mr. Gottschalk's in that costume at the time. +Trivial in itself, this incident illustrates an interesting class of +cases, where a picture very much like a crystal-vision suddenly appears +on a wall or even in the air with no apparent background. + +I know one or two persons who have had in their lives one single round +or oval hallucinatory picture of this kind, of which no interpretation +was apparent,--a curious indication of some subliminal predisposition +towards this somewhat elaborate form of message. + +Somewhat like Mr. Gottschalk's projection of his picture upon a +background of dark air is the experience of Mrs. Taunton.[119] In this +case the phantasm was perfectly external; yet it certainly did not hold +to the real objects around the same relation as a figure of flesh and +blood would have held; it was in a peculiar way transparent. Gurney +regards this transparency as indicating _imperfect externalisation_ of +the hallucinatory image. + +My own phrase, "imperfect _co-ordination_ of inner with outward vision," +comes to much the same thing, and seems specially applicable to Mrs. +Taunton's words: "The appearance was not transparent or filmy, but +perfectly solid-looking; _and yet I could somehow see the orchestra, not +through, but behind it_." There are a few cases where the percipient +seems to see a hallucinatory figure _behind_ him, out of the range of +optical vision.[120] There is of course no reason why this should not be +so,--even if a part of space external to the percipient's brain should +be actually affected. + +Mr. Searle's case also is very interesting.[121] Here Mrs. Searle faints +when visiting a house a few miles from Mr. Searle's chambers in the +Temple. At or about the same time, he sees as though in a looking-glass, +upon a window opposite him, his wife's head and face, white and +bloodless. + +Gurney suggests that this was a transference from Mrs. Searle's mind +simply of "the _idea_ of fainting," which then worked itself out into +perception in an appropriate fashion. + +Was it thus? Or did Mr. Searle in the Temple see with inner vision his +wife's head as she lay back faint and pallid in Gloucester Gardens? Our +nearest analogy here is plainly crystal-vision; and crystal-visions, as +we have observed, point both ways. Sometimes the picture in the crystal +is conspicuously symbolical; sometimes it seems a transcript of an +actual distant scene. + +There are two further problems which occur as we deal with each class of +cases in turn,--the problem of time-relations and the problem of +spirit-agency. Can an incident be said to be seen clairvoyantly if it is +seen some hours after it occurred? Ought we to say that a scene is +clairvoyantly visited, or that it is spiritually shown, if it represents +a still chamber of death,[122] where no emotion is any longer stirring; +but to which the freed spirit might desire to attract the friend's +attention and sympathy? + +Such problems cannot at present be solved; nor, as I have said, can any +one class of these psychical interchanges be clearly demarcated from +other classes. Recognising this, we must explain the central +characteristics of each group in turn, and show at what points that +group appears to merge into the next. + +And now we come to that class of cases where B invades A, and A +perceives the invasion; but B retains no memory of it in supraliminal +life. From one point of view, as will be seen, this is just the reverse +of the class last discussed--where the invader remembered an invasion +which the invaded person (when there was one) did not perceive. + +We have already discussed some cases of this sort which seemed to be +_psychorrhagic_--to have occurred without will or purpose on the part of +the invader. What we must now do is to collect cases where there may +probably have been some real projection of will or desire on the +invader's part, leading to the projection of his phantasm in a manner +recognisable by the distant friend whom he thus invades--yet without +subsequent memory of his own. These cases will be intermediate between +the _psychorrhagic_ cases already described and the _experimental_ cases +on which we shall presently enter. + +In the case of Canon Warburton--in Chapter IV.--the person undergoing +the accident did recollect having had a vivid thought of his brother at +the moment;--while his brother on the other hand was startled from a +slight doze by the vision of the scene of danger as then taking +place;--the steep stairs and the falling figure. This is an acute +crisis, much resembling impending death by drowning, etc.; and the +apparition may be construed either way--either as a scene clairvoyantly +discerned by Canon Warburton, owing, as I say, to a spasmodic tightening +of his psychical link with his brother, or as a sudden _invasion_ on +that brother's part, whose very rapidity perhaps helped to prevent his +remembering it. + +The case given in Appendix VI. E is interesting, both evidentially and +from its intrinsic character. The narrative, printed in _Phantasms of +the Living_, on the authority of one only of the witnesses concerned, +led to the discovery of the _second_ witness--whom we had no other means +of finding--and has been amply corroborated by her independent account. + +The case stands about midway between psychorrhagic cases and intentional +self-projections, and is clearly of the nature of an _invasion_, since +the phantasm was seen by a stranger as well as by the friend, and seemed +to both to be moving about the room. The figure, that is to say, was +adapted to the percipient's environment. + +Cases of this general character, both visual and auditory, occupy a +great part of _Phantasms of the Living_, and others have been frequently +quoted in the S.P.R. _Journal_ during recent years.[123] + +Of still greater interest is the class which comes next in order in my +ascending scale of apparent _intensity_; the cases, namely, where there +is recollection on both sides, so that the experience is +_reciprocal_.[124] These deserve study, for it is by noting under what +circumstances these spontaneously reciprocal cases occur that we have +the best chance of learning how to produce them experimentally. It will +be seen that there have been various degrees of tension of thought on +the agent's part. + +And here comes in a small but important group--the group of what I may +call death-compacts prematurely fulfilled. We shall see in the next +chapter that the exchange of a solemn promise between two friends to +appear to one another, if possible, after death is far from being a +useless piece of sentiment. Such posthumous appearances, it is true, may +be in most cases impossible, but nevertheless there is real ground to +believe that the previous tension of the will in that direction makes it +more likely that the longed-for meeting shall be accomplished. If so, +this is a kind of _experiment_, and an experiment which all can make. + +Now we have two or three cases where this compact has been made, and +where an apparition has followed--but before and not after the agent's +death--at the moment, that is to say, of some dangerous accident, when +the sufferer was perhaps all but drowned, or was stunned, or otherwise +insensible.[125] + +Lastly, the lessons of these spontaneous apparitions have been confirmed +and widened by actual experiment. It is plain that just as we are not +confined to noting small spontaneous telepathic transferences when they +occur, but can also endeavour to reproduce them by experiment, so also +we can endeavour to reproduce experimentally these more advanced +telepathic phenomena of the invasion of the presence of the percipient +by the agent. It is to be hoped, indeed, that such experiment may become +one of the most important features of our inquiry. The type of the +experiment is somewhat as follows. The intending agent endeavours by an +effort at self-concentration, made either in waking hours or just before +sleep, to render himself perceptible to a given person at a distance, +who, of course, must have no reason to expect a phantasmal visit at that +hour. Independent records must be made on each side, of all attempts +made, and of all phantoms seen. The evidential point is, of course, the +coincidence between the _attempt_ and the _phantom_, whether or not the +agent can afterwards remember his own success.[126] + +Now the _experimental_ element here is obviously very incomplete. It +consists in little more than in a concentrated desire to produce an +effect which one can never explain, and seldom fully remember. I have +seen no evidence to show that any one can claim to be an adept in such +matters--has learned a method of thus appearing at will.[127] We are +acting in the dark. Yet nevertheless the mere fact that on some few +occasions this strong desire has actually been followed by a result of +this extremely interesting kind is one of the most encouraging phenomena +in our whole research. The successes indeed have borne a higher +proportion to the failures than I should have ventured to hope. But +nowhere is there more need of persistent and careful +experimentation;--nowhere, I may add, have emotions quite alien from +Science--mere groundless fears of seeing anything unusual--interfered +with more disastrous effect. Such fears, one hopes, will pass away, and +the friend's visible image will be recognised as a welcome proof of the +link that binds the two spirits together. + +The case which I quote in Appendix VI. F illustrates both the essential +harmlessness--nay, naturalness--of such an experiment, and the causeless +fear which it may engender even in rational and serious minds. + +In these experimental apparitions, which form, as it were, the _spolia +opima_ of the collector, we naturally wish to know all that we can about +each detail in the experience. Two important points are the _amount of +effort_ made by the experimenter, and the degree of his _consciousness +of success_. The amount of effort in Mr. S. H. B.'s case (for instance) +seems to have been great; and this is encouraging, since what we want is +to be assured that the tension of will has really some power. It seems +to act in much the same way as a therapeutic suggestion from the +conscious self; one can never make sure that any given self-suggestion +will "take"; but, on the whole, the stronger the self-suggestions, the +better the result. It is therefore quite in accordance with analogy that +a suggestion from without, given to a hypnotised person, should be the +most promising way of inducing these self-projections. It should be +strongly impressed on hypnotised subjects that they can and must +temporarily "leave the body," as they call it, and manifest themselves +to distant persons--the consent, of course, of both parties to the +experiment having been previously secured. + +Of this type were Dr. Backman's experiments with his subject +"Alma,"[128] and although that series of efforts was prematurely broken +off, it was full of promise. There were some slight indications that +Alma's clairvoyant excursions were sometimes perceptible to persons in +the scenes psychically invaded; and there was considerable and growing +evidence to her own retention in subsequent memory of some details of +those distant scenes. + +By all analogy, indeed, that subsequent memory should be an eminently +_educable_ thing. The carrying over of recollections from one stratum of +personality into another--as hypnotic experiment shows us--is largely a +matter of patient suggestion. It would be very desirable to hypnotise +the person who had succeeded in producing an experimental apparition, of +Mr. S. H. B.'s type, and to see if he could then recall the psychical +excursion. Hypnotic states should be far more carefully utilised in +connection with all these forms of self-projection. + +In these self-projections we have before us, I do not say the most +useful, but the most extraordinary achievement of the human will. What +can lie further outside any known capacity than the power to cause a +semblance of oneself to appear at a distance? What can be a more +_central_ action--more manifestly the outcome of whatsoever is deepest +and most unitary in man's whole being? Here, indeed, begins the +justification of the conception expressed at the beginning of this +chapter;--that we should now see the subliminal self no longer as a mere +chain of eddies or backwaters, in some way secluded from the main stream +of man's being, but rather as itself the central and potent current, the +most truly identifiable with the man himself. Other achievements have +their manifest limit; where is the limit here? The spirit has shown +itself in part dissociated from the organism; to what point may its +dissociation go? It has shown some independence, some intelligence, some +permanence. To what degree of intelligence, independence, permanence, +may it conceivably attain? Of all vital phenomena, I say, this is the +most significant; this self-projection is the one definite act which it +seems as though a man might perform equally well before and after bodily +death. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +PHANTASMS OF THE DEAD + + οὑκἑτι πρὁσω + ἁβἁταν ἁλα κιὁνων ὑπἑρ Ἡρακλἑος περἁν εὑμαρἑς. + ...θυμἑ, τἱνα πρὁς ἁλλοδαπἁν + ἁκραν ἑμὁν πλὁον παραμειβεαι; + + --PINDAR + + +The course of our argument has gradually conducted us to a point of +capital importance. A profound and central question, approached in +irregular fashion from time to time in previous chapters, must now be +directly faced. From the actions and perceptions of spirits still in the +flesh, and concerned with one another, we must pass on to inquire into +the actions of spirits no longer in the flesh, and into the forms of +perception with which men still in the flesh respond to that unfamiliar +and mysterious agency. + +There need, I hope, be no real break here in my previous line of +argument. The subliminal self, which we have already traced through +various phases of growing sensitivity, growing independence of organic +bonds, will now be studied as sensitive to yet remoter influences;--as +maintaining an independent existence even when the organism is +destroyed. Our subject will divide itself conveniently under three main +heads. _First_, it will be well to discuss briefly the nature of the +evidence to man's survival of death which may theoretically be +obtainable, and its possible connections with evidence set forth in +previous chapters. _Secondly_,--and this must form the bulk of the +present chapter,--we need a classified exposition of the main evidence +to survival thus far obtained;--so far, that is to say, as sensory +automatism--audition or apparition--is concerned; for motor +automatism--automatic writing and trance-utterance--must be left for +later discussion. _Thirdly_, there will be need of some consideration of +the meaning of this evidence as a whole, and of its implications alike +for the scientific and for the ethical future of mankind. Much more, +indeed, of discussion (as well as of evidence) than I can furnish will +be needed before this great conception can be realised or argued from +with the scientific thoroughness due to its position among fundamental +cosmical laws. Considering how familiar the notion--the vague shadowy +notion--of "immortality" has always been, it is strange indeed that so +little should have been done in these modern days to grasp or to +criticise it;--so little, one might almost say, since the _Phædo_ of +Plato. + +Beginning, then, with the inquiry as to what kind of evidence ought to +be demanded for human survival, we are met first by the bluff statement +which is still often uttered even by intelligent men, that _no_ evidence +would convince them of such a fact; "neither would they be persuaded +though one rose from the dead." + +Extravagant as such a profession sounds, it has a meaning which we shall +do well to note. These resolute antagonists mean that no new evidence +can carry conviction to them unless it be _continuous_ with old +evidence; and that they cannot conceive that evidence to a world of +spirit can possibly be continuous with evidence based upon our +experience of a world of matter. I agree with this demand for +continuity; and I agree also that the claims usually advanced for a +spiritual world have not only made no attempt at continuity with known +fact, but have even ostentatiously thrown such continuity to the winds. +The popular mind has expressly desired something startling, something +outside Law and above Nature. It has loved, if not a _Credo quia +absurdum_, at least a _Credo quia non probatum_. But the inevitable +retribution is a deep insecurity in the conviction thus attained. +Unsupported by the general fabric of knowledge, the act of faith seems +to shrink into the background as that great fabric stands and grows. + +I can hardly too often repeat that my object in these pages is of a +quite opposite character. Believing that all cognisable Mind is as +continuous as all cognisable Matter, my ideal would be to attempt for +the realm of mind what the spectroscope and the law of gravitation have +effected for the realm of matter, and to carry that known cosmic +uniformity of substance and interaction upwards among the essences and +operations of an unknown spiritual world. And in order to explore these +unreachable altitudes I would not ask to stand with the theologian on +the summit of a "cloud-capt tower," but rather on plain earth at the +measured base of a trigonometrical survey. + +If we would measure such a base, the jungle must be cleared to begin +with. Let us move for a while among first definitions; trying to make +clear to ourselves what kind of thing it is that we are endeavouring to +trace or discover. In popular parlance, we are looking out for _ghosts_. +What connotation, then, are we to give to the word "ghost"--a word +which has embodied so many unfounded theories and causeless fears? It +would be more satisfactory, in the present state of our knowledge, +simply to collect facts without offering speculative comment. But it +seems safer to begin by briefly pointing out the manifest errors of the +traditional view; since that tradition, if left unnoticed, would remain +lodged in the background even of many minds which have never really +accepted it. + +Briefly, then, the popular view regards a "ghost" as a _deceased person +permitted by Providence to hold communication with survivors_. And this +short definition contains, I think, at least three unwarrantable +assumptions. + +In the first place, such words as _permission_ and _Providence_ are +simply neither more nor less applicable to this phenomenon than to any +other. We conceive that all phenomena alike take place in accordance +with the laws of the universe, and consequently by permission of the +Supreme Power in the universe. Undoubtedly the phenomena with which we +are dealing are in this sense permitted to occur. But there is no _a +priori_ reason whatever for assuming that they are permitted in any +especial sense of their own, or that they form exceptions to law, +instead of being exemplifications of law. Nor is there any _a +posteriori_ reason for supposing any such inference to be deducible from +a study of the phenomena themselves. If we attempt to find in these +phenomena any poetical justice or manifest adaptation to human cravings, +we shall be just as much disappointed as if we endeavoured to find a +similar satisfaction in the ordinary course of terrene history. + +In the second place, we have no warrant for the assumption that the +phantom seen, even though it be somehow _caused_ by a deceased person, +_is_ that deceased person, in any ordinary sense of the word. Instead of +appealing to the crude analogy of the living friend who, when he has +walked into the room, _is_ in the room, we shall find for the ghost a +much closer parallel in those hallucinatory figures or phantasms which +living persons can sometimes project at a distance. + +But experience shows that when--as with these _post-mortem_ +phantoms--the deceased person has gone well out of sight or reach there +is a tendency, so to say, to _anthropomorphose_ the apparition; to +suppose that, as the deceased person is not provably anywhere else, he +is probably here; and that the apparition is bound to behave +accordingly. All such assumptions must be dismissed, and the phantom +must be taken on its merits, as indicating merely a certain connection +with the deceased, the precise nature of that connection being a part of +the problem to be solved. + +And in the third place, just as we must cease to say that the phantom +_is_ the deceased, so also must we cease to ascribe to the phantom the +motives by which we imagine that the deceased might be swayed. We must +therefore exclude from our definition of a ghost any words which assume +its intention to communicate with the living. It may bear such a +relation to the deceased that it can reflect or represent his presumed +wish to communicate, or it may not. If, for instance, its relation to +his _post-mortem_ life be like the relation of my dreams to my earthly +life, it may represent little that is truly his, save such vague +memories and instincts as give a dim individuality to each man's trivial +dreams. + +Let us attempt, then, a truer definition. Instead of describing a +"ghost" as a dead person permitted to communicate with the living, let +us define it as _a manifestation of persistent personal energy_, or as +an indication that some kind of force is being exercised after death +which is in some way connected with a person previously known on earth. +In this definition we have eliminated, as will be seen, a great mass of +popular assumptions. Yet we must introduce a further proviso, lest our +definition still seem to imply an assumption which we have no right to +make. It is theoretically possible that this force or influence, which +after a man's death creates a phantasmal impression of him, may indicate +no continuing action on his part, but may be some residue of the force +or energy which he generated while yet alive. There may be _veridical +after-images_--such as Gurney hints at (_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. v. p. +417) when in his comments on the recurring figure of an old woman--seen +on the bed where she was murdered--he remarks that this figure suggests +not so much "any continuing local interest on the part of the deceased +person, as the survival of a mere image, impressed, we cannot guess how, +on we cannot guess what, by that person's physical organism, and +perceptible at times to those endowed with some cognate form of +sensitiveness." + +Strange as this notion may seem, it is strongly suggested by many of the +cases of _haunting_ which do not fall within the scope of the present +chapter. We shall presently find that there is strong evidence for the +recurrence of the same hallucinatory figures in the same localities, but +weak evidence to indicate any purpose in most of these figures, or any +connection with bygone individuals, or with such tragedies as are +popularly supposed to start a ghost on its career. In some of these +cases of frequent, meaningless recurrence of a figure in a given spot, +we are driven to wonder whether it can be some deceased person's past +frequentation of that spot, rather than any fresh action of his after +death, which has generated what I have termed the veridical +after-image--veridical in the sense that it communicates information, +previously unknown to the percipient, as to a former inhabitant of the +haunted locality. + +Such are some of the questions which our evidence suggests. And I may +point out that the very fact that such bizarre problems should present +themselves at every turn does in a certain sense tend to show that these +apparitions are not purely subjective things,--do not originate merely +in the percipient's imagination. For they are not like what any man +would have imagined. What man's mind does tend to fancy on such topics +may be seen in the endless crop of fictitious ghost stories, which +furnish, indeed, a curious proof of the persistence of preconceived +notions. For they go on being framed according to canons of their own, +and deal with a set of imaginary phenomena quite different from those +which actually occur. The actual phenomena, I may add, could scarcely be +made romantic. One true "ghost story" is apt to be very like another, +and most of them to be fragmentary and apparently meaningless. Their +meaning, that is to say, lies in their conformity, not to the +mythopœic instinct of mankind, which fabricates and enjoys the +fictitious tales, but to some unknown law, not based on human sentiment +or convenience at all. + +And thus, absurdly enough, we sometimes hear men ridicule the phenomena +which actually do happen, simply because those phenomena do not suit +their preconceived notions of what ghostly phenomena ought to be;--not +perceiving that this very divergence, this very unexpectedness, is in +itself no slight indication of an origin _outside_ the minds which +obviously were so far from anticipating anything of the kind. + +And in fact the very qualities which are most apt to raise derision are +such as the evidence set forth in the earlier chapters of this work +might reasonably lead us to expect. For I hold that now for the first +time can we form a conception of ghostly communications which shall in +any way consist or cohere with more established conceptions; which can +be presented as in any way a development of facts which are already +experimentally known. Two preliminary conceptions were +needed--conceptions in one sense ancient enough; but yet the first of +which has only in this generation found its place in science, while the +second is as yet awaiting its brevet of orthodoxy. The first conception +is that with which hypnotism and various automatisms have familiarised +us,--the conception of multiplex personality, of the potential +coexistence of many states and many memories in the same individual. The +second is the conception of telepathy; of the action of mind on mind +apart from the ordinary organs of sense; and especially of its action by +means of hallucinations; by the generation of veridical phantasms which +form, as it were, messages from men still in the flesh. And I believe +that these two conceptions are in this way connected, that the +telepathic message generally starts from, and generally impinges upon, a +subconscious or submerged stratum in both agent and percipient.[129] +Wherever there is hallucination, whether delusive or veridical, I hold +that a message of some sort is forcing its way upwards from one stratum +of personality to another,--a message which may be merely dreamlike and +incoherent, or which may symbolise a fact otherwise unreachable by the +percipient personality. And the mechanism seems much the same whether +the message's path be continued within one individual or pass between +two; whether A's own submerged self be signalling to his emergent self, +or B be telepathically stimulating the hidden fountains of perception in +A. If anything like this be true, it seems plainly needful that all that +we know of abnormal or supernormal communications between minds, or +states of the same mind, still embodied in flesh, should be searched for +analogies which may throw light on this strangest mode of intercourse +between embodied and disembodied minds. + +A communication (if such a thing exists) from a departed person to a +person still on earth is, at any rate, a communication from a mind in +one state of existence to a mind in a very different state of existence. +And it is, moreover, a communication from one mind to another which +passes through some channel other than the ordinary channels of sense, +since on one side of the gulf no material sense-organs exist. It will +apparently be an extreme instance of both these classes--of +communications between state and state,[130] and of telepathic +communications; and we ought, therefore, to approach it by considering +the less advanced cases of both these types. + +On what occasions do we commonly find a mind conversing with another +mind not on the same plane with itself?--with a mind inhabiting in some +sense a different world, and viewing the environment with a difference +of outlook greater than the mere difference of character of the two +personages will account for? + +The first instance of this sort which will occur to us lies in +spontaneous somnambulism, or colloquy between a person asleep and a +person awake. And observe here how slight an accident allows us to +enter into converse with a state which at first sight seems a type of +incommunicable isolation. "Awake, we share our world," runs the old +saying, "but each dreamer inhabits a world of his own." Yet the dreamer, +apparently so self-enclosed, may be gently led, or will spontaneously +enter, into converse with waking men. + +The somnambulist, or rather the somniloquist--for it is the talking +rather than the walking which is the gist of the matter--is thus our +first natural type of the _revenant_. + +And observing the habits of somnambulists, we note that the degree in +which they can communicate with other minds varies greatly in different +cases. One sleep-waker will go about his customary avocations without +recognising the presence of any other person whatever; another will +recognise certain persons only, or will answer when addressed, but only +on certain subjects, his mind coming into contact with other minds only +on a very few points. Rarely or never will a somnambulist spontaneously +notice what other persons are doing, and adapt his own actions thereto. + +Next let us turn from natural to induced sleep-waking, from idiopathic +somnambulism to the hypnotic trance. Here, too, throughout the different +stages of the trance, we find a varying and partial (or elective) power +of communication. Sometimes the entranced subject makes no sign +whatever; sometimes he seems able to hear and answer one person, or +certain persons, and not others; sometimes he will talk freely to all; +but, however freely he may talk, he is not exactly his waking self, and +as a rule he has no recollection, or a very imperfect recollection, in +waking life of what he has said or done in his trance. + +Judging, then, from such analogy as communications from one living state +to another can suggest to us, we shall expect that the communication of +a disembodied or discarnate person with an incarnate, if such exist, +will be subject to narrow limitations, and very possibly will not form a +part of the main current of the supposed discarnate consciousness. + +These preliminary considerations are applicable to any kind of alleged +communication from the departed--whether well or ill evidenced; whether +conveyed in sensory or in motor form. + +Let us next consider what types of communication from the dead our +existing evidence of communications among the living suggests to us as +analogically possible. It appears to me that there is an important +parallelism running through each class of our experiments in automatism +and each class of our spontaneous phenomena. Roughly speaking, we may +say that our experiment and observation up to this point have comprised +five different stages of phenomena, viz., (I.) hypnotic suggestion; +(II.) telepathic experiments; (III.) spontaneous telepathy during life; +(IV.) phantasms at death; (V.) phantasms after death. And we find, I +think, that the same types of communication meet us at each stage; so +that this recurrent similarity of types raises a presumption that the +underlying mechanism of manifestation at each stage may be in some way +similar. + +Again using a mere rough form of division, we shall find three main +forms of manifestation at each stage: (1) hallucinations of the senses; +(2) emotional and motor impulses; (3) definite intellectual messages. + +(I.) And first let us start from a class of experiments into which +telepathy does not enter, but which exhibit in its simplest form the +mechanism of the automatic transfer of messages from one stratum to +another of the same personality. I speak, of course, of post-hypnotic +suggestions. Here the agent is a living man, operating in an ordinary +way, by direct speech. The unusual feature lies in the condition of the +percipient, who is hypnotised at the time, and is thus undergoing a kind +of dislocation of personality, or temporary upheaval of a habitually +subjacent stratum of the self. This hypnotic personality, being for the +time at the surface, receives the agent's verbal suggestion, of which +the percipient's waking self is unaware. Then afterwards, when the +waking self has resumed its usual upper position, the hypnotic self +carries out at the stated time the given suggestion,--an act whose +origin the upper stratum of consciousness does not know, but which is in +effect a message communicated to the upper stratum from the now +submerged or subconscious stratum on which the suggestion was originally +impressed. + +And this message may take any one of the three leading forms mentioned +above;--say a hallucinatory image of the hypnotiser or of some other +person; or an impulse to perform some action; or a definite word or +sentence to be written automatically by the waking self, which thus +learns what order has been laid upon the hypnotic self while the waking +consciousness was in abeyance. + +(II.) Now turn to our experiments in thought-transference. Here again +the agent is a living man; but he is no longer operating by ordinary +means,--by spoken words or visible gestures. He is operating on the +percipient's subconscious self by means of a telepathic impulse, which +he desires, indeed, to project from himself, and which the percipient +may desire to receive, but of whose _modus operandi_ the ordinary waking +selves of agent and percipient alike are entirely unaware. + +Here again we may divide the messages sent into the same three main +classes. First come the hallucinatory figures--always or almost always +of himself--which the agent causes the percipient to see. Secondly come +impulses to act, telepathically impressed; as when the hypnotiser +desires his subject to come to him at an hour not previously notified. +And thirdly, we have a parallel to the post-hypnotic writing of definite +words or figures in our own experiments on the direct telepathic +transmission of words, figures, cards, etc., from the agent, using no +normal means of communication, to the percipient, either in the +hypnotised or in the waking state. + +(III.) We come next to the spontaneous phantasms occurring during life. +Here we find the same three broad classes of messages, with this +difference, that the actual apparitions, which in our telepathic +experimentation are thus far unfortunately rare, become now the most +important class. I need not recall the instances given in Chapters IV. +and VI., etc., where an agent undergoing some sudden crisis seems in +some way to generate an apparition of himself seen by a distant +percipient. Important also in this connection are those apparitions of +the _double_, where some one agent is seen repeatedly in phantasmal form +by different percipients at times when that agent is undergoing no +special crisis. + +Again, among our telepathic impressions generated (spontaneously, not +experimentally) by living agents, we have cases, which I need not here +recapitulate, of pervading sensations of distress; or impulses to return +home, which are parallel to the hypnotised subject's impulse to approach +his distant hypnotiser, at a moment when that hypnotiser is willing him +to do so. + +And thirdly, among these telepathic communications from the living to +the living, we have definite sentences automatically written, +communicating facts which the distant person knows, but is not +consciously endeavouring to transmit. + +(IV.) Passing on to phantasms which cluster about the moment of death, +we find our three main classes of cases still meeting us. Our readers +are familiar with the _visual_ cases, where there is an actual +apparition of the dying man, seen by one or more persons; and also with +the _emotional and motor_ cases, where the impression, although +powerful, is not definitely sensory in character. And various cases also +have been published where the message has consisted of definite words, +not always externalised as an auditory hallucination, but sometimes +automatically _uttered_ or automatically _written_ by the percipient +himself, as in the case communicated by Dr. Liébeault (see Appendix +VIII. C), where a girl writes the message announcing her friend's death +at the time when that friend is, in fact, dying in a distant city. + +(V.) And now I maintain that in these post-mortem cases also we find the +same general classes persisting, and in somewhat the same proportion. +Most conspicuous are the actual _apparitions_, with which, indeed, the +following pages will mainly deal. It is very rare to find an apparition +which seems to impart any verbal message; but a case of this kind has +been given in Appendix IV. F. As a rule, however, the apparition is of +the apparently automatic, purposeless character, already so fully +described. We have also the _emotional and motor_ class of post-mortem +cases;[131] and these may, perhaps, be more numerous in proportion than +our collection would indicate; for it is obvious that impressions which +are so much less definite than a visual hallucination (although they may +be even more impressive to the percipient himself) can rarely be used as +evidence of communication with the departed. + +But now I wish to point out that, besides these two classes of +post-mortem manifestations, we have our _third_ class also still +persisting; we have definite verbal messages which at least purport, and +sometimes, I think, with strong probability, to come from the departed. + +I have, indeed, for the reader's convenience, postponed these motor +cases to a subsequent chapter, so that the evidence here and now +presented for survival will be very incomplete. Yet, at any rate, we are +gradually getting before us a fairly definite task. We have in this +chapter to record and analyse such sensory experiences of living men as +seem referable to the action of some human individuality persisting +after death. We have also obtained some preliminary notion as to the +kind of phenomena for which we can hope, especially as to what their +probable limitations must be, considering how great a gulf between +psychical states any communication must overpass. + +Let us now press the actual evidential question somewhat closer. Let us +consider, for it is by no means evident at first sight, what conditions +a visual or auditory phantasm is bound to fulfil before it can be +regarded as indicating _primâ facie_ the influence of a discarnate mind. +The discussion may be best introduced by quoting the words in which +Edmund Gurney opened it in 1888.[132] The main evidential lines as there +laid down retain their validity, although the years which have since +passed have greatly augmented the testimony, and in so doing have +illustrated yet other tests of true post-mortem communication,--to which +we shall presently come. + + "It is evident that in alleged cases of apparitions of the dead, + the point which we have held to distinguish certain apparitions of + _living_ persons from purely subjective hallucinations is + necessarily lacking. That point is _coincidence_ between the + apparition and some critical or exceptional condition of the person + who seems to appear; but with regard to the dead, we have no + independent knowledge of their condition, and therefore never have + the opportunity of observing any such coincidences. + + "There remain three, and I think only three, conditions which might + establish a presumption that an apparition or other immediate + manifestation of a dead person is something more than a mere + subjective hallucination of the percipient's senses. Either (1) + more persons than one might be independently affected by the + phenomenon; or (2) the phantasm might convey information, + afterwards discovered to be true, of something which the percipient + had never known; or (3) the appearance might be that of a person + whom the percipient himself had never seen, and of whose aspect he + was ignorant, and yet his description of it might be sufficiently + definite for identification. But though one or more of these + conditions would have to be fully satisfied before we could be + convinced that any particular apparition of the dead had some cause + external to the percipient's own mind, there is one more general + characteristic of the class which is sufficiently suggestive of + such a cause to be worth considering. I mean the disproportionate + number of cases which occur _shortly after_ the death of the person + represented. Such a time-relation, if frequently enough + encountered, might enable us to argue for the objective origin of + the phenomenon in a manner analogous to that which leads us to + conclude that many phantasms of the living have an objective (a + telepathic) origin. For, according to the doctrines of + probabilities, a hallucination representing a known person would + not _by chance_ present a definite time-relation to a special + cognate event--viz., the death of that person--in more than a + certain percentage of the whole number of similar hallucinations + that occur; and if that percentage is decidedly exceeded, there is + reason to surmise that some other cause than chance--in other + words, some objective origin for the phantasm--is present." + +But on the other hand, a phantasm representing a person whose death is +recent is specially likely to arouse interest and, in cases where the +death is previously known to the percipient, his emotional state may be +considered a sufficient cause of the hallucination. + + "If, then," Gurney continues, "we are to draw any probable + conclusion as to the objective nature of _post-mortem_ appearances + and communications (or of some of them) from the fact of their + special frequency soon after death, we must confine ourselves to + cases where the fact of death has been unknown to the percipient at + the time of his experience. Now, in these days of letters and + telegrams, people for the most part hear of the deaths of friends + and relatives within a very few days, sometimes within a very few + hours, after the death occurs; so that appearances of the sort + required would, as a rule, have to follow very closely indeed on + the death. Have we evidence of any considerable number of such + cases? + + "Readers of _Phantasms of the Living_ will know that we have. In a + number of cases which were treated in that book as examples of + telepathic transference from a dying person, the person was + actually dead at the time that the percipient's experience + occurred; and the inclusion of such cases under the title of + _Phantasms of the Living_ naturally occasioned a certain amount of + adverse criticism. Their inclusion, it will be remembered, required + an assumption which cannot by any means be regarded as certain. We + had to suppose that the telepathic transfer took place just before, + or exactly at, the moment of death; but that the impression + remained latent in the percipient's mind, and only after an + interval emerged into his consciousness, whether as waking vision + or as dream or in some other form. Now, as a provisional + hypothesis, I think that this assumption was justified. For in the + first place, the moment of death is, in time, the central point of + a cluster of abnormal experiences occurring to percipients at a + distance, of which some _precede_, while others follow, the death; + it is natural, therefore, to surmise that the same explanation will + cover the whole group, and that the motive force in each of its + divisions lies in a state of the 'agent' prior to bodily death. In + the second place, some of the facts of experimental + thought-transference countenance the view that 'transferred + impressions' may be latent for a time before the recipient becomes + aware of them; and recent discoveries with respect to the whole + subject of automatism and 'secondary intelligence' make it seem far + less improbable than it would otherwise have seemed that telepathy + may take effect first on the 'unconscious' part of the mind.[133] + And in the third place, the period of supposed latency has in a + good many instances been a period when the person affected was in + activity, and when his mind and senses were being solicited by + other things; and in such cases it is specially easy to suppose + that the telepathic impression did not get the right conditions for + rising into consciousness until a season of silence and + _recueillement_ arrived.[134] But though the theory of latency has + thus a good deal to be said for it, my colleagues and I are most + anxious not to be supposed to be putting forward as a dogma what + must be regarded at present merely as a working hypothesis. + Psychical research is of all subjects the one where it is most + important to avoid this error, and to keep the mind open for new + interpretations of the facts. And in the present instance there are + certain definite objections which may fairly be made to the + hypothesis that a telepathic impression derived from a dying person + may emerge after hours of latency. The experimental cases to which + I have referred as analogous are few and uncertain, and, moreover, + in them the period of latency has been measured by seconds or + minutes, not by hours. And though, as I have said, some of the + instances of apparent delay among the death-cases might be + accounted for by the fact that the percipient's mind or senses + needed to be withdrawn from other occupations before the + manifestation could take place, there are other instances where + this is not so, and where no ground at all appears for connecting + the delay with the percipient's condition. On the whole, then, the + alternative hypothesis--that the condition of the phenomenon on the + 'agent's' side (be it psychical or be it physical) is one which + only comes into existence at a distinct interval after death, and + that the percipient really is impressed at the moment, and not + before the moment, when he is conscious of the impression--is one + which must be steadily kept in view. + + "So far I have been speaking of cases where the interval between + the death and the manifestation was so short as to make the theory + of latency possible. The rule adopted in _Phantasms of the Living_ + was that this interval must not exceed twelve hours. But we have + records of a few cases where this interval has been greatly + exceeded, and yet where the fact of the death was still unknown to + the percipient at the time of his experience. The theory of latency + cannot reasonably be applied to cases where weeks or months divide + the vision (or whatever it may be) from the moment of death, which + is the latest at which an ordinary[135] telepathically transferred + idea could have obtained access to the percipient. And the + existence of such cases--so far as it tends to establish the + reality of objectively-caused apparitions of the dead--diminishes + the objection to conceiving that the appearances, etc., which have + very shortly _followed_ death have had a different causation from + those which have coincided with or very shortly _preceded_ it. For + we shall not be inventing a wholly new class for the former cases, + but only provisionally shifting them from one class to another--to + a much smaller and much less well-evidenced class, it is true, but + one nevertheless for which we have evidence enough to justify us in + expecting more." + +This, as I conceive, is a sound method of proceeding from ground made +secure in _Phantasms of the Living_--and traversed in my own just +previous chapter--to cases closely analogous, save for that little +difference in _time-relations_, that occurrence in the hours which +follow, instead of the hours which precede, bodily dissolution, which +counts for so much in our insight into cosmic law.[136] + +The hypothesis of _latency_ which thus meets us _in limine_ in this +inquiry will soon be found inadequate to cover the facts. Yet it will be +well to dwell somewhat more fully upon its possible range. + +If we examine the proportionate number of apparitions observed at +various periods before and after death, we find that they increase very +rapidly for the few hours which precede death, and decrease gradually +during the hours and days which follow, until after about a year's time +they become merely sporadic. + +Yet one more point must be touched on, to avoid misconception of the +phrase cited above, that "the moment of death is the centre of a cluster +of abnormal experiences, of which some precede, while others follow, the +death." Gurney, of course, did not mean to assume that the act of death +itself was the cause of all these experiences. Those which occur before +death may be caused or conditioned, not by the death itself, but by the +abnormal state, as of coma, delirium, etc., which preceded the death. +This we say because we have many instances where veridical phantasms +have coincided with moments of _crisis_--carriage-accidents and the +like--occurring to distant agents, but not followed by death. +Accordingly we find that in almost all cases where a phantasm, +apparently veridical, has _preceded_ the agent's death, that death was +the result of disease and not of accident. To this rule there are very +few exceptions. There is a case given in _Phantasms of the Living_ (vol. +ii. p. 52), where the phantasm seems on the evidence to have preceded by +about half an hour (longitude allowed for) a sudden death by drowning. +In this case the percipient was in a Norfolk farmhouse, the drowning +man--or agent--was in a storm off the island of Tristan d'Acunha; and we +have suggested that an error of clocks or of observation may account for +the discrepancy. In another case the death was in a sense a violent one, +for it was a suicide; but the morbidly excited state of the girl a few +hours before death--when her phantasm was seen--was in itself a state +of crisis. But there are also a few recorded cases (none of which were +cited in _Phantasms of the Living_) where a phantasm or double of some +person has been observed some days previous to that person's accidental +death. The evidence obtained in the Census of Hallucinations, however, +tended to show that cases of this sort are too few to suggest even +_primâ facie_ a causal connection between the death and the apparition +(see _Proceedings_ S.P.R. vol. x. p. 331). + +I now proceed briefly to review some of the cases where the interval +between death and phantasm has been measurable by minutes or hours. + +It is not easy to get definite cases where the interval has been +measurable by _minutes_; for if the percipient is at a distance from the +agent we can seldom be sure that the clocks at both places have been +correct, and correctly observed; while if he is _present_ with the agent +we can rarely be sure that the phantasm observed is more than a mere +subjective hallucination. Thus we have several accounts of a rushing +sound heard by the watcher of a dying man just after his apparent death, +or of some kind of luminosity observed near his person; but this is just +the moment when we may suppose some subjective hallucination likely to +occur, and if one person's senses alone are affected we cannot allow +much evidential weight to the occurrence.[137] + +There are some circumstances, however, in which, in spite of the fact +that the death is already known, a hallucination occurring shortly +afterwards may have some slight evidential value. Thus we have a case +where a lady who knew that her sister had died a few hours previously, +but who was not herself in any morbidly excited condition, seemed to see +some one enter her own dining-room, opening and shutting the door. The +percipient (who had never had any other hallucination) was much +astonished when she found no one in the dining-room; but it did not till +some time afterwards occur to her that the incident could be in any way +connected with her recent loss. This reminds us of a case (ii. p. +694[138]) where the Rev. R. M. Hill sees a tall figure rush into the +room, which alarms and surprises him, then vanishes before he has time +to recognise it. An uncle, a tall man, dies about that moment, and it is +remarked that although Mr. Hill knew his uncle to be ill, the anxiety +which he may have felt would hardly have given rise to an unrecognised +and formidable apparition. + +There are cases also where a percipient who has had an apparition of a +friend shortly after that friend's known death has had _veridical_ +hallucinations at other times, and has never had any hallucination of +purely subjective origin. Such a percipient may naturally suppose that +his apparition of the departed friend possessed the same veridical +character which was common to the rest, although it was not _per se_ +evidential, since the fact of the death was already known. + +For the present, however, it will be better to return to the cases which +are free from this important _primâ facie_ drawback--cases where the +percipient was, at any rate, unaware that the death, which the phantasm +seemed to indicate, had in fact taken place. + +In the first place, there are a few cases where a percipient is informed +of a death by a veridical phantasm, and then some hours afterwards a +similar phantasm differing perhaps in detail, recurs. + +Such was the case of Archdeacon Farler (i. p. 414), who _twice_ during +one night saw the dripping figure of a friend who, as it turned out, had +been drowned during the previous day. Even the first appearance was +several hours after the death, but this we might explain by the latency +of the impression till a season of quiet. The second appearance may have +been a kind of recrudescence of the first; but if the theory of latency +be discarded, so that the _first_ appearance (if more than a mere chance +coincidence) is held to depend upon some energy excited by the deceased +person after death, it would afford some ground for regarding the +_second_ appearance as also veridical. The figure in this case was once +more seen a fortnight later, and on this occasion, as Archdeacon Farler +informs me, in ordinary garb, with no special trace of accident. + +A similar repetition occurs in seven other cases recorded in _Phantasms +of the Living_.[139] + +Turning now to the cases where the phantasm is not repeated, but occurs +some hours after death, let us take a few narratives where the interval +of time is pretty certain, and consider how far the hypothesis of +_latency_ looks probable in each instance. + +Where there is no actual hallucination, but only a feeling of unique +_malaise_ or distress following at a few hours' interval on a friend's +death at a distance, as in Archdeacon Wilson's case (i. p. 280), it is +very hard to picture to ourselves what has taken place. Some injurious +shock communicated to the percipient's brain at the moment of the +agent's death may conceivably have slowly worked itself into +consciousness. The delay may have been due, so to say, to physiological +rather than to psychical causes. + +Next take a case like that of Mrs. Wheatcroft (i. p. 420), or of Mrs. +Evens (ii. p. 690), or Sister Bertha (quoted below in Appendix VII. F), +where a definite hallucination of sight or sound occurs some hours after +the death, but in the middle of the night. It is in a case of this sort +that we can most readily suppose that a "telepathic impact" received +during the day has lain dormant until other excitations were hushed, and +has externalised itself as a hallucination after the first sleep, just +as when we wake from a first sleep some subject of interest or anxiety, +which has been thrust out of our thoughts during the day, will often +well upwards into consciousness with quite a new distinctness and force. +But on the other hand, in the case (for instance) of Mrs. Teale (ii. p. +693), there is a deferment of some eight hours, and then the +hallucination occurs while the percipient is sitting wide awake in the +middle of her family. And in one of the most remarkable dream-cases in +our collection (given in Chapter IV.), Mrs. Storie's experience does not +resemble the mere emergence of a latent impression. It is long and +complex, and suggests some sort of clairvoyance; but if it be +"telepathic clairvoyance," that is, a picture transferred from the +decedent's mind, then it almost requires us to suppose that a +_post-mortem_ picture was thus transferred, a view of the accident and +its consequences _fuller_ than any which could have flashed through the +dying man's mind during his moment of sudden and violent death from "the +striking off of the top of the skull" by a railway train. + +If once we assume that the deceased person's mind could continue to act +on living persons after his bodily death, then the confused horror of +the series of pictures which were presented to Mrs. Storie's +view--mixed, it should be said, with an element of _fresh departure_ +which there was nothing in the accident itself to suggest--would +correspond well enough to what one can imagine a man's feelings a few +hours after such a death to be. This is trespassing, no doubt, on +hazardous ground; but if once we admit communication from the other side +of death as a working hypothesis, we must allow ourselves to imagine +something as to the attitude of the communicating mind, and the least +violent supposition will be that that mind is still in part at least +occupied with the same thoughts which last occupied it on earth. It is +possible that there may be some interpretation of this kind for some of +the cases where a funeral scene, or a dead body, is what the phantasm +presents. There is a remarkable case (i. p. 265) [§ 664] where a lady +sees the body of a well-known London physician--about ten hours after +death--lying in a bare unfurnished room (a cottage hospital abroad). +Here the description, as we have it, would certainly fit best with some +kind of telepathic clairvoyance prolonged after death--some power on the +deceased person's part to cause the percipient to share the picture +which might at that moment be occupying his own mind. + +It will be seen that these phenomena are not of so simple a type as to +admit of our considering them from the point of view of _time-relations_ +alone. Whatever else, indeed, a "ghost" may be, it is probably one of +the most complex phenomena in nature. It is a function of two unknown +variables--the incarnate spirit's sensitivity and the discarnate +spirit's capacity of self-manifestation. Our attempt, therefore, to +study such intercourse may begin at either end of the +communication--with the percipient or with the agent. We shall have to +ask, How does the incarnate mind receive the message? and we shall have +to ask also, How does the discarnate mind originate and convey it? + +Now it is by pressing the _former_ of these two questions that we have, +I think, the best chance at present of gaining fresh light. So long as +we are considering the incarnate mind we are, to some extent at least, +on known ground; and we may hope to discern analogies in some other +among that mind's operations to that possibly most perplexing of all its +operations, which consists in taking cognisance of messages from +unembodied minds, and from an unseen world. I think, therefore, that +"the surest way, though most about," as Bacon would say, to the +comprehension of this sudden and startling phenomenon lies in the study +of other rare mental phenomena which can be observed more at leisure, +just as "the surest way, though most about," to the comprehension of +some blazing inaccessible star has lain in the patient study of the +spectra of the incandescence of terrestrial substances which lie about +our feet. I am in hopes that by the study of various forms of subliminal +consciousness, subliminal faculty, subliminal perception, we may +ultimately obtain a conception of our own total being and operation +which may show us the incarnate mind's perception of the discarnate +mind's message as no isolated anomaly, but an orderly exercise of +natural and innate powers, frequently observed in action in somewhat +similar ways. + +It is, I say, from this human or terrene side that I should prefer, were +it possible, to study in the first instance all our cases. Could we not +only share but interpret the percipient's subjective feelings, could we +compare those feelings with the feelings evoked by ordinary vision or +telepathy among living men, we might get at a more intimate knowledge of +what is happening than any observation from outside of the details of an +apparition can supply. But this, of course, is not possible in any +systematic way; occasional glimpses, inferences, comparisons, are all +that we can attain to as yet. On the other hand, it is comparatively +easy to arrange the whole group of our cases in some series depending on +their observed external character and details. They can, indeed, be +arranged in more than one series of this kind--the difficulty is in +selecting the most instructive. That which I shall here select is in +some points arbitrary, but it has the advantage of bringing out the wide +range of variation in the clearness and content of these apparitional +communications, here arranged mainly in a descending series, beginning +with those cases where fullest knowledge or purpose is shown, and ending +with those where the indication of intelligence becomes feeblest, dying +away at last into vague sounds and sights without recognisable +significance. + +But I shall begin by referring to a small group of cases,[140] which I +admit to be anomalous and non-evidential--for we cannot prove that they +were more than subjective experiences--yet which certainly should not be +lost, filling as they do, in all their grotesqueness, a niche in our +series otherwise as yet vacant. If man's spirit is separated at death +from his organism, there must needs be cases where that separation, +although apparently, is not really complete. There must be subjective +sensations corresponding to the objective external facts of apparent +death and subsequent resuscitation. Nor need it surprise those who may +have followed my general argument, if those subjective sensations should +prove to be dreamlike and fantastic. Here, as so often in our inquiries, +the very oddity and unexpectedness of the details--the absence of that +solemnity which one would think the dying man's own mind would have +infused into the occasion--may point to the existence of some reality +beneath the grotesque symbolism of the transitional dream. + +The transitional dream, I call it, for it seems to me not +improbable--remote though such a view may be from current notions--that +the passage from one state to another may sometimes be accompanied with +some temporary lack of adjustment between experiences taking place in +such different environments--between the systems of symbolism belonging +to the one and to the other state. But the reason why I refer to the +cases in this place is that here we have perhaps our nearest possible +approach to the sensations of the spirit which is endeavouring to +manifest itself;--an inside view of a would-be apparition. The +narratives suggest, moreover, that spirits recently freed from the body +may enjoy a fuller perception of earthly scenes than it is afterwards +possible to retain, and that thus the predominance of apparitions of the +_recently_ dead may be to some extent explained. + +We have, indeed, very few cases where actual apparitions give evidence +of any _continuity_ in the knowledge possessed by a spirit of friends on +earth. Such evidence is, naturally enough, more often furnished by +automatic script or utterance. But there is one case (which I give in +Appendix VII. A) where a spirit is recorded as appearing repeatedly--in +guardian-angel fashion--and especially as foreseeing and sympathising +with the survivor's future marriage. + +Among repeated apparitions this case at present stands almost alone; its +parallels will be found when we come to deal with the persistent +"controls," or alleged communicating spirits, which influence +trance-utterance or automatic script. A case bearing some resemblance to +it, however, is given in _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. viii. p. 233, the +main difference being that the repeated communications are there made in +_dream_, and in _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. v. p. 450, [714 A], is +recorded another case, where the deceased person seems to make repeated +efforts to impress on survivors a wish prompted by continued affection. + +Less uncommon are the cases where an apparition, occurring singly and +not repeated, indicates a continued knowledge of the affairs of earth. +That knowledge, indeed, runs mainly, as we shall presently see, in two +directions. There is often knowledge of some circumstance connected with +the deceased person's own death, as the appearance of his body after +dissolution, or the place of its temporary deposit or final burial. And +there is often knowledge of the impending or actual death of some friend +of the deceased person's. On the view here taken of the gradual passage +from the one environment into the other, both these kinds of knowledge +seem probable enough. I think it likely that some part of the +consciousness after death may for some time be dreamily occupied with +the physical scene. And similarly, when some surviving friend is +gradually verging towards the same dissolution, the fact may be readily +perceptible in the spiritual world. When the friend has actually died, +the knowledge which his predecessor may have of his transition is +knowledge appertaining to events of the next world as much as of this. + +But apart from this information, acquired perhaps on the borderland +between two states, apparitions do sometimes imply a perception of more +definitely terrene events, such as the moral crises (as marriage, grave +quarrels, or impending crimes) of friends left behind on earth. In +_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. vi. p. 25 [716 A], is a case of impressive +warning, in which the phantom was seen by two persons, one of whom had +already had a less evidential experience. + +In another case of similar type,[141] the message, while felt by the +percipient to be convincing and satisfactory, was held too private to be +communicated in detail. It is plain that just in the cases where the +message is most ultimately veracious, the greatest difficulty is likely +to be felt as to making it known to strangers. + +I have already given a case (Appendix VII. A) where a departed spirit +seems to show a sympathetic anticipation of a marriage some time before +it is contemplated. In another case (_Journal_ S.P.R., vol v. p. 10), +the percipient, Mrs. V., describes a vision of a mother's form +suspended, as it were, in a church where her son is undergoing the rite +of confirmation. That vision, indeed, might have been purely subjective, +as Mrs. V. was familiar with the departed mother's aspect; though value +is given to it by the fact that Mrs. V. has had other experiences which +included evidential coincidences. + +From these instances of knowledge shown by the departed of events which +seem wholly terrene, I pass to knowledge of events which seem in some +sense more nearly concerned with the spirit-world. We have, as already +hinted, a considerable group of cases where a spirit seems to be aware +of the _impending death_ of a survivor.[142] In some few of those cases +the foreknowledge is entirely inexplicable by any such foresight as we +mortals can imagine, but in the case given in Appendix VII. B, though +the family did not foresee the death, a physician might, for aught we +know, have been able to anticipate it. However explained, the case is +one of the best-attested, and in itself one of the most remarkable, that +we possess. + +I place next by themselves a small group of cases which have the +interest of uniting the group just recounted, where the spirit +anticipates the friend's departure, with the group next to be +considered, where the spirit welcomes the friend already departed from +earth. This class forms at the same time a natural extension of the +clairvoyance of the dying exemplified in some "reciprocal" cases (_e.g._ +in the case of Miss W., where a dying aunt has a vision of her little +niece who sees an apparition of her at the same time; see _Phantasms of +the Living_, vol. ii. p. 253). Just as the approaching severance of +spirit from body there aided the spirit to project its observation among +incarnate spirits at a distance upon this earth, so here does that same +approaching severance enable the dying person to see spirits who are +already in the next world. It is not very uncommon for dying persons to +say, or to indicate when beyond speech, that they see spirit friends +apparently near them. But, of course, such vision becomes evidential +only when the dying person is unaware that the friend whose spirit he +sees has actually departed, or is just about to depart, from earth. Such +a conjuncture must plainly be rare; it is even rather surprising that +these "Peak in Darien" cases, as Miss Cobbe has termed them in a small +collection which she made some years ago, should be found at all. We can +add to Miss Cobbe's cases two of fair attestation. (_Proceedings_ +S.P.R., vol. iii. p. 93, and vol. xiv. p. 288 [718 A and B]). + +From this last group, then, there is scarcely a noticeable transition to +the group where departed spirits manifest their knowledge that some +friend who survived them has now passed on into their world. That such +recognition and welcome does in fact take place, later evidence, drawn +especially from trance-utterances, will give good ground to believe. +Only rarely, however, will such welcome--taking place as it does in the +spiritual world--be reflected by apparitions in _this_. When so +reflected, it may take different forms, from an actual utterance of +sympathy, as from a known departed friend, down to a mere silent +presence, perhaps inexplicable except to those who happen to have known +some long predeceased friend of the decedent's. + +I quote in Appendix VII. C one of the most complete cases of this type, +which was brought to us by the Census of Hallucinations. + +There are other cases more or less analogous to this. In one[143] the +apparition of a dying mother brings the news of her own death and that +her baby is living. In another[144] a mother sees a vision of her son +being drowned and also an apparition of her own dead mother, who tells +her of the drowning. In this case, the question may be raised as to +whether the second figure seen may not have been, so to say, +_substitutive_--a symbol in which the percipient's own mind clothed a +telepathic impression of the actual decedent's passage from earth. Such +a view might perhaps be supported by some anomalous cases where news of +the death is brought by the apparition of a person still living, who, +nevertheless, is not by any normal means aware of the death. (See the +case of Mrs. T., already given in Appendix IV. E.) + +But such an explanation is not always possible. In the case of Mrs. +Bacchus,[145] for instance, both the deceased person and the phantasmal +figure were previously unknown to the percipient. This case--the last +which Edmund Gurney published--comes from an excellent witness. The +psychical incident which it seems to imply, while very remote from +popular notions, would be quite in accordance with the rest of our +present series. A lady dies; her husband in the spirit-world is moved by +her arrival; and the direction thus given to his thought projects a +picture of him, clothed as in the days when he lived with her, into +visibility in the house where her body is lying. We have thus a +dream-like recurrence to earthly memories, prompted by a revival of +those memories which had taken place in the spiritual world. The case is +midway between a case of _welcome_ and a case of _haunting_. + +I now come to a considerable group of cases where the departed spirit +shows a definite knowledge of some fact connected with his own +earth-life, his death, or subsequent events connected with that death. +The knowledge of subsequent events, as of the spread of the news of his +death, or as to the place of his burial, is, of course, a greater +achievement (so to term it) than a mere recollection of facts known to +him in life, and ought strictly, on the plan of this series, to be first +illustrated. But it will be seen that all these stages of knowledge +cohere together; and their connection can better be shown if I begin at +the lower stage,--of mere earth-memory. Now here again, as so often +already, we shall have to wait for automatic script and the like to +illustrate the full extent of the deceased person's possible memory. +Readers of the utterances, for instance, of "George Pelham" (see +Chapter IX.) will know how full and accurate may be these recollections +from beyond the grave. Mere apparitions, such as those with which we are +now dealing, can rarely give more than one brief message, probably felt +by the deceased to be of urgent importance. + +A well-attested case where the information communicated in a vision +proved to be definite, accurate, and important to the survivors is given +in Appendix VII. D. In the same Appendix another case in this group is +also quoted. It illustrates the fact that the cases of deepest interest +are often the hardest for the inquirer to get hold of. + +In this connection I may refer again to Mrs. Storie's dream of the death +of her brother in a railway accident, given in Chapter IV. While I think +that Gurney was right--in the state of the evidence at the time +_Phantasms of the Living_ was written--in doing his best to bring this +incident under the head of telepathic clairvoyance, I yet feel that the +knowledge since gained makes it impossible for me to adhere to that +view. I cannot regard the visionary scene as wholly reflected from the +mind of the dying man. I cannot think, in the first place, that the +vision of Mr. Johnstone--interpolated with seeming irrelevance among the +details of the disaster--did only by accident coincide with the fact +that that gentleman really _was_ in the train, and with the further fact +that it was _he_ who communicated the fact of Mr. Hunter's death to Mr. +and Mrs. Stone. I must suppose that the communicating intelligence was +aware of Mr. Johnstone's presence, and at least guessed that upon him +(as a clergyman) that task would naturally fall. Nor can I pass over as +purely symbolic so important a part of the vision as the _second +figure_, and the scrap of conversation, which seemed to be half heard. I +therefore consider that the case falls among those where a friend +recently departed appears in company of some other friend, dead some +time before. + +We have thus seen the spirit occupied shortly after death with various +duties or engagements, small or great, which it has incurred during life +on earth. Such ties seem to prompt or aid its action upon its old +surroundings. And here an important reflection occurs. Can we _prepare_ +such a tie for the departing spirit? Can we create for it some welcome +and helpful train of association which may facilitate the +self-manifestation which many souls appear to desire? I believe that we +can to some extent do this. At an early stage of our collection, Edmund +Gurney was struck by the unexpectedly large proportion of cases where +the percipient informed us that there had been a _compact_ between +himself and the deceased person that whichever passed away first should +try to appear to the other. "Considering," he adds, "what an extremely +small number of persons make such a compact, compared with those who do +not, it is difficult to resist the conclusion that its existence has a +certain efficacy." + +Let us now review the compact-cases given in _Phantasms of the Living_ +and consider how far they seem to indicate _ante-mortem_ or +_post-mortem_ communication. The twelve cases there recorded are such as +fell, or may have fallen, within twelve hours of the death. In three of +these cases, the agent whose phantasm appeared was certainly still +alive. In most of the other cases the exact time relation is obscure; in +a few of them there is strong probability that the agent was already +dead. The inference will be that the existence of a promise or compact +may act effectively both on the subliminal self before death and also +probably on the spirit after death. + +This conclusion is confirmed by several other cases, one of which is +given in Appendix VII. E. This case suggests an important practical +reflection. When a compact to appear, if possible, after death is made, +it should be understood that the appearance need not be to the special +partner in the compact, but to any one whom the agent can succeed in +impressing. It is likely enough that many such attempts, which have +faded on account of the surviving friend's lack of appropriate +sensitivity, might have succeeded if the agent had tried to influence +some one already known to be capable of receiving these +impressions.[146] There is a case given in _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. v. +p. 440, in which a lady, having made a compact with her husband and also +with a friend, her phantom is seen after her death by her husband and +daughter and the latter's nurse, collectively; but not by the friend, +who was living elsewhere. + +Again, we cannot tell how long the spirit may continue the effort, or, +so to say, renew the experiment. In a case recorded in _Proceedings_ +S.P.R., vol. x. p. 378, the compact is fulfilled after a space of five +years. In another case,[147] there had been no formal compact; but there +is an attempt to express gratitude on an anniversary of death; and this +implies the same kind of mindful effort as the fulfilment of a definite +promise. + +I have now traced certain _post-mortem_ manifestations which reveal a +recollection of events known at death, and also a persistence of purpose +in carrying out intentions formed before death. In this next group I +shall trace the knowledge of the departed a little further, and shall +discuss some cases where they appear cognisant of the aspect of their +bodies after death, or of the scenes in which those bodies are +temporarily deposited or finally laid. Such knowledge may appear +trivial,--unworthy the attention of spirits transported into a higher +world. But it is in accordance with the view of a gradual transference +of interests and perceptions,--a period of intermediate confusion, such +as may follow especially upon a death of a sudden or violent kind, or +perhaps upon a death which interrupts very strong affections. + +Thus we have already (Appendix VII. B) encountered one striking case of +this type,--the _scratch on the cheek_, perceived by the departed +daughter, as we may conjecture, by reason of the close sympathy which +united her to the mother who was caring for her remains. + +There are also two cases closely resembling each other, though from +percipients in widely different parts of the world, where a clairvoyant +vision seems to be presented of a tranquil death-chamber. In that of Mr. +Hector of Valencia, South Australia (see _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. +i. p. 353), the percipient sees in a dream his father dying in the room +he usually occupied, with a candle burning on a chair by his bed; and +the father is found dead in the morning, with a candle by his bedside in +the position seen in the dream. There is not, however, in this case any +sure indication that the dead or dying person was cognisant of his own +body's aspect or surroundings. There may have been a clairvoyant +excursion on the percipient's part, evoked by some impulse from the +agent which did not itself develop into distinctness.[148] + +But in certain cases of violent death there seems to have been an +intention on the deceased person's part to show the condition in which +his body is left. Such was Mrs. Storie's dream, or rather series of +visions referred to earlier in this chapter. Such are the cases given in +_Phantasms of the Living_, vol. i. p. 365 [429 A], and _Proceedings_ +S.P.R., vol. iii. (1885) p. 95 [§ 730]. Here, too, may be placed two +cases--those of Dr. Bruce (in Appendix IV. D) and Miss Hall (_Journal_ +S.P.R., vol. vii. p. 173 [731 A])--where there are _successive_ pictures +of a death and the subsequent arrangement of the body. The _milieux_ of +the percipients, the nature of the deaths, are here again totally +disparate; yet we seem to see the same unknown laws producing effects +closely similar. + +In Dr. Bruce's case one might interpret the visions as coming to the +percipient through the mind of his wife, who was present at the scene of +the murder. But this explanation would be impossible in Miss Hall's +case. Rather it seems as though some telepathic link, set up between the +dying brother and the sister, had been maintained after death until all +duties had been fulfilled to the departed. The case reminds one of the +old Homeric notions of the restless appeal of unburied comrades. + +In the case of Mrs. Green (_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. v. p. 420 [429 +D]), we come across an interesting problem. Two women are drowned under +very peculiar circumstances. A friend has apparently a clairvoyant +vision of the scene, yet not at the moment when it occurred, but many +hours afterwards, and about the time when another person, deeply +interested, heard of the death. It is therefore possible to suppose that +the apparently clairvoyant scene was in reality impressed telepathically +on the percipient by another living mind. I think, however, that both +the nature of the vision and certain analogies, which will appear later +in our argument, point to a different view, involving an agency both of +the dead and of the living. I conjecture that a current of influence may +be started by a deceased person, which, however, only becomes strong +enough to be perceptible to its object when reinforced by some vivid +current of emotion arising in living minds. I do not say that this is +yet provable; yet the hint may be of value when the far-reaching +interdependencies of telepathy between the two worlds come to be better +understood. + +Two singular cases in this group remain, where the departed spirit, long +after death, seems preoccupied with the spot where his bones are laid. +The first of these cases (_Journal_ S.P.R., vol. vi. p. 230 [733 A]) +approaches farce; the second (in which the skeleton of a man who had +probably been murdered about forty years before was discovered by means +of a dream; see _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. vi. p. 35), stands alone +among our narratives in the tragedy which follows on the communication. +Mr. Podmore in an article in the same volume (p. 303) suggests other +theories to account for this case without invoking the agency of the +dead; but to me the least impossible explanation is still the notion +that the murdered man's dreams harked back after all those years to his +remote unconsecrated grave. I may refer further to another case (in +_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. iv. p. 155, footnote) where feelings of +horror and depression were constantly experienced in a room over which a +baby's body was afterwards found. This case makes, perhaps, for another +explanation--depending not so much on any _continued_ influence of the +departed spirit as on some _persistent_ influence inhering in the bones +themselves--deposited under circumstances of terror or anguish, and +possibly in some way still radiating a malignant memory. Bizarre as this +interpretation looks, we shall find some confirmation of such a +possibility in our chapter on Possession. Yet another case belonging to +the same group (_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. v. p. 418) supplies a variant +on this view; suggesting, as Edward Gurney has remarked, the local +imprintation of a tragic picture, by _whom_ and upon _what_ we cannot +tell. + +I think it well to suggest even these wild conjectures; so long as they +are understood to be conjectures and nothing more. I hold it probable +that those communications, of which telepathy from one spirit to another +forms the most easily traceable variety, are in reality infinitely +varied and complex, and show themselves from time to time in forms which +must for long remain quite beyond our comprehension. + +The next class of cases in this series well illustrates this +unexpectedness. It has only been as the result of a gradual accumulation +of concordant cases that I have come to believe there is some reality in +the bizarre supposition that the departed spirit is sometimes specially +aware of the tune at which news of his death is about to reach some +given friend.[149] Proof of such knowledge on his part is rendered +harder by the alternative possibility that the friend may by +clairvoyance become aware of a letter in his own proximity. As was shown +in _Phantasms of the Living_, there is some evidence for such +clairvoyance even in cases where the letter seen is quite unimportant. + +Again, there are cases where the percipient states that a cloud of +unreasonable depression fell upon him about the time of his friend's +death at a distance, and continued until the actual news arrived; when, +instead of becoming intensified, it lifted suddenly. In one or two such +cases there was an actual presence or apparition, which seemed to hang +about until the news arrived, and then disappeared. Or, on the other +hand, there is sometimes a happy vision of the departed preluding the +news, as though to prepare the percipient's mind for the shock +(_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. iii. p. 90 [735 A]). The suggested inference +is that in such cases the spirit's attention is more or less +continuously directed to the survivor until the news reaches him. This +does not, of course, explain how the spirit learns as to the arrival of +the news; yet it makes that piece of knowledge seem a less isolated +thing. + +Having thus referred to a number of cases where the apparition shows +varying degrees of knowledge or memory, I pass on to the somewhat +commoner type, where the apparition lacks the power or the impulse to +communicate any message much more definite than that all-important +one--of his own continued life and love. These cases, nevertheless, +might be subdivided on many lines. Each apparition, even though it be +momentary, is a phenomenon complex in more ways than our minds can +follow. We must look for some broad line of demarcation, which may apply +to a great many different incidents, while continuing to some extent +the series which we have already been descending--from knowledge and +purpose on the deceased person's part down to vagueness and apparent +automatism. + +Such a division--gradual, indeed, but for that very reason the more +instructive--exists between _personal_ and _local_ apparitions; between +manifestations plainly intended to impress the minds of certain definite +survivors and manifestations in accustomed haunts, some of which, +indeed, may be destined to impress survivors, but which degenerate and +disintegrate into sights and sounds too meaningless to prove either +purpose or intelligence. + +Let us look, then, for these characteristics, not expecting, of course, +that our series will be logically simple; for it must often happen that +the personal and local impulses will be indistinguishable, as when the +desired percipient is inhabiting the familiar home. But we may begin +with some cases where the apparition has shown itself in some scene +altogether strange to the deceased person. + +We have had, of course, some cases of this type already. Such was the +case of the apparition with the _red scratch_ (Appendix VII. B); such +too was the apparition in the Countess Kapnist's carriage (Appendix VII. +E). Such cases, indeed, occur most frequently--and this fact is itself +significant--among the higher and more developed forms of manifestation. +Among the briefer, less-developed apparitions with which we have now to +deal, invasions by the phantasm of quite unknown territory are +relatively few. I will begin by referring to a curious case, where the +impression given is that of a spiritual presence which seeks and finds +the percipient, but is itself too confused for coherent communication +(Mrs. Lightfoot's case, _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. i. p. 453 [429 +B]). It will be seen that this narrative is thoroughly in accordance +with previous indications of a state of posthumous _bewilderment_ +supervening before the spirit has adjusted its perceptions to the new +environment. + +In cases like Mrs. Lightfoot's, where the percipient's surroundings are +unknown to the deceased person, and especially in cases where the +intimation of a death reaches the percipient when _at sea_, there is +plainly nothing except the percipient's own personality to guide the +spirit in his search. We have several narratives of this type. In one of +these--Archdeacon Farler's, already referred to (p. 227), the apparition +appears _twice_, the second appearance at least being subsequent to the +death. It is plain that if in such a case the _second_ apparition +conveys no fresh intelligence, we cannot prove that it is more than a +subjective recrudescence of the _first_. Yet analogy is in favour of +its veridical character, since we have cases where successive +manifestations _do_ bring fresh knowledge, and seem to show a continued +effort to communicate.[150] + +Then, again, there are _auditory_ cases where the phantasmal speech has +occurred in places not known to the deceased person. (_Proceedings_ +S.P.R., vol. iii. p. 90, and vol. v. p. 455.) + +One specially impressive characteristic of apparitions (as has been +already remarked) is their occasional _collectivity_--the fact that more +percipients than one sometimes see or hear the phantasmal figure or +voice simultaneously. When one is considering the gradual decline in +definiteness and apparent purpose from one group of apparitions to +another, it is natural to ask whether this characteristic--in my view so +important--is found to accompany especially the higher, more intelligent +manifestations. + +I cannot find that this is so. On the contrary, it is, I think, in cases +of mere _haunting_ that we oftenest find that the figure is seen by +several persons at once, or else (a cognate phenomenon) by several +persons successively. I know not how to explain this apparent tendency. +Could we admit the underlying assumptions, it would suit the view that +the "haunting" spirits are "earthbound," and thus somehow nearer to +matter than spirits more exalted. Yet instances of collectivity are +scattered through all classes of apparitions; and the irregular +appearance of a characteristic which seems to us so fundamental affords +another lesson how great may be the variety of inward mechanism in cases +which to us might seem constructed on much the same type. + +I pass on to a group of cases which are both personal and local; +although the personal element in most of them--the desire to manifest to +the friend--may seem more important than the local element--the impulse +to revisit some accustomed haunt. + +In the case which I shall now cite the deceased person's image is seen +simultaneously by several members of his own household, in his own +house. Note the analogy to a collective crystal vision.[151] + +The account is taken from _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. ii. p. 213. It +is given by Mr. Charles A. W. Lett, of the Military and Royal Naval +Club, Albemarle Street, W. + + +_December 3rd, 1885._ + + On the 5th April 1873 my wife's father, Captain Towns, died at his + residence, Cranbrook, Rose Bay, near Sidney, N. S. Wales. About six + weeks after his death my wife had occasion, one evening about nine + o'clock, to go to one of the bedrooms in the house. She was + accompanied by a young lady, Miss Berthon, and as they entered the + room--the gas was burning all the time--they were amazed to see, + reflected as it were on the polished surface of the wardrobe, the + image of Captain Towns. It was barely half figure, the head, + shoulders, and part of the arms only showing--in fact, it was like + an ordinary medallion portrait, but life-size. The face appeared + wan and pale, as it did before his death, and he wore a kind of + grey flannel jacket, in which he had been accustomed to sleep. + Surprised and half alarmed at what they saw, their first idea was + that a portrait had been hung in the room, and that what they saw + was its reflection; but there was no picture of the kind. + + Whilst they were looking and wondering, my wife's sister, Miss + Towns, came into the room, and before either of the others had time + to speak she exclaimed, "Good gracious! Do you see papa?" One of + the housemaids happened to be passing downstairs at the moment, and + she was called in, and asked if she saw anything, and her reply + was, "Oh, miss! the master." Graham--Captain Towns' old body + servant--was then sent for, and he also immediately exclaimed, "Oh, + Lord save us! Mrs. Lett, it's the Captain!" The butler was called, + and then Mrs. Crane, my wife's nurse, and they both said what they + saw. Finally, Mrs. Towns was sent for, and, seeing the apparition, + she advanced towards it with her arm extended as if to touch it, + and as she passed her hand over the panel of the wardrobe the + figure gradually faded away, and never again appeared, though the + room was regularly occupied for a long time after. + + These are the simple facts of the case, and they admit of no doubt; + no kind of intimation was given to any of the witnesses; the same + question was put to each one as they came into the room, and the + reply was given without hesitation by each. It was by the merest + accident that I did not see the apparition. I was in the house at + the time, but did not hear when I was called. + +C. A. W. LETT. + + We, the undersigned, having read the above statement, certify that + it is strictly accurate, as we both were witnesses of the + apparition. + +SARA LETT. +SIBBIE SMYTH (_nee_ TOWNS). + +Gurney writes:-- + + Mrs. Lett assures me that neither she nor her sister ever + experienced a hallucination of the senses on any other occasion. + She is positive that the recognition of the appearance on the part + of each of the later witnesses was _independent_, and not due to + any suggestion from the persons already in the room. + +There is another collective case which is noticeable from the fact that +the departed spirit appears to influence two persons at a distance from +each other in a concordant way, so that one of them becomes conscious of +the appearance to the other.[152] Compare with this the incident given +at the end of Appendix VII. G, when Miss Campbell has a vision of her +friend seeing an apparition at a time when this is actually +occurring.[153] + +The case given in Appendix VII. F--which comes from excellent +informants--is one of those which correspond most nearly to what one +would _desire_ in a posthumous message. I may refer also to General +Campbell's case (in _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. v. p. 476) in which a +long continued series of unaccountable noises and an apparition twice +seen by a child in the house suggested to the narrator the agency of his +dead wife. The case, which depends for its evidential force on a great +mass of detail, is too long for me to quote; but it is worth study, as +is any case where there seems evidence of persistent effort to manifest, +meeting with one knows not what difficulty. It may be that in such a +story there is nothing but strange coincidence, or it may be that from +records of partially successful effort, renewed often and in ambiguous +ways, we shall hereafter learn something of the nature of that curtain +of obstruction which now seems so arbitrary in its sudden lifting, its +sudden fall. + +I will conclude this group by referring the reader to three cases +closely similar, all well attested, and all of them capable of +explanation either on local or personal grounds. In the first +(_Phantasms of the Living_, vol. ii. p. 619 [744 A]) an apparition is +seen by two persons in a house in Edinburgh, a few hours before the +death of a lady who had lived there, and whose body was to be brought +back to it. In the second (_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. vi. p. 57 [744 B]) +the dead librarian haunts his library, but in the library are members of +his old staff. In the third (_Phantasms of the Living_, vol. i. p. 212 +[§ 744]), the dead wife loiters round her husband's tomb, but near it +passes a gardener who had been in her employ. + +In this last case the apparition was seen about seven and a half hours +after the death. This, as Gurney remarked, makes it still more difficult +to regard the case as a telepathic impression transmitted at the moment +of death, and remaining latent in the mind of the percipient. The +incident suggests rather that Bard, the gardener, had come upon Mrs. de +Fréville's spirit, so to say, unawares. One cannot imagine that she +specially wished him to see her, and to see her engaged in what seems so +needless and undignified a retracing of currents of earthly thought. +Rather this seems a rudimentary _haunting_--an incipient lapse into +those aimless, perhaps unconscious, reappearances in familiar spots +which may persist (as it would seem) for many years after death. + +A somewhat similar case is that of Colonel Crealock (in _Proceedings_ +S.P.R., vol. v. p. 432) where a soldier who had been dead some hours was +seen by his superior officer in camp at night rolling up and taking away +his bed. + +It is, indeed, mainly by dwelling on these intermediate cases, between a +message-bringing apparition and a purposeless haunt, that we have most +hope of understanding the typical haunt which, while it has been in a +sense the most popular of all our phenomena, is yet to the careful +inquirer one of the least satisfactory. One main evidential difficulty +generally lies in identifying the haunting figure, in finding anything +to connect the history of the house with the vague and often various +sights and sounds which perplex or terrify its flesh and blood +inhabitants. We must, at any rate, rid ourselves of the notion that some +great crime or catastrophe is always to be sought as the groundwork of a +haunt of this kind. To that negative conclusion our cases concordantly +point us.[154] The apparition is most often seen by a stranger, several +months after the death, with no apparent reason for its appearance at +that special time. This last point is of interest in considering the +question whether the hallucinatory picture could have been projected +from any still incarnate mind. In one case--the vision of the Bishop of +St. Brieuc (given in _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. v. p. 460), there _was_ +such a special reason--the Bishop's body, unknown to the percipient, was +at that moment being buried at the distance of a few miles. Mr. Podmore +suggests (_op. cit._, vol. vi. p. 301) that it was from the minds of the +living mourners that the Bishop's phantasm was generated. That +hypothesis may have its portion of truth; the surrounding emotion may +have been one of the factors which made the apparition possible. But the +assumption that it was the only admissible factor--that the departed +Bishop's own possible agency must be set aside altogether--lands us, I +think, in difficulties greater than those which we should thus escape. +The reader who tries to apply it to the apparitions quoted in my earlier +groups will find himself in a labyrinth of complexity. Still more will +this be the case in dealing with the far fuller and more explicit +_motor___ communications, by automatic writing or speech, which we shall +have to discuss in the two next chapters. Unless the actual evidence be +disallowed in a wholesale manner, we shall be forced, I think, to admit +the continued action of the departed as a main element in these +apparitions. + +I do not say as the _only_ element. I myself hold, as already implied, +that the thought and emotion of living persons does largely intervene, +as aiding or conditioning the independent action of the departed. I even +believe that it is possible that, say, an intense fixation of my own +mind on a departed spirit may aid that spirit to manifest at a special +moment--and not even to me, but to a percipient more sensitive than +myself. In the boundless ocean of mind innumerable currents and tides +shift with the shifting emotion of each several soul. + +But now we are confronted by another possible element in these vaguer +classes of apparitions, harder to evaluate even than the possible action +of incarnate minds. I mean the possible _results_ of past mental action, +which, for aught we know, may persist in some perceptible manner, +without fresh reinforcement, just as the results of past bodily action +persist. This question leads to the still wider question of +_retrocognition_, and of the relation of psychical phenomena to _time_ +generally--a problem whose discussion cannot be attempted here.[155] Yet +we must remember that such possibilities exist; they may explain certain +phenomena into which little of fresh intelligence seems to enter, as, +for instance, the alleged persistence, perhaps for years, of meaningless +sounds in a particular room or house. + +And since we are coming now to cases into which this element of +meaningless sound will enter largely, it seems right to begin their +discussion with a small group of cases where there is evidence for the +definite agency of some dying or deceased person in connection with +inarticulate sounds, or I should rather say of the _connection_ of some +deceased person with the sounds; since the best explanation may perhaps +be that they are _sounds of welcome_--before or after actual +death--corresponding to those _apparitions of welcome_ of which we have +already had specimens. One of our cases (see _Phantasms of the Living_, +vol. ii. p. 639 [§ 747]) is remarkable in that the auditory +hallucination--a sound as of female voices gently singing--was heard by +five persons, by four of them, as it seems, independently, and in two +places, on different sides of the house. At the same time, one +person--the Eton master whose mother had just died, and who was +therefore presumably in a frame of mind more prone to hallucination than +the physician, matron, friend, or servants who actually did hear the +singing--himself heard nothing at all. In this case the physician felt +no doubt that Mrs. L. was actually dead; and in fact it was during the +laying out of the body that the sounds occurred. + +I have already discussed (Chapter VI.) the nature of these phantasmal +sounds;--nor is it contrary to our analogies that the person most deeply +concerned in the death should in this case fail to hear them. But the +point on which I would here lay stress is that phantasmal sounds--even +non-articulate sounds--may be as clear a manifestation of personality as +phantasmal figures. Among non-articulate noises music is, of course, the +most pleasing; but sounds, for instance, which imitate the work of a +carpenter's shop, may be equally human and intelligent. In some of the +cases of this class we see apparent attempts of various kinds to +simulate sounds such as men and women--or manufactured, as opposed to +natural, objects--are accustomed to produce. To claim this humanity, to +indicate this intelligence, seems the only motive of sounds of this +kind.[156] + +These sounds, in their rudimentary attempt at showing intelligence, are +about on a level with the exploits of the "Poltergeist," where coals are +thrown about, water spilt, and so forth. Poltergeist phenomena, however, +seldom coincide with the ordinary phenomena of a haunt. We have one +remarkable case (_Journal_ S.P.R., vol. ix. p. 280-84 [868 B]) where +Poltergeist phenomena coincide with a death, and a few cases where they +are supposed to follow on a death; but, as a rule, where figures appear +there are no movements; and where there are movements no apparition is +seen. If alleged Poltergeist phenomena are always fraudulent, there +would be nothing to be surprised at here. If, as I suspect, they are +sometimes genuine, their dissociation from visual hallucinations may +sometimes afford us a hint of value. + +But after Poltergeists have been set aside,--after a severe line has +been drawn excluding all those cases (in themselves singular enough) +where the main phenomena observed consist of non-articulate +sounds,--there remains a great mass of evidence to haunting,--that is, +broadly speaking, to the fact that there are many houses in which more +than one person has independently seen phantasmal figures, which +usually, though not always, bear at least some resemblance to each +other.[157] The facts thus baldly stated are beyond dispute. Their true +interpretation is a very difficult matter. Mrs. Sidgwick gives four +hypotheses, which I must quote at length as the first serious attempt +ever made (so far as I know) to collect and face the difficulties of +this problem, so often, but so loosely, discussed through all historical +times. (From _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. iii. pp. 146-8.) + +"I will, therefore, proceed briefly to state and discuss the only four +theories that have occurred to me. + +"The two which I will take first in order assume that the apparitions +are due to the agency or presence of the spirits of deceased men. + +"There is first the popular view, that the apparition is something +belonging to the external world--that, like ordinary matter, it occupies +and moves through space, and would be in the room whether the percipient +were there to see it or not. This hypothesis involves us in many +difficulties, of which one serious one--that of accounting for the +clothes of the ghost--has often been urged, and never, I think, +satisfactorily answered. Nevertheless, I am bound to admit that there is +some little evidence tending to suggest this theory. For instance, in +the account,[158] of which I have given an abstract, of the weeping lady +who has appeared so frequently in a certain house, the following passage +occurs:--'They went after it (the figure) together into the +drawing-room; it then came out, and went down the aforesaid passage +(leading to the kitchen), but was the next minute seen by another Miss +[M.] ... come up the outside steps from the kitchen. On this particular +day, Captain [M.'s] married daughter happened to be at an upstairs +window ... and independently saw the figure continue her course across +the lawn and into the orchard.' A considerable amount of clear evidence +to the appearance of ghosts to independent observers in successive +points in space would certainly afford a strong argument for their +having a definite relation to space; but in estimating evidence of this +kind it would be necessary to know how far the observer's attention had +been drawn to the point in question. If it had been a real woman whom +the Miss [M.'s] were observing, we should have inferred, with perfect +certainty, from our knowledge that she could not be in two places at +once, that she had been successively, in a certain order, in the places +where she was seen by the three observers. If they had noted the moments +at which they saw her, and comparing notes afterwards, found that +according to these notes they had all seen her at the same time, or in +some other order to that inferred, we should still feel absolute +confidence in our inference, and should conclude that there must be +something wrong about the watches or the notes. From association of +ideas, it would be perfectly natural to make the same inference in the +case of a ghost which looks exactly like a woman. But in the case of the +ghost the inference would not be legitimate, because, unless the +particular theory of ghosts which we are discussing be true, there is no +reason, so far as we know, why it should not appear in two or more +places at once. Hence, in the case of the ghost, a well-founded +assurance that the appearances were successive would require a careful +observation of the times, which, so far as I know, has never been made. +On the whole, therefore, I must dismiss the popular theory as not +having, in my opinion, even a _primâ facie_ ground for serious +consideration. + +"The theory that I will next examine seems to me decidedly more +plausible, from its analogy to the conclusion to which I am brought by +the examination of the evidence for phantasms of the living. This theory +is that the apparition has no real relation to the external world, but +is a hallucination caused in some way by some communication, without the +intervention of the senses, between the disembodied spirit and the +percipient, its form depending on the mind either of the spirit or of +the percipient, or of both. In the case of haunted houses, however, a +difficulty meets us that we do not encounter, or at least rarely +encounter, in applying a similar hypothesis to explain phantasms of the +living, or phantasms of the dead other than fixed local ghosts. In these +cases we have generally to suppose a simple _rapport_ between mind and +mind, but in a haunted house we have a _rapport_ complicated by its +apparent dependence on locality. It seems necessary to make the +improbable assumption, that the spirit is interested in an entirely +special way in a particular house (though possibly this interest may be +of a subconscious kind), and that his interest in it puts him into +connection with another mind, occupied with it in the way that that of a +living person actually there must consciously or unconsciously be, while +he does not get into similar communication with the same, or with other +persons elsewhere. + +"If, notwithstanding these difficulties, it be true that haunting is due +in any way to the agency of deceased persons, and conveys a definite +idea of them to the percipients through the resemblance to them of the +apparition, then, by patiently continuing our investigations, we may +expect, sooner or later, to obtain a sufficient amount of evidence to +connect clearly the commencement of hauntings with the death of +particular persons, and to establish clearly the likeness of the +apparition to those persons. The fact that almost everybody is now +photographed ought to be of material assistance in obtaining evidence of +this latter kind. + +"My third theory dispenses with the agency of disembodied spirits, but +involves us in other and perhaps equally great improbabilities. It is +that the first appearance is a purely subjective hallucination, and that +the subsequent similar appearances, both to the original percipient and +to others, are the result of the first appearance; unconscious +expectancy causing them in the case of the original percipient, and some +sort of telepathic communication from the original percipient in the +case of others. In fact, it assumes that a tendency to a particular +hallucination is in a way infectious. If this theory be true, I should +expect to find that the apparently independent appearances after the +first depended on the percipient's having had some sort of intercourse +with some one who had seen the ghost before, and that any decided +discontinuity of occupancy would stop the haunting. I should also expect +to find, as we do in one of the cases I have quoted, that sometimes the +supposed ghost would follow the family from one abode to another, +appearing to haunt them rather than any particular house. + +"The fourth theory that I shall mention is one which I can hardly expect +to appear plausible, and which, therefore, I only introduce because I +think that it corresponds best to a certain part of the evidence;--and, +as I have already said, considering the altogether tentative way in +which we are inevitably dealing with this obscure subject, it is as well +to express definitely every hypothesis which an impartial consideration +of the facts suggests. It is that there is something in the actual +building itself--some subtle physical influence--which produces in the +brain that effect which, in its turn, becomes the cause of a +hallucination. It is certainly difficult on this hypothesis alone to +suppose that the hallucinations of different people would be similar, +but we might account for this by a combination of this hypothesis and +the last. The idea is suggested by the case, of which I have given an +abstract, where the haunting continued through more than one occupancy, +but changed its character; and if there be any truth in the theory, I +should expect in time to obtain a good deal more evidence of this kind, +combined with evidence that the same persons do not as a rule encounter +ghosts elsewhere. I should also expect evidence to be forthcoming +supporting the popular idea that repairs and alterations of the building +sometimes cause the haunting to cease."[159] + +These hypotheses--none of which, as Mrs. Sidgwick expressly states (_op. +cit._, p. 145), seemed to herself satisfactory--did nevertheless, I +think, comprise all the deductions which could reasonably be made from +the evidence as it at that time stood. A few modifications, which the +experience of subsequent years has led me to introduce, can hardly be +said to afford further _explanation_, although they state the +difficulties in what now seems to me a more hopeful way. + +In the first place then--as already explained in Chapter VI.--I in some +sense fuse into one Mrs. Sidgwick's two first hypotheses by my own +hypothesis of actual presence, actual spatial changes induced in the +metetherial, but not in the material world. I hold that when the +phantasm is discerned by more than one person at once (and on some +other, but not all other occasions) it is actually effecting a change in +that portion of space where it is perceived, although not, as a rule, in +the matter which occupies that place. It is, therefore, not optically +nor acoustically perceived; perhaps no rays of light are reflected nor +waves of air set in motion; but an unknown form of supernormal +perception, not necessarily acting through the sensory end-organs, comes +into play. In the next place, I am inclined to lay stress on the +parallel between these narratives of haunting and those phantasms of the +living which I have already classed as _psychorrhagic_. In each case, +as it seems to me, there is an involuntary detachment of some element of +the spirit, probably with no knowledge thereof at the main centre of +consciousness. Those "haunts by the living," as they may be called, +where, for instance, a man is seen phantasmally standing before his own +fireplace, seem to me to be repeated, perhaps more readily, after the +spirit is freed from the flesh. + +Again, I think that the curious question as to the influence of certain +_houses_ in generating apparitions may be included under the broader +heading of Retrocognition. That is to say, we are not here dealing with +a special condition of certain houses, but with a branch of the wide +problem as to the relation of supernormal phenomena to _time_. +Manifestations which occur in haunted houses depend, let us say, on +something which has taken place a long time ago. In what way do they +depend on that past event? Are they a sequel, or only a residue? Is +there fresh operation going on, or only fresh perception of something +already accomplished? Or can we in such a case draw any real distinction +between a continued action and a continued perception of a past action? +The closest parallel, as it seems to me, although not at first sight an +obvious one, lies between these phenomena of haunting, these persistent +sights and sounds, and certain phenomena of crystal-vision and of +automatic script, which also seem to depend somehow upon long-past +events,--to be their sequel or their residue. One specimen case I give +in Appendix (VII. G), where the connection of the haunting apparition +with a certain person long deceased may be maintained with more than +usual plausibility. From that level the traceable connections get weaker +and weaker, until we come to phantasmal scenes where there is no longer +any even apparent claim to the contemporary agency of human spirits. +Such a vision, for instance, as that of a line of spectral deer crossing +a ford, may indeed, if seen in the same place by several independent +observers, be held to be something more than a mere subjective fancy; +but what in reality such a picture signifies is a question which brings +us at once to theories of the permanence or simultaneity of all +phenomena in a timeless Universal Soul. + +Such conceptions, however difficult, are among the highest to which our +mind can reach. Could we approach them more nearly, they might deeply +influence our view, even of our own remote individual destiny. So, +perhaps, shall it some day be; at present we may be well satisfied if we +can push our knowledge of that destiny one step further than of old, +even just behind that veil which has so long hung impenetrably before +the eyes of men. + +Here, then, is a natural place of pause in our inquiry. + +The discussion of the ethical aspect of these questions I have postponed +to my concluding chapter. But one point already stands out from the +evidence--at once so important and so manifest that it seems well to +call attention to it at once--as a solvent more potent than any +Lucretius could apply to human superstition and human fears. + +In this long string of narratives, complex and bizarre though their +details may be, we yet observe that the character of the appearance +varies in a definite manner with their distinctness and individuality. +Haunting phantoms, incoherent and unintelligent, may seem restless and +unhappy. But as they rise into definiteness, intelligence, +individuality, the phantoms rise also into love and joy. I cannot recall +one single case of a proved posthumous combination of intelligence with +wickedness. Such evil as our evidence will show us--we have as yet +hardly come across it in this book--is scarcely more than monkeyish +mischief, childish folly. In dealing with automatic script, for +instance, we shall have to wonder whence come the occasional vulgar +jokes or silly mystifications. We shall discuss whether they are a kind +of dream of the automatist's own, or whether they indicate the existence +of unembodied intelligences on the level of the dog or the ape. But, on +the other hand, all that world-old conception of Evil Spirits, of +malevolent Powers, which has been the basis of so much of actual +devil-worship and of so much more of vague supernatural fear;--all this +insensibly melts from the mind as we study the evidence before us. + + Hunc igitur terrorem animi tenebrasque necessest + Non radii solis, neque lucida tela diei + Discutiant sed, naturæ species ratioque. + +Here surely is a fact of no little meaning. Our narratives have been +collected from men and women of many types, holding all varieties of +ordinary opinion. Yet the upshot of all these narratives is to emphasise +a point which profoundly differentiates the scientific from the +superstitious view of spiritual phenomena. The terror which shaped +primitive theologies still tinges for the populace every hint of +intercourse with disembodied souls. The transmutation of savage fear +into scientific curiosity is of the essence of civilisation. Towards +that transmutation each separate fragment of our evidence, with +undesigned concordance, indisputably tends. In that faintly opening +world of spirit I can find nothing worse than living men; I seem to +discern not an intensification but a disintegration of selfishness, +malevolence, pride. And is not this a natural result of any cosmic moral +evolution? If the selfish man (as Marcus Antoninus has it) "is a kind of +boil or imposthume upon the universe," must not his egoistic impulses +suffer in that wider world a sure, even if a painful, decay; finding no +support or sustenance among those permanent forces which maintain the +stream of things? + +I have thus indicated one point of primary importance on which the +undesignedly coincident testimony of hundreds of first-hand narratives +supports a conclusion, not yet popularly accepted, but in harmony with +the evolutionary conceptions which rule our modern thought. Nor does +this point stand alone. I can find, indeed, no guarantee of absolute and +idle bliss; no triumph in any exclusive salvation. But the student of +these narratives will, I think, discover throughout them uncontradicted +indications of the persistence of Love, the growth of Joy, the willing +submission to Law. + +These indications, no doubt, may seem weak and scattered la comparison +with the wholesale, thorough-going assertions of philosophical or +religious creeds. Their advantage is that they occur incidentally in the +course of our independent and cumulative demonstration of the +profoundest cosmical thesis which we can at present conceive as +susceptible of any kind of scientific proof. Cosmical questions, indeed, +there may be which are in themselves of deeper import than our own +survival of bodily death. The nature of the First Cause; the blind or +the providential ordering of the sum of things;--these are problems +vaster than any which affect only the destinies of men. But to whatever +moral certainty we may attain on those mightiest questions, we can +devise no way whatever of bringing them to scientific test. They deal +with infinity; and our modes of investigation have grasp only on finite +things. + +But the question of man's survival of death stands in a position +uniquely intermediate between matters capable and matters incapable of +proof. It is in itself a definite problem, admitting of conceivable +proof which, even if not technically rigorous, might amply satisfy the +scientific mind. And at the same time the conception which it involves +is in itself a kind of avenue and inlet into infinity. Could a proof of +our survival be obtained, it would carry us deeper into the true nature +of the universe than we should be carried by an even perfect knowledge +of the material scheme of things. It would carry us deeper both by +achievement and by promise. The discovery that there was a life in man +independent of blood and brain would be a cardinal, a dominating fact in +all science and in all philosophy. And the prospect thus opened to human +knowledge, in this or in other worlds, would be limitless indeed. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MOTOR AUTOMATISM + + Μηκἑτι μὁνον συπνεἱν τὡ περιἑχοντι ἁἑρι, ἁλλ' ἡδη καἱ συμφρονοιν + τὡ περιἑχοντἱ πἁντα νοερὡ + + --MARCUS AURELIUS. + + +At this point, one may broadly say, we reach the end of the phenomena +whose existence is vaguely familiar to popular talk. And here, too, I +might fairly claim, the evidence for my primary thesis,--namely, that +the analysis of man's personality reveals him as a spirit, surviving +death,--has attained an amplitude which would justify the reader in +accepting that view as the provisional hypothesis which comes nearest to +a comprehensive co-ordination of the actual facts. What we have already +recounted seems, indeed, impossible to explain except by supposing that +our inner vision has widened or deepened its purview so far as to attain +some glimpses of a spiritual world in which the individualities of our +departed friends still actually subsist. + +The reader, however, who has followed me thus far must be well aware +that a large class of phenomena, of high importance, is still awaiting +discussion. _Motor_ automatisms,--though less familiar to the general +public than the phantasms which I have classed as _sensory_ +automatisms,--are in fact even commoner, and even more significant. + +Motor automatisms, as I define them, are phenomena of very wide range. +We have encountered them already many times in this book. We met them in +the first place in a highly developed form in connection with multiplex +personality in Chapter II. Numerous instances were there given of motor +effects, initiated by secondary selves without the knowledge of the +primary selves, or sometimes in spite of their actual resistance. All +motor action of a secondary self is an automatism in this sense, in +relation to the primary self. And of course we might by analogy extend +the use of the word still further, and might call not only +post-epileptic acts, but also maniacal acts, automatic; since they are +performed without the initiation of the presumedly sane primary +personality. Those degenerative phenomena, indeed, are not to be +discussed in this chapter. Yet it will be well to pause here long enough +to make it clear to the reader just what motor automatisms I am about to +discuss as _evolutive_ phenomena, and as therefore falling within the +scope of this treatise;--and what kind of relation they bear to the +dissolutive motor phenomena which occupy so much larger a place in +popular knowledge. + +In order to meet this last question, I must here give more distinct +formulation to a thesis which has already suggested itself more than +once in dealing with special groups of our phenomena. + +_It may be expected that supernormal vital phenomena will manifest +themselves as far as possible through the same channels as abnormal or +morbid vital phenomena, when the same centres or the same synergies are +involved._ + +To illustrate the meaning of this theorem, I may refer to a remark long +ago made by Edmund Gurney and myself in dealing with "Phantasms of the +Living," or veridical hallucinations, generated (as we maintained), not +by a morbid state of the percipient's brain, but by a telepathic impact +from an agent at a distance. We observed that if a hallucination--a +subjective image--is to be excited by this distant energy, it will +probably be most readily excited in somewhat the same manner as the +morbid hallucination which follows on a cerebral injury. We urged that +this is _likely_ to be the case--we showed ground for supposing that it +_is_ the case--both as regards the mode of evolution of the phantasm in +the percipient's brain, and the mode in which it seems to present itself +to his senses. + +And here I should wish to give a much wider generality to this +principle, and to argue that if there be within us a secondary self +aiming at manifestation by physiological means, it seems probable that +its readiest _path of externalisation_--its readiest outlet of visible +action--may often lie along some track which has already been shown to +be a line of low resistance by the disintegrating processes of disease. +Or, varying the metaphor, we may anticipate that the partition of the +primary and the secondary self will lie along some plane of cleavage +which the _morbid_ dissociations of our psychical synergies have already +shown themselves disposed to follow. If epilepsy, madness, etc., tend to +_split up_ our faculties in certain ways, automatism is likely to split +them up in ways somewhat resembling these. + +But in what way then, it will be asked, do you distinguish the +supernormal from the merely abnormal? Why assume that in these aberrant +states there is anything besides hysteria, besides epilepsy, besides +insanity? + +The answer to this question has virtually been given in previous +chapters of this book. The reader is already accustomed to the point of +view which regards all psychical as well as all physiological activities +as necessarily either developmental or degenerative, tending to +evolution or to dissolution. And now, whilst altogether waiving any +teleological speculation, I will ask him hypothetically to suppose that +an evolutionary _nisus_, something which we may represent as an effort +towards self-development, self-adaptation, self-renewal, is discernible +especially on the psychical side of at any rate the higher forms of +life. Our question, Supernormal or abnormal?--may then be phrased, +Evolutive or dissolutive? And in studying each psychical phenomenon in +turn we shall have to inquire whether it indicates a mere degeneration +of powers already acquired, or, on the other hand, the "promise and +potency," if not the actual possession, of powers as yet unrecognised or +unknown. + +Thus, for instance, Telepathy is surely a step in _evolution_.[160] To +learn the thoughts of other minds without the mediation of the special +senses, manifestly indicates the possibility of a vast extension of +psychical powers. And any knowledge which we can amass as to the +conditions under which telepathic action takes place will form a +valuable starting-point for an inquiry as to the evolutive or +dissolutive character of unfamiliar psychical states.[161] + +For example, we may learn from our knowledge of telepathy that the +superficial aspect of certain stages of psychical evolution, like the +superficial aspect of certain stages of physiological evolution, may +resemble mere _inhibition_, or mere _perturbation_. But the inhibition +may involve latent dynamogeny, and the perturbation may mask evolution. +The hypnotised subject may pass through a lethargic stage before he +wakes into a state in which he has gained _community of sensation_ with +the operator; somewhat as the silkworm (to use the oldest and the most +suggestive of all illustrations) passes through the apparent torpor of +the cocoon-stage before evolving into the moth. Again, the automatist's +hand (as we shall presently see) is apt to pass through a stage of +inco-ordinated movements, which might almost be taken for choreic, +before it acquires the power of ready and intelligent writing. Similarly +the development, for instance, of a tooth may be preceded by a stage of +indefinite aching, which might be ascribed to the formation of an +abscess, did not the new tooth ultimately show itself. And still more +striking cases of a _perturbation which masks evolution_ might be drawn +from the history of the human organism as it develops into its own +maturity, or prepares for the appearance of the fresh human organism +which is to succeed it. + +Analogy, therefore, both physiological and psychical, warns us not to +conclude that any given psychosis is merely degenerative until we have +examined its results closely enough to satisfy ourselves whether they +tend to bring about any enlargement of human powers, to open any new +inlet to the reception of objective truth. If such there prove to be, +then, with whatever morbid activities the psychosis may have been +intertwined, it contains indications of an evolutionary _nisus_ as well. + +These remarks, I hope, may have sufficiently cleared the ground to admit +of our starting afresh on the consideration of such motor automatisms as +are at any rate not morbid in their effect on the organism, and which I +now have to show to be _evolutive_ in character. I maintain that we have +no valid ground for assuming that the movements which are _not_ due to +our conscious will must be less important, and less significant, than +those that _are_. We observe, of course, that in the organic region the +movements which are _not_ due to conscious will are really the most +important of all, though the voluntary movements by which a man seeks +food and protects himself against enemies are also of great practical +importance--he must first live and multiply if he is to learn and know. +But we must guard against confusing importance for immediate practical +life with importance for science--on which even practical life +ultimately depends. As soon as the task of living and multiplying is no +longer all-engrossing, we begin to change our relative estimate of +values, and to find that it is not the broad and obvious phenomena, but +the residual and elusive phenomena, which are oftenest likely to +introduce us to new avenues of knowledge. I wish to persuade my readers +that this is quite as truly the case in psychology as in physics. + +As a first step in our analysis, we may point out certain main +characters which unite in a true class all the automatisms which we are +here considering--greatly though these may differ among themselves in +external form. + +In the first place, then, our automatisms are _independent_ phenomena; +they are what the physician calls _idiognomonic_. That is to say, they +are not merely symptomatic of some other affection, or incidental to +some profounder change. The mere fact, for instance, that a man writes +messages which he does not consciously originate will not, when taken +alone, prove anything beyond this fact itself as to the writer's +condition. He may be perfectly sane, in normal health, and with nothing +unusual observable about him. This characteristic--provable by actual +observation and experiment--distinguishes our automatisms from various +seemingly kindred phenomena. Thus we may have to include in our class +the occasional automatic utterance of words or sentences. But the +continuous exhausting vociferation of acute mania does not fall within +our province; for those shouts are merely _symptomatic_; nor, again, +does the _cri hydrocéphalique_ (or spontaneous meaningless noise which +sometimes accompanies water on the brain); for that, too, is no +independent phenomenon, but the direct consequence of a definite lesion. +Furthermore, we shall have to include in our class certain simple +movements of the hands, co-ordinated into the act of writing. But here, +also, our definition will lead us to exclude _choreic_ movements, which +are merely symptomatic of nervous malnutrition; or which we may, if we +choose, call _idiopathic_, as constituting an independent malady. But +our automatisms are not _idiopathic_ but _idiognomonic_; they may indeed +be associated with or facilitated by certain states of the organism, but +they are neither a symptom of any other malady, nor are they a malady in +themselves. + +Agreeing, then, that our peculiar class consists of automatisms which +are idiognomonic,--whose existence does not necessarily imply the +existence of some profounder affection already known as producing +them,--we have still to look for some more positive bond of connection +between them, some quality common to all of them, and which makes them +worth our prolonged investigation. + +This we shall find in the fact that they are all of them +_message-bearing_ or _nunciative_ automatisms. I do not, of course, mean +that they all of them bring messages from sources external to the +automatist's own mind. In some cases they probably do this; but as a +rule the so-called messages seem more probably to originate within the +automatist's own personality. Why, then, it may be asked, do I call them +_messages_? We do not usually speak of a man as sending a message to +himself. The answer to this question involves, as we shall presently +see, the profoundest conception of these automatisms to which we can as +yet attain. They present themselves to us as messages communicated from +one stratum to another stratum of the same personality. Originating in +some deeper zone of a man's being, they float up into superficial +consciousness, as deeds, visions, words, ready-made and full-blown, +without any accompanying perception of the elaborative process which has +made them what they are. + +Can we then (we may next ask) in any way predict the possible _range_ of +these motor automatisms? Have we any limit assignable _a priori_, +outside which it would be useless to look for any externalisation of an +impulse emanating from sub-conscious strata of our being? + +The answer to this must be that no such limit can be with any confidence +suggested. We have not yet learnt with any distinctness even how far the +wave from a _consciously_-perceived stimulus will spread, or what +changes its motion will assume. Still less can we predict the +limitations which the resistance of the organism will impose on the +radiation of a stimulus originated within itself. We are learning to +consider the human organism as a practically infinite complex of +interacting vibrations; and each year adds many new facts to our +knowledge of the various transformations which these vibrations may +undergo, and of the unexpected artifices by which we may learn to +cognise some stimulus which is not directly felt. + +A few concrete instances will make my meaning plainer. And my first +example shall be taken from those experiments in _muscle-reading_--less +correctly termed mind-reading--with which the readers of the +_Proceedings_ of the S.P.R. are already familiar. Let us suppose that I +am to hide a pin, and that some accomplished muscle-reader is to take my +hand and find the pin by noting my muscular indications.[162] I first +hide the pin in the hearth-rug; then I change my mind and hide it in the +bookshelf. I fix my mind on the bookshelf, but resolve to make no +guiding movement. The muscle-reader takes my hand, leads me first to the +rug, then to the bookshelf, and finds the pin. Now, what has happened in +this case? What movements have I made? + +Firstly, I have made no _voluntary_ movement; and secondly, I have made +no _conscious involuntary_ movement. But, thirdly, I have made an +_unconscious involuntary_ movement which directly depended on conscious +ideation. I strongly thought of the bookshelf, and when the bookshelf +was reached in our vague career about the room I made a movement--say +rather a tremor occurred--in my hand, which, although beyond both my +knowledge and my control, was enough to supply to the muscle-reader's +delicate sensibility all the indication required. All this is now +admitted, and, in a sense, understood; we formulate it by saying that my +conscious ideation contained a motor element; and that this motor +element, though inhibited from any conscious manifestation, did yet +inevitably externalise itself in a peripheral tremor. + +But, fourthly, something more than this has clearly taken place. Before +the muscle-reader stopped at the bookshelf he stopped at the rug. I was +no longer consciously thinking of the rug; but the idea of the pin in +the rug must still have been reverberating, so to say, in my +sub-conscious region; and this unconscious memory, this unnoted +reverberation, revealed itself in a peripheral tremor nearly as distinct +as that which (when the bookshelf was reached) corresponded to the +strain of conscious thought. + +This tremor, then, was in a certain sense a message-bearing automatism. +It was the externalisation of an idea which, once conscious, had become +unconscious, though in the slightest conceivable degree--namely, by a +mere slight escape from the field of direct attention. + +Having, then, considered an instance where the automatic message passes +only between two closely-adjacent strata of consciousness, externalising +an impulse derived from an idea which has only recently sunk out of +consciousness and which could easily be summoned back again;--let us +find our next illustration in a case where the line of demarcation +between the strata of consciousness through which the automatic message +pierces is distinct and impassable by any effort of will. + +Let us take a case of _post-hypnotic suggestion_;--say, for instance, an +experiment of Edmund Gurney's (see _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. iv. p. +319). The subject had been trained to write with planchette, after he +had been awakened, the statements which had been made to him when in the +hypnotic trance. He wrote the desired words, or something like them, but +while he wrote them his waking self was entirely unaware of what his +hand was writing. Thus, having been told in the trance, "It has begun +snowing again," he wrote, after waking, "It begun snowing," while he +read aloud, with waking intelligence, from a book of stories, and was +quite unconscious of what his hand (placed on a planchette behind a +screen) was at the same time writing. + +Here we have an automatic message of traceable origin; a message +implanted in the hypnotic stratum of the subject's self, and cropping +up--like a fault--in the waking stratum,--externalised in automatic +movements which the waking self could neither predict nor guide. + +Yet once more. In the discussion which will follow we shall have various +instances of the transformation (as I shall regard it) of psychical +shock into definite muscular energy of apparently a quite alien kind. +Such transformations of so-called psychical into physical force--of will +into motion--do of course perpetually occur within us. + +For example, I take a child to a circus; he sits by me holding my hand; +there is a discharge of musketry and his grip tightens. Now in this case +we should call the child's tightened grip automatic. But suppose that, +instead of merely holding my hand, he is trying with all his might to +squeeze the dynamometer, and that the sudden excitation enables him to +squeeze it harder--are we then to describe that extra squeeze as +automatic? or as voluntary? + +However phrased, it is the fact (as amply established by M. Féré and +others[163]) that excitations of almost any kind--whether sudden and +startling or agreeable and prolonged--do tend to increase the subject's +dynamometrical power. In the first place, and this is in itself an +important fact, the average of squeezing-power is found to be greater +among educated students than among robust labouring men, thus showing +that it is not so much developed muscle as active brain which renders +possible a sudden concentration of muscular force. But more than this; +M. Féré finds that with himself and his friends the mere listening to an +interesting lecture, or the mere stress of thought in solitude, or still +more the act of writing or of speech, produces a decided increase of +strength in the grip, especially of the right hand. The same effect of +dynamogeny is produced with hypnotic subjects, by musical sounds, by +coloured light, especially red light, and even by a hallucinatory +suggestion of red light. "All our sensations," says M. Féré in +conclusion, "are accompanied by a development of potential energy, which +passes into a kinetic state, and externalises itself in motor +manifestations which even so rough a method as dynamometry is able to +observe and record." + +I would beg the reader to keep these words in mind. We shall presently +find that a method apparently even rougher than dynamographic tracings +may be able to interpret, with far greater delicacy, the automatic +tremors which are coursing to and fro within us. If once we can get a +spy into the citadel of our own being, his rudest signalling will tell +us more than our subtlest inferences from outside of what is being +planned and done within. + +And now having to deal with what I define as messages conveyed by one +stratum in man to another stratum, I must first consider in what general +ways human messages can be conveyed. Writing and speech have become +predominant in the intercourse of civilised men, and it is to writing +and speech that we look with most interest among the communications of +the subliminal self. But it does not follow that the subliminal self +will always have such complex methods at its command. We have seen +already that it often finds it hard to manage the delicate +co-ordinations of muscular movement required for writing,--that the +attempt at automatic script ends in a thump and a scrawl. + +The subliminal self like the telegraphist begins its effort with full +knowledge, indeed, of the alphabet, but with only weak and rude command +over our muscular adjustments. It is therefore _a priori_ likely that +its easiest mode of communication will be through a repetition of simple +movements, so arranged as to correspond to letters of the alphabet. + +And here, I think, we have attained to a conception of the mysterious +and much-derided phenomenon of "table-tilting" which enables us to +correlate it with known phenomena, and to start at least from an +intelligible basis, and on a definite line of inquiry. + +A few words are needed to explain what are the verifiable phenomena, and +the less verifiable hypotheses, connoted by such words as +"table-turning," "spirit-rapping," and the like. + +If one or more persons of a special type--at present definable only by +the question-begging and barbarous term "mediumistic"--remain quietly +for some time with hands in contact with some easily movable object, and +desiring its movement, that object will sometimes begin to move. If, +further, they desire it to indicate letters of the alphabet by its +movements,--as by tilting once for _a_, twice for _b_, etc., it will +often do so, and answers unexpected by any one present will be obtained. + +Thus far, whatever our interpretation, we are in the region of easily +reproducible facts, which many of my readers may confirm for themselves +if they please. + +But beyond the simple movements--or table-turning--and the intelligible +responses--or table-tilting--both of which are at least _primâ facie_ +physically explicable by the sitters' unconscious pressure, without +postulating any unknown physical force at all,--it is alleged by many +persons that further physical phenomena occur; namely, that the table +moves in a direction, or with a violence, which no unconscious pressure +can explain; and also that percussive sounds or "raps" occur, which no +unconscious action, or indeed no agency known to us, could produce. +These raps communicate messages like the tilts, and it is to them that +the name of "spirit-rapping" is properly given. But spiritualists +generally draw little distinction between these four phenomena--mere +table-turning, responsive table-tilting, movements of inexplicable +vehemence, and responsive raps--attributing all alike to the agency of +departed spirits of men and women, or at any rate to disembodied +intelligences of some kind or other. + +I am not at present discussing the physical phenomena of Spiritualism, +and I shall therefore leave on one side all the alleged movements and +noises of this kind for which unconscious pressure will not account. I +do not prejudge the question as to their real occurrence; but assuming +that such disturbances of the physical order do occur, there is at least +no _primâ facie_ need to refer them to disembodied spirits. If a table +moves when no one is touching it; this is not obviously more likely to +have been effected by my deceased grandfather than by myself. We cannot +tell how _I_ could move it; but then we cannot tell how _he_ could move +it either. The question must be argued on its merits in each case; and +our present argument is not therefore vitiated by our postponement of +this further problem. + +M. Richet[164] was, I believe, the first writer, outside the +Spiritualistic group, who so much as showed any practical knowledge of +this phenomenon, still less endeavoured to explain it. Faraday's +well-known explanation of table-turning as the result of the summation +of many unconscious movements--obviously true as it is for some of the +simplest cases of table-movement--does not touch this far more difficult +question of the origination of these intelligent messages, conveyed by +distinct and repeated movements of some object admitting of ready +displacement. The ordinary explanation--I am speaking, of course, of +cases where fraud is not in question--is that the sitter unconsciously +sets going and stops the movements so as to shape the word in accordance +with his expectation. Now that he unconsciously sets going and stops the +movements is part of my own present contention, but that the word is +thereby shaped in accordance with his expectation is often far indeed +from being the case. To those indeed who are familiar with automatic +_written_ messages, this question as to the unexpectedness of the +_tilted_ messages will present itself in a new light. If the written +messages originate in a source beyond the automatist's supraliminal +self, so too may the tilted messages;--even though we admit that the +tilts are caused by his hand's pressure of the table just as directly as +the script by his hand's manipulation of the pen. + +One piece of evidence showing that _written_ messages are not always the +mere echo of expectation is a case[165] where _anagrams_ were +automatically written, which their writer was not at once able to +decipher. Following this hint, I have occasionally succeeded in getting +anagrams tilted out for myself by movements of a small table which I +alone touched. + +This is a kind of experiment which might with advantage be oftener +repeated; for the extreme incoherence and silliness of the responses +thus obtained does not prevent the process itself from being in a high +degree instructive. Here, again (as in automatic writing), a man may +hold colloquy with his own dream--may note in actual juxtaposition two +separate strata of his own intelligence. + +I shall not at present pursue the discussion of these tilted responses +beyond this their very lowest and most rudimentary stage. They almost +immediately suggest another problem, for which our discussion is hardly +ripe, the participation, namely, of several minds in the production of +the same automatic message. There is something of this difficulty even +in the explanation of messages given when the hands of two persons are +touching a planchette; but when the instrument of response is large, and +the method of response simple, as with table-tilting, we find this +question of the influence of more minds than one imperatively recurring. + +Our immediate object, however, is rather to correlate the different +attainable modes of automatic response in some intelligible scheme than +to pursue any one of them through all its phases. We regarded the +table-tilting process as in one sense the simplest, the least +differentiated form of motor response. It is a kind of _gesture_ merely, +though a gesture implying knowledge of the alphabet. Let us see in what +directions the movement of response becomes more specialised,--as +gesture parts into pictorial art and articulate speech. We find, in +fact, that a just similar divergence of impulses takes place in +automatic response. On the one hand the motor impulse specialises itself +into _drawing_; on the other hand it specialises itself into _speech_. +Of automatic drawing I have already said something (Chapter III.). +Automatic speech will receive detailed treatment in Chapter IX. At +present I shall only briefly indicate the position of each form of +movement among cognate automatisms. + +Some of my readers may have seen these so-called +"spirit-drawings,"--designs, sometimes in colour, whose author asserts +that he drew them without any plan, or even knowledge of what his hand +was going to do. This assertion may be quite true, and the person making +it may be perfectly sane.[166] The drawings so made will be found +curiously accordant with what the view which I am explaining would lead +us to expect. For they exhibit a fusion of arabesque with ideography; +that is to say, they partly resemble the forms of ornamentation into +which the artistic hand strays when, as it were, dreaming on the paper +without definite plan; and partly they afford a parallel to the early +attempts at symbolic self-expression of savages who have not yet learnt +an alphabet. Like savage writing, they pass by insensible transitions +from direct pictorial symbolism to an abbreviated ideography, mingled in +its turn with writing of a fantastic or of an ordinary kind. + +And here, before we enter on the study of automatic writing, I must +refer to two great historic cases of automatism, which may serve as a +kind of prologue to what is to follow. One case, that of Socrates, is a +case of monitory _inhibition_; the other, that of Jeanne d'Arc, of +monitory _impulse_. + +The Founder of Science himself--the permanent type of sanity, +shrewdness, physical robustness, and moral balance--was guided in all +the affairs of life by a monitory Voice,--by "the Dæmon of Socrates." +This is a case which can never lose its interest, a case which has been +vouched for by the most practical, and discussed by the loftiest +intellect of Greece,--both of them intimate friends of the illustrious +subject;--a case, therefore, which one who endeavours to throw new light +on hallucination and automatism is bound, even at this distance of time, +to endeavour to explain.[167] And this is the more needful, since a +treatise was actually written, a generation ago, as "a specimen of the +application of the science of psychology to the science of history," +arguing from the records of the δαιμὁνιον in Xenophon and Plato that +Socrates was in fact insane.[168] + +I believe that it is now possible to give a truer explanation; to place +these old records in juxtaposition with more instructive parallels; and +to show that the messages which Socrates received were only advanced +examples of a process which, if supernormal, is not abnormal, and which +characterises that form of intelligence which we describe as _genius_. + +The story of Socrates I take as a signal example of _wise automatism_; +of the possibility that the messages which are conveyed to the +supraliminal mind from subliminal strata of the personality,--whether as +sounds, as sights, or as movements,--may sometimes come from far beneath +the realm of dream and confusion,--from some self whose monitions convey +to us a wisdom profounder than we know. + +Similarly in the case of Joan of Arc, I believe that only now, with the +comprehension which we are gradually gaining of the possibility of an +impulse from the mind's deeper strata which is so far from madness that +it is wiser than our sanity itself,--only now, I repeat, can we +understand aright that familiar story. + +Joan's condemnation was based on her own admissions; and the Latin +_procès-verbal_ still exists, and was published from the MS. by M. +Quicherat, 1841-9, for the French Historical Society.[169] Joan, like +Socrates, was condemned mainly on the ground, or at least on the pretext +of her monitory voices: and her Apology remarkably resembles his, in its +resolute insistence on the truth of the very phenomena which were being +used to destroy her. Her answers are clear and self-consistent, and seem +to have been little, if at all, distorted by the recorder. Few pieces of +history so remote as this can be so accurately known. + +Fortunately for our purpose, her inquisitors asked her many questions as +to her voices and visions; and her answers enable us to give a pretty +full analysis of the phenomena which concern us. + +I. The voices do not begin with the summons to fight for France. Joan +heard them first at thirteen years of age,--as with Socrates also the +voice began in childhood. The first command consisted of nothing more +surprising than that "she was to be a good girl, and go often to +church." After this the voice--as in the case of Socrates--intervened +frequently, and on trivial occasions. + +II. The voice was accompanied at first by a light, and sometimes +afterwards by figures of saints, who appeared to speak, and whom Joan +appears to have both seen and felt as dearly as though they had been +living persons. But here there is some obscurity; and Michelet thinks +that on one occasion the Maid was tricked by the courtiers for political +ends. For she asserted (apparently without contradiction) that several +persons, including the Archbishop of Rheims, as well as herself, had +seen an angel bringing to the King a material crown.[170] + +III. The voices came mainly when she was awake, but also sometimes +roused her from sleep; a phenomenon often observed in our cases of +"veridical hallucination." "Ipsa dormiebat, et vox excitabat eam." +(Quicherat, i., p. 62.) + +IV. The voice was not always fully intelligible (especially if she was +half awake);--in this respect again resembling some of our recorded +cases, both visual and auditory, where, on the view taken in _Phantasms +of the Living_, the externalisation has been incomplete. "Vox dixit +aliqua, sed non omnia intellexit." (Quicherat, i., p. 62.) + +V. The predictions of the voice, so far as stated, were mainly +fulfilled; viz., that the siege of Orleans would be raised; that Charles +VII. would be crowned at Rheims; that she herself would be wounded; but +the prediction that there would be a great victory over the English +within seven years was not fulfilled in any exact way, although the +English continued to lose ground. In short, about so much was fulfilled +as an ardent self-devoted mind might have anticipated; much indeed that +might have seemed irrational to ordinary observers, but nothing which +actually needed a definite prophetic power. Here, again, we are reminded +of the general character of the monitions of Socrates. And yet in Joan's +case, more probably than in the case of Socrates, there may have been +one singular exception to this general rule. She knew by monition that +there was a sword "retro altare"--somewhere behind the altar--in the +Church of St. Catherine of Fierbois. "Scivit ipsum ibi esse per +voces":--she sent for it, nothing doubting, and it was found and given +to her. This was a unique incident in her career. Her judges asked +whether she had not once found a cup, and a missing priest, by help of +similar monitions, but this she denied; and it is remarkable that no +serious attempt was made either to show that she had claimed this +clairvoyant power habitually, or, on the other hand, to invalidate the +one instance of it which she did in effect claim. It would be absurd to +cite the alleged discovery of the sword as in itself affording a proof +of clairvoyance, any more than Socrates' alleged intimation of the +approaching herd of swine.[171] But when we are considering monitions +given in more recent times it will be well to remember that it is in +this direction that some supernormal extension of knowledge seems +possibly traceable. + +The cases of Socrates and of Joan of Arc, on which I have just dwelt, +might with almost equal fitness have been introduced at certain other +points of my discussion. At first sight, at any rate, they appear rather +like sensory than like motor automatisms,--like hallucinations of +hearing rather than like the motor impulses which we are now about to +study. Each case, however, approaches motor automatism in a special way. + +In the case of Socrates the "sign" seems to have been not so much a +definite voice as a sense of _inhibition_. In the case of Joan of Arc +the voices were definite enough, but they were accompanied--as such +voices sometimes are, but sometimes are _not_--with an overmastering +impulse to _act_ in obedience to them. These are, I may say, palmary +cases of inhibition and of impulse: and inhibition and impulse are at +the very root of motor phenomena. + +They show moreover the furthest extent of the claim that can be made for +the agency of the subliminal self, apart from any external +influence,--apart from telepathy from the living, or possession by the +departed. Each of those other hypotheses will claim its own group of +cases; but we must not invoke them until the resources of subliminal +wisdom are manifestly overtaxed. + +These two famous cases, then, have launched us on our subject in the +stress of a twofold difficulty in logical arrangement. We cannot always +answer these primary questions, Is the subliminal impulse sensory or +motor? is it originated in the automatist's own mind, or in some mind +external to him? + +In the first place, we must reflect that, if the subliminal self really +possesses that profound power over the organism with which I have +credited it, we may expect that its "messages" will sometimes express +themselves in the form of deep organic modifications--of changes in the +vaso-motor, the circulatory, the respiratory systems. Such phenomena are +likely to be less noted or remembered as _coincidental_, from their very +indefiniteness, as compared, for instance, with a phantasmal appearance; +but we have, nevertheless, records of various telepathic cases of deep +cœnesthetic disturbance, of a profound _malaise_ which must, one +would think, have involved some unusual condition of the viscera.[172] + +In cases, too, where the telepathic impression has ultimately assumed a +definite sensory form, some organic or emotional phenomena have been +noted, being perhaps the _first_ effects of the telepathic impact, +whether from the living or from the dead.[173] + +And here I may mention an experience of Lady de Vesci's, who described +to me in conversation a feeling of _malaise_, defining itself into the +urgent need of definite action--namely, the despatch of a telegram to a +friend who was in fact then dying at the other side of the world.[174] +Such an impulse had one only parallel in her experience, which also was +telepathic in a similar way. + +Similar sensory disturbances are sometimes reported in connection with +an important form of motor automatism,--that of "dowsing" or discovering +water by means of the movement of a rod held in the hands of the +automatist,--already treated of in Appendix V. A. + +A small group of cases may naturally be mentioned here. From two +different points of view they stand for the most part at the entrance of +our subject. I speak of motor inhibitions, prompted at first by +subliminal memory, or by subliminal hyperæsthesia, but merging into +telæsthesia or telepathy. Inhibitions--sudden arrests or incapacities of +action--(more or less of the Socratic type)--form a simple, almost +rudimentary, type of motor automatisms. And an inhibition--a sudden +check on action of this kind--will be a natural way in which a strong +but obscure impression will work itself out. Such an impression, for +instance, is that of _alarm_, suggested by some vague sound or odour +which is only subliminally perceived. And thus in this series of motor +automatisms, just as in our series of dreams, or in our series of +sensory automatisms, we find ourselves beginning with cases where the +subliminal self merely shows some slight extension of memory or of +sensory perception,--and thence pass insensibly to cases where no +"cryptomnesia" will explain the facts known in the past, and no +hyperæsthesia will explain the facts discerned in the present. + +We may most of us have observed that if we perform any small action to +which there are objections, which we have once known but which have +altogether passed from our minds, we are apt to perform it in a +hesitating, inefficient way. + +Similarly there are cases where some sudden muscular impulse or +inhibition has probably depended on a subliminal perception or +interpretation of a sound which had not reached the supraliminal +attention. For instance, two friends walking together along a street in +a storm just evade by sudden movements a falling mass of masonry. Each +thinks that he has received some _monition_ of the fall; each asserting +that he heard no noise whatever to warn him. Here is an instance where +subliminal perception may have been slightly quicker and more delicate +than supraliminal, and may have warned them just in time. + +In the case which I now quote (from _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xi. p. +416) there may have been some subliminal hyperæsthesia of hearing which +dimly warned Mr. Wyman of the approach of the extra train.[175] + +Mr. Wm. H. Wyman writes to the Editor of the _Arena_ as follows:-- + + +DUNKIRK, N. Y., _June 26th, 1891_. + + Some years ago my brother was employed and had charge as conductor + and engineer of a working train on the Lake Shore and Michigan + Southern Railway, running between Buffalo and Erie, which passes + through this city (Dunkirk, N. Y.). I often went with him to the + Grave Bank, where he had his headquarters, and returned on his + train with him. On one occasion I was with him, and after the train + of cars was loaded, we went together to the telegraph office to see + if there were any orders, and to find out if the trains were on + time, as he had to keep out of the way of all regular trains. After + looking over the train reports and finding them all on time, we + started for Buffalo. As we approached near Westfield Station, + running about 12 miles per hour, and when within about one mile of + a long curve in the line, my brother all of a sudden shut off the + steam, and quickly stepping over to the fireman's side of the + engine, he looked out of the cab window, and then to the rear of + his train to see if there was anything the matter with either. Not + discovering anything wrong, he stopped and put on steam, but almost + immediately again shut it off and gave the signal for breaks and + stopped. After inspecting the engine and train and finding nothing + wrong, he seemed very much excited, and for a short time he acted + as if he did not know where he was or what to do. I asked what was + the matter. He replied that he did not know, when, after looking at + his watch and orders, he said that he felt that there was some + trouble on the line of the road. I suggested that he had better run + his train to the station and find out. He then ordered his flagman + with his flag to go ahead around the curve, which was just ahead of + us, and he would follow with the train. The flagman started and had + just time to flag an extra express train, with the General + Superintendent and others on board, coming full 40 [forty] miles + per hour. The Superintendent inquired what he was doing there, and + if he did not receive orders to keep out of the way of the extra. + My brother told him that he had not received orders and did not + know of any extra train coming; that we had both examined the train + reports before leaving the station. The train then backed to the + station, where it was found that no orders had been given. The + train despatcher was at once discharged from the road, and from + that time to this both my brother and myself are unable to account + for his stopping the train as he did. I consider it quite a + mystery, and cannot give or find any intelligent reason for it. Can + you suggest any? + + The above is true and correct in every particular. + +In other cases again some subliminal sense of smell may be +conjectured.[176] + +_Tactile sensibility_, too, must be carefully allowed for. The sense of +varying resistance in the air may reach in some seeing persons, as well +as in the blind, a high degree of acuteness.[177] + +But there are cases of sudden motor inhibition where no warning can well +have been received from hyperæsthetic sensation, where we come, as it +seems, to telæsthesia or to spirit guardianship. + +(From _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xi. p. 459.) + + Four years ago, I made arrangements with my nephew, John W. + Parsons, to go to my office after supper to investigate a case. We + walked along together, both fully determined to go up into the + office, but just as I stepped upon the door sill of the drug store, + in which my office was situated, some invisible influence stopped + me instantly. I was much surprised, felt like I was almost dazed, + the influence was so strong, almost like a blow, I felt like I + could not make another step. I said to my nephew, "John, I do not + feel like going into the office now; you go and read Flint and + Aitken on the subject." He went, lighted the lamp, took off his + hat, and just as he was reaching for a book the report of a large + pistol was heard. The ball entered the window near where he was + standing, passed near to and over his head, struck the wall and + fell to the floor. Had I been standing where he was, I would have + been killed, as I am much taller than he. The pistol was fired by a + man who had an old grudge against me, and had secreted himself in a + vacant house near by to assassinate me. + + This impression was unlike any that I ever had before. All my + former impressions were slow in their development, grew stronger + and stronger, until the maximum was reached. I did not feel that I + was in any danger, and could not understand what the strong + impression meant. The fellow was drunk, had been drinking for two + weeks. If my system had been in a different condition--I had just + eaten supper--I think I would have received along with the + impression some knowledge of the character of the danger, and would + have prevented my nephew from going into the office. + + I am fully satisfied that the invisible and unknown intelligence + did the best that could have been done, under the circumstances, to + save us from harm. + +D. J. PARSONS, M.D., Sweet Springs, Mo. + + (The above account was received in a letter from Dr. D. J. Parsons, + dated _December 15th, 1891_.) + + Statement of Dr. J. W. PARSONS. + + About four years ago my uncle, Dr. D. J. Parsons, and I were going + to supper, when a man halted us and expressed a desire for medical + advice. My uncle requested him to call the next morning, and as we + walked along he said the case was a bad one and that we would come + back after supper and go to the office and examine the authorities + on the subject. After supper we returned, walked along together on + our way to the office, but just as we reached the door of the drug + store he very unexpectedly, to me, stopped suddenly, which caused + me to stop too; we stood there together a few seconds, and he + remarked to me that he did not feel like going into the office + then, or words to that effect, and told me to go and examine Flint + and Aitken. I went, lit the lamp, and just as I was getting a book, + a pistol was fired into the office, the ball passing close to my + head, struck the east wall, then the north, and fell to the floor. + + This 5th day of July, 1891. + +JOHN W. PARSONS [Ladonia, Texas.] + +In the next group of cases, we reach a class of massive motor impulses +which are almost entirely free from any sensory admixture. + +Take for instance the case of Mr. Garrison, who left a religious meeting +in the evening, and walked eighteen miles under the strong impulse to +see his mother, and found her dead. The account is given in the +_Journal_ S.P.R., vol. viii. p. 125 [§ 825]. + +In another case, that of Major Kobbé (given in _Phantasms of the +Living_, vol. i. p. 288), the percipient was prompted to visit a distant +cemetery, without any conscious reason, and there found his father, who +had, in fact, for certain unexpected reasons, sent to his son, Major +Kobbé, a request (accidentally _not received_) to meet him at that place +and hour. + +In a third case, Mr. Skirving (see _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. i. p. +285 [825 A]) was irresistibly compelled to leave his work and go +home--_why_, he knew not--at the moment when his wife was in fact +calling for him in the distress of a serious accident. See also a case +given in _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. ii. p. 377, where a bricklayer +has a sudden impulse to run home, and arrives just in time to save the +life of his little boy, who had set himself on fire. + +This special sensibility to the _motor_ element in an impulse recalls to +us the special susceptibilities to different forms of hallucination or +suggestion shown by different hypnotic subjects. Some can be made to +see, some to hear, some to act out the conception proposed to them. Dr. +Bérillon[178] has even shown that certain subjects who seem at first +quite refractory to hypnotisation are nevertheless at once obedient, +even in the waking state, to a motor suggestion. This was the case both +with a very strong man, with weak men and women, and with at least one +subject actually suffering from locomotor ataxy. Thus the loss of +supraliminal motor control over certain muscular combinations may +actually lead to _motor suggestibility_ as regards those combinations; +just as the loss of supraliminal sensation in some anæsthetic patch may +lead to a special subliminal sensitiveness in the very directions where +the superficial sensibility has sunk away. On the other hand, a +specially well-developed motor control may predispose in a similar +way;--as for instance, the subject who can sing already is more easily +made to sing by suggestion. We must, then, await further observations +before we can pretend to say beforehand with which automatist the +messages will take a sensory, and with which a motor form. + +Still less can we explain the special predisposition of each +experimenter to one or more of the common kinds of motor automatism--as +automatic speech, automatic writing, table movements, raps, and so +forth. These forms of messages may themselves be variously combined; and +the contents of a message of any one of these kinds may be purely +dream-like and fantastic, or may be veridical in various ways. + +Let us enumerate the modes of subliminal motor message as nearly as we +can in order of their increasing specialisation. + +1. We may place first the massive motor impulses (like Mr. Garrison's) +which mark a kind of transition between cœnesthetic affections and +motor impulses proper. There was here no impulse to special movement of +any limb; but an impulse to reach a certain place by ordinary methods. + +2. Next, perhaps, in order of specialisation come the simple subliminal +muscular impulses which give rise to table-tilting and similar +phenomena. + +3. Musical execution, subliminally initiated, might theoretically be +placed next; although definite evidence of this is hard to obtain, since +the threshold of consciousness with musical performers is notoriously +apt to be shifting and indefinite. ("When in doubt, play with your +fingers, and not with your head.") + +4. Next we may place automatic drawing and painting. This curious group +of messages has but seldom a telepathic content, and, as was suggested +in Chapter III., is more akin to _genius_ and similar non-telepathic +forms of subliminal faculty.[179] + +5. Next comes automatic writing, on which much remains to be said in +this chapter. + +6. Automatic _speech_, which would not seem to be _per se_ a more +developed form of motor message than automatic script, is often +accompanied by profound changes of memory or of personality which raise +the question of "inspiration" or "possession";--for the two words, +however different their theological import, mean much the same thing +from the standpoint of experimental psychology. + +7. I must conclude my list with a class of motor phenomena which I shall +here merely record in passing, without attempting any explanation. I +allude to raps, and to those telekinetic movements of objects whose real +existence is still matter of controversy. + +Comparing this list of motor automatisms with the sensory automatisms +enumerated in Chapter VI., we shall find a certain general tendency +running through each alike. The sensory automatisms began with vague +unspecialised sensations. They then passed through a phase of +definition, of specialisation on the lines of the known senses. And +finally they reached a stage beyond these habitual forms of +specialisation: beyond them, as of wider reach, and including in an +apparently unanalysable act of perception a completer truth than any of +our specialised forms of perception could by itself convey. With motor +messages, too, we begin with something of similar vagueness. They, too, +develop from modifications of the percipient's general organic +condition, or cœnesthesia; and the first dim telepathic impulse +apparently hesitates between several channels of expression. They then +pass through various definitely specialised forms; and finally, as we +shall see when automatic script is considered, they, too, merge into an +unanalysable act of cognition in which the motor element of the message +has disappeared. But these motor messages point also in another even +more perplexing direction. They lead, as I have said above, towards the +old idea of _possession_;--using the word simply as an expression for +some form of temporary manifestation of some veritably distinct and +alien personality through the physical organism of some man or woman, as +is well exemplified in many cases of automatic writing. In Europe and +America the phenomenon of automatic writing first came into notice as an +element in so-called "modern spiritualism" about the middle of the +nineteenth century; but the writings of W. Stainton Moses--about +1870-80--were perhaps the first continuous series of such messages which +could be regarded as worthy of serious attention. Mr. Moses--a man whose +statements could not be lightly set aside--claimed for them that they +were the direct utterances of departed persons, some of them lately +dead, some dead long ago. However they were really to be explained, they +strongly impressed Edmund Gurney and myself and added to our desire to +work at the subject in as many ways as we could. + +It was plain that these writings could not be judged aright without a +wide analysis of similar scripts,--without an experimental inquiry into +what the human mind, in states of somnambulism or the like, could +furnish of written messages, apart from the main stream of +consciousness. By his experiments on writing obtained in different +stages of hypnotic trance, Gurney acted as the pioneer of a long series +of researches which, independently set on foot by Professor Pierre Janet +in France, have become of high psychological, and even medical, +importance. What is here of prime interest is the indubitable fact that +fresh personalities can be artificially and temporarily created, which +will write down matter quite alien from the first personality's +character, and even matter which the first personality never knew. That +matter may consist merely of reminiscences of previous periods when the +second personality has been in control. But, nevertheless, if these +writings are shown to the primary personality, he will absolutely +repudiate their authorship--alleging not only that he has no +recollection of writing them, but also that they contain allusions to +facts which he never knew. Some of these messages, indeed, although +their source is so perfectly well defined--although we know the very +moment when the secondary personality which wrote them was called into +existence--do certainly look more alien from the automatist in his +normal state than many of the messages which claim to come from spirits +of lofty type. It is noticeable, moreover, that these manufactured +personalities sometimes cling obstinately to their fictitious names, and +refuse to admit that they are in reality only aspects or portions of the +automatist himself. This must be remembered when the persistent _claim_ +to some spiritual identity--say Napoleon--is urged as an argument for +attributing a series of messages to that special person. + +What has now been said may suffice as regards the varieties of +mechanism--the different forms of motor automatism--which the messages +employ. I shall pass on to consider the _contents_ of the messages, and +shall endeavour to classify them according to their apparent sources. + +_A._ In the first place, the message may come from the percipient's own +mind; its contents being supplied from the resources of his ordinary +memory, or of his more extensive subliminal memory; while the +_dramatisation_ of the message--its assumption of some other mind as its +source--will resemble the dramatisations of dream or of hypnotic trance. + +Of course the absence of facts unknown to the writer is not in itself a +proof that the message does not come from some other mind. We cannot be +sure that other minds, if they can communicate, will always be at the +pains to fill their messages with evidential facts. But, equally of +course, a message devoid of such facts must not, on the strength of its +mere assertions, be claimed as the product of any but the writer's own +mind. + +_B._ Next above the motor messages whose content the automatist's own +mental resources might supply, we may place the messages whose content +seems to be derived telepathically from the mind of some other person +still living on earth; that person being either conscious or unconscious +of transmitting the suggestion. + +_C._ Next comes the possibility that the message may emanate from some +unembodied intelligence of unknown type--other, at any rate, than the +intelligence of the alleged agent. Under this heading come the views +which ascribe the messages on the one hand to "elementaries," or even +devils, and on the other hand to "guides" or "guardians" of superhuman +goodness and wisdom. + +_D._ Finally we have the possibility that the message may be derived, in +a more or less direct manner, from the mind of the agent--the departed +friend--from whom the communication does actually claim to come. + +My main effort has naturally been thus far directed to the proof that +there are messages which do _not_ fall into the lowest class, _A_--in +which class most psychologists would still place them all. And I +myself--while reserving a certain small portion of the messages for my +other classes--do not only admit but assert that the great majority of +such communications represent the subliminal workings of the +automatist's mind alone. It does not, however, follow that such messages +have for us no interest or novelty. On the contrary, they form an +instructive, an indispensable transition from psychological +introspection of the old-fashioned kind to the bolder methods on whose +validity I am anxious to insist. The mind's subliminal action, as thus +revealed, differs from the supraliminal in ways which no one +anticipated, and which no one can explain. There seem to be subliminal +tendencies setting steadily in certain obscure directions, and bearing +as little relation to the individual characteristics of the person to +the deeps of whose being we have somehow penetrated as profound +ocean-currents bear to waves and winds on the surface of the sea.[180] + +Another point also, of fundamental importance, connected with the powers +of the subliminal self, will be better deferred until a later chapter. I +have said that a message containing only facts normally known to the +automatist must not, on the strength of its mere assertions, be regarded +as proceeding from any mind but his own. This seems evident; but the +converse proposition is not equally indisputable. We must not take for +granted that a message which _does_ contain facts not normally known to +the automatist must therefore come from some mind other than his own. If +the subliminal self can acquire supernormal knowledge at all, it may +obtain such knowledge by means other than telepathic impressions from +other minds. It may assimilate its supernormal nutriment also by a +directer process--it may devour it not only cooked but raw. Parallel +with the possibilities of reception of such knowledge from the influence +of other embodied or disembodied minds lies the possibility of its own +clairvoyant perception, or active absorption of some kind, of facts +lying indefinitely beyond its supraliminal purview. + +Now, as I have said, the great majority of the nunciative or +message-bearing motor automatisms originate in the automatist's own +mind, and do not involve the exercise of telepathy or telæsthesia, or +any other supernormal faculty; but they illustrate in various ways the +coexistence of the subliminal with the supraliminal self, its wider +memory, and its independent intelligence. + +I need not here multiply instances of the simpler and commoner forms of +this type, and I will merely quote in illustration one short case +recounted by Mr. H. Arthur Smith (author of _The Principles of Equity_, +and a member of the Council of the Society for Psychical Research) who +has had the patience to analyse many communications through +"Planchette." + +(From _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. ii. p. 233.)[181] Mr. Smith and his +nephew placed their hands on the Planchette, and a purely fantastic +name was given as that of the communicating agency. + + Q. "Where did you live?" A. "Wem." This name was quite unknown to + any of us. I am sure it was to myself, and as sure of the word of + the others as of that of any one I know. + + Q. "Is it decided who is to be Archbishop of Canterbury?" A. "Yes." + + Q. "Who?" A. "Durham." As none of us remembered his name, we asked. + + "What is his name?" A. "Lightfoot." Of course, how far the main + statement is correct, I don't know. The curiosity at the time + rested in the fact that the name was given which none of us could + recall, but was found, to be right. + +Now, this is just one of the cases which a less wary observer might have +brought forward as evidence of spirit agency. An identity, it would be +said, manifested itself, and gave an address which none present had ever +heard. But I venture to say that there cannot be any real proof that an +educated person has never heard of Wem. A permanent recorded fact, like +the name of a town which is to be found (for instance) in Bradshaw's +Guide, may at any moment have been presented to Mr. Smith's eye, and +have found a lodgment in his subliminal memory. + +Similarly in the answers "Durham" and "Lightfoot" we are reminded of +cases where in a dream we ask a question with vivid curiosity, and are +astonished at the reply; which nevertheless proceeds from _ourselves_ as +undoubtedly as does the inquiry. The prediction in this case was wrong. + +What we have been shown is an independent activity of the subliminal +self holding colloquies with the supraliminal, and nothing more. Yet we +shall find, if we go on accumulating instances of the same general type, +that traces of telæsthesia and telepathy begin insensibly to show +themselves; not at first with a distinctness or a persistence sufficient +for actual proof, but just in the same gradual way in which indications +of supernormal faculty stole in amid the disintegration of split +personalities; or in which indications of some clairvoyant outlook stole +in amid the incoherence of dream. Many of these faint indications, +valueless, as I have said, for purely evidential purposes, are +nevertheless of much theoretical interest, as showing how near is the +subliminal self to that region of supernormal knowledge which for the +supraliminal is so definitely closed.[182] + +Mr. Schiller's case (see _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. iv. pp. 216-224) +[832 A] is a good example of these obscure transitions between normal +and supernormal, and introduces us to several phenomena which we shall +afterwards find recurring again and again in independent quarters. +Dramatisation of fictitious personalities, for instance, which forms so +marked a feature in Professor Flournoy's celebrated case (to be +discussed later), begins in this series of experiments, conducted +throughout with a purely scientific aim, and with no sort of belief in +the imaginary "Irktomar" and the rest. It seems as though this +"objectivation of types" were part of a romance which some inscrutable +but childish humorist was bent on making up. The "cryptomnesia" shown in +this case through the reproduction of scraps of old French with which +the automatist had no conscious acquaintance, reached a point at which +(as again in Professor Flournoy's case) one is almost driven to suspect +that it was aided by some slight clairvoyance on the part of the +subliminal self. + +Indeed as the cases become increasingly complex, one wonders to what +extent this strange manufacture of inward romances can be carried. There +is, I may say, a great deal more of it in the world than is commonly +suspected. I have myself received so many cases of these dramatised +utterances--as though a number of different spirits were writing in turn +through some automatist's hand--that I have come to recognise the +operation of some law of dreams, so to call it, as yet but obscurely +understood. The alleged personalities are for the most part not only +unidentified, but purposely unidentifiable; they give themselves +romantic or ludicrous names, and they are produced and disappear as +lightly as puppets on a mimic stage. The main curiosity of such cases +lies in their very persistence and complexity; it would be a waste of +space to quote any of the longer ones in such a way as to do them +justice. And, fortunately, there is no need for me to give any of my own +cases; since a specially good case has been specially well observed and +reported in a book with which many of my readers are probably already +acquainted,--Professor Flournoy's _Des Indes à la planète Mars: Etude +sur un cas de Somnambulisme avec Glossolalie_ (Paris and Geneva, 1900). +I shall here make some comments on that striking record, which all +students of these subjects ought to study in detail. + +It happens, no doubt, to any group which pursues for many years a +somewhat unfamiliar line of inquiry, that those of their points which +are first assailed get gradually admitted, so that as they become +interested in new points they may scarcely observe what change has taken +place in the reception of the old. The reader of early volumes of the +_Proceedings_ S.P.R. will often observe this kind of progress of +opinion. And now Professor Flournoy's book indicates in a remarkable way +how things have moved in the psychology of the last twenty years. The +book--a model of fairness throughout--is indeed, for the most part, +critically _destructive_ in its treatment of the quasi-supernormal +phenomena with which it deals. But what a mass of conceptions a +competent psychologist now takes for granted in this realm, which the +official science of twenty years ago would scarcely stomach our hinting +at! + +One important point may be noticed at once as decisively corroborating a +contention of my own made long ago, and at a time when it probably +seemed fantastic to many readers. Arguing for the potential _continuity_ +of subliminal mentation (as against those who urged that there were only +occasional flashes of submerged thought, like scattered dreams), I said +that it would soon be found needful to press this notion of a continuous +subliminal self to the utmost, if we were not prepared to admit a +continuous spiritual guidance or possession. Now, in fact, with +Professor Flournoy's subject the whole discussion turns on this very +point. There is unquestionably a continuous and complex series of +thoughts and feelings going on beneath the threshold of consciousness of +Mlle. "Hélène Smith." Is this submerged mentation due in any degree or +in any manner to the operation of spirits other than Mlle. Smith's own? +That is the broad question; but it is complicated here by a subsidiary +question: whether, namely, any previous incarnations of Mlle. +Smith's--other phases of her own spiritual history, now involving +complex relationship with the past--have any part in the crowd of +personalities which seem struggling to express themselves through her +quite healthy organism. + +Mlle. Smith, I should at once say, is not,[183] and never has been, a +paid medium. At the date of M. Flournoy's book, she occupied a leading +post on the staff of a large _maison de commerce_ at Geneva, and gave +séances to her friends simply because she enjoyed the exercise of her +mediumistic faculties, and was herself interested in their explanation. + +Her organism, I repeat, is regarded, both by herself and by others, as a +quite healthy one. Mlle. Smith, says Professor Flournoy, declares +distinctly that she is perfectly sound in body and mind--in no way +lacking in equilibrium--and indignantly repudiates the idea that there +is any hurtful anomaly or the slightest danger in mediumship as she +practises it. + +"It is far from being demonstrated," he continues, "that mediumship is a +pathological phenomenon. It is abnormal, no doubt, in the sense of being +_rare_, _exceptional_; but rarity is not morbidity. The few years during +which these phenomena have been seriously and scientifically studied +have not been enough to allow us to pronounce on their true nature. It +is interesting to note that in the countries where these studies have +been pushed the furthest, in England and America, the dominant view +among the _savants_ who have gone deepest into the matter is not at all +unfavourable to mediumship; and that, far from regarding it as a special +case of hysteria, they see in it a faculty superior, advantageous, +healthy, of which hysteria is a form of degenerescence, a pathological +parody, a morbid caricature." + +The phenomena which this sensitive presents (Hélène Smith is Professor +Flournoy's pseudonym for her) cover a range which looks at first very +wide, although a clearer analysis shows that these varieties are more +apparent than real, and that self-suggestion will perhaps account for +all of them. + +There is, to begin with, every kind of automatic irruption of subliminal +into supraliminal life. As Professor Flournoy says (p. 45): "Phenomena +of hypermnesia, divinations, mysterious findings of lost objects, happy +inspirations, exact presentiments, just intuitions, teleological +(purposive or helpful) automatisms, in short, of every kind; she +possesses in a high degree this small change of genius--which +constitutes a more than sufficient compensation for the inconvenience +resulting from those distractions and moments of absence of mind which +accompany her visions; and which, moreover, generally pass unobserved." + +At séances--where the deeper change has no inconveniences--Hélène +undergoes a sort of self-hypnotisation which produces various lethargic +and somnambulistic states. And when she is alone and safe from +interruption she has spontaneous visions, during which there may be some +approach to ecstasy. At the séances she experiences positive +hallucinations, and also negative hallucinations, or systematised +anæsthesiæ, so that, for instance, she will cease to see some person +present, especially one who is to be the recipient of messages in the +course of the séance. "It seems as though a dream-like incoherence +presided over this preliminary work of disaggregation, in which the +normal perceptions are arbitrarily split up or absorbed by the +subconscious personality--eager for materials with which to compose the +hallucinations which it is preparing." Then, when the séance begins, the +main actor is Hélène's guide _Léopold_ (a pseudonym for Cagliostro) who +speaks and writes through her, and is, in fact, either her leading +spirit-control or (much more probably) her most developed form of +secondary personality. + +"Leopold," says Professor Flournoy (p. 134), "certainly manifests a very +honourable and amiable side of Mlle. Smith's character, and in taking +him as her 'guide' she has followed inspirations which are doubtless +among the highest in her nature." + +The high moral quality of these automatic communications, on which +Professor Flournoy thus insists, is a phenomenon worth consideration. + +I do not mean that it is specially strange in the case of Mlle. Smith. +But the almost universally high moral tone of genuinely automatic +utterances has not, I think, been sufficiently noticed or adequately +explained. + +In evidential messages--where there is real reason to believe that an +identified spirit is communicating--there is a marked and independent +consensus on such matters as these spirits profess themselves able to +discuss. + +And again in non-evidential messages--in communications which probably +proceed from the automatist's subliminal self--I hold that there is a +remarkable and undesigned concordance in high moral tone, and also in +avoidance of certain prevalent tenets, which many of the automatists do +supraliminally hold as true. But I also insist that these subliminal +messages, even when not incoherent, are generally dream-like, and often +involve tenets which (though never in my experience base or immoral) are +unsupported by evidence, and are probably to be referred to mere +self-suggestion. + +Prominent among such tenets is one which forms a large part of Mlle. +Smith's communications; namely, the doctrine of _reincarnation_, or of +successive lives spent by each soul upon this planet. + +The simple fact that such was probably the opinion both of Plato and of +Virgil shows that there is nothing here which is alien to the best +reason or to the highest instincts of men. Nor, indeed, is it easy to +realise any theory of the _direct creation_ of spirits at such different +stages of advancement as those which enter upon the earth in the guise +of mortal man. There _must_, one feels, be some kind of continuity--some +form of spiritual Past. Yet for reincarnation there is at present no +valid evidence; and it must be my duty to show how its assertion in any +given instance--Mlle. Smith's included--constitutes in itself a strong +argument in favour of self-suggestion rather than extraneous inspiration +as the source of the messages in which it appears. + +Whenever civilised men have received what they have regarded as a +revelation (which has generally been somewhat fragmentary in its first +delivery) they have naturally endeavoured to complete and systematise it +as well as they could. In so doing they have mostly aimed at three +objects: (1) to _understand_ as much as possible of the secrets of the +universe; (2) to _justify_ as far as possible Heaven's dealings with +men; and (3) to _appropriate_ as far as possible the favour or benefit +which the revelation may show as possibly accruing to believers. For all +these purposes the doctrine of reincarnation has proved useful in many +countries and times. But in no case could it seem more appropriate than +in this last revelation (so to term it) through automatic messages and +the like. And as a matter of history, a certain vigorous preacher of the +new faith, known under the name of Allan Kardec, took up +reincarnationist tenets, enforced them (as there is reason to believe) +by strong suggestion upon the minds of various automatic writers, and +set them forth in dogmatic works which have had much influence, +especially among Latin nations, from their clarity, symmetry, and +intrinsic reasonableness. Yet the data thus collected were absolutely +insufficient, and the _Livre des Esprits_ must simply rank as the +premature formulation of a new religion--the premature systematisation +of a nascent science. + +I follow Professor Flournoy in believing that the teaching of that work +must have directly or indirectly influenced the mind of Mlle. Smith, and +is therefore responsible for her claim to these incarnations previous to +that which she now undergoes or enjoys. + +On the general scheme here followed, each incarnation, if the last has +been used aright, ought to represent some advance in the scale of being. +If one earth-life has been misused, the next earth-life ought to afford +opportunity for expiation--or for further practice in the special virtue +which has been imperfectly acquired. Thus Mlle. Smith's present life in +a humble position may be thought to atone for her overmuch pride in her +last incarnation--as Marie Antoinette. + +But the mention of Marie Antoinette suggests the risk which this theory +fosters--of assuming that one is the issue of a distinguished line of +spiritual progenitors; insomuch that, with whatever temporary sets-back, +one is sure in the end to find oneself in a leading position. + +Pythagoras, indeed, was content with the secondary hero Euphorbus as his +bygone self. But in our days Dr. Anna Kingsford and Mr. Edward Maitland +must needs have been the Virgin Mary and St. John the Divine. And Victor +Hugo, who was naturally well to the front in these self-multiplications, +took possession of most of the leading personages of antiquity whom he +could manage to string together in chronological sequence. It is obvious +that any number of re-born souls can play at this game; but where no one +adduces any evidence it seems hardly worth while to go on. Even +Pythagoras does not appear to have adduced any evidence beyond his _ipse +dixit_ for his assertion that the alleged shield of Euphorbus had in +reality been borne by that mythical hero. Meantime the question as to +reincarnation has actually been put to a very few spirits who have given +some real evidence of their identity. So far as I know, no one of these +has claimed to know anything personally of such an incident; although +all have united in saying that their knowledge was too limited to allow +them to generalise on the matter. + +Hélène's controls and previous incarnations--to return to our +subject--do perhaps suffer from the general fault of aiming too high. +She has to her credit a control from the planet Mars; one +pre-incarnation as an Indian Princess; and a second (as I have said) as +Marie Antoinette. + +In each case there are certain impressive features in the impersonation; +but in each case also careful analysis negatives the idea that we can be +dealing with a personality really revived from a former epoch, or from a +distant planet;--and leaves us inclined to explain everything by +"cryptomnesia" (as Professor Flournoy calls submerged memory), and that +subliminal inventiveness of which we already know so much. + +The _Martian_ control was naturally the most striking at first sight. +Its reality was supported by a Martian language, written in a Martian +alphabet, spoken with fluency, and sufficiently interpreted into French +to show that such part of it, at any rate, as could be committed to +writing was actually a grammatical and coherent form of speech. + +And here I reach an appropriate point at which to remark that this book +of Professor Flournoy's is not the first account which has been +published of Mlle. Hélène. Professor Lemaître, of Geneva, printed two +papers about her in the _Annales des Sciences Psychiques_: first, a long +article in the number for March-April, 1897--then a reply to M. Lefébure +in the number for May-June, 1897. In these papers he distinctly claims +supernormal powers for Mlle. Hélène, implying a belief in her genuine +possession by spirits, and even in her previous incarnations, and in the +extra-terrene or ostensibly Martian language. I read these papers at the +time, but put them aside as inconclusive, mainly because that very +language, on which M. Lemaître seemed most to rely, appeared to me so +obviously factitious as to throw doubt on all the evidence presented by +an observer who could believe that denizens of another planet talked to +each other in a language corresponding in every particular with simple +French idioms, and including such words as _quisa_ for _quel_, _quisé_ +for _quelle_, _vétèche_ for _voir_, _vèche_ for _vu_;--the fantastic +locutions of the nursery. M. Lemaître remarks, as a proof of the +consistency and reality of the extra-terrene tongue, "L'un des premiers +mots que nous ayons eus, _métiche_, signifiant _monsieur_, se retrouve +plus tard avec le sens de _homme_." That is to say, having +transmogrified _monsieur_ into _métiche_, Hélène further transmutes +_les messieurs_ into _cée métiché_;--in naïve imitation of ordinary +French usage. And this tongue is supposed to have sprung up +independently of all the influences which have shaped terrene grammar in +general or the French idiom in particular! And even after Professor +Flournoy's analysis of this absurdity I see newspapers speaking of this +Martian language as an impressive phenomenon! They seem willing to +believe that the evolution of another planet, if it has culminated in +conscious life at all, can have culminated in a conscious life into +which we could all of us enter affably, with a suitable Ollendorff's +phrase-book under our arms;--"_eni cée métiché oné qudé_,"--"ici les +hommes (messieurs) sont bons,"--"here the men are good";--and the rest +of it. + +To the student of automatisms, of course, all this irresistibly suggests +the automatist's own subliminal handiwork. It is a case of "glossolaly," +or "speaking with tongues"; and we have no modern case--no case later +than the half-mythical Miracles of the Cevennes--where such utterance +has proved to be other than gibberish. I have had various automatic +hieroglyphics shown to me, with the suggestion that they may be cursive +Japanese, or perhaps an old dialect of Northern China; but I confess +that I have grown tired of showing these fragments to the irresponsive +expert, who suggests that they may also be vague reminiscences of the +scrolls in an Oriental tea-tray. + +It seems indeed to be a most difficult thing to get telepathically into +any brain even fragments of a language which it has not learnt. A few +simple Italian, and even Hawaiian, words occur in Mrs. Piper's +utterances, coming apparently from departed spirits (_Proceedings_ +S.P.R., vol. xiii. pp. 337 and 384 [960 A and § 961]), but these, with +some Kaffir and Chinese words given through Miss Browne (_Proceedings_ +S.P.R., vol. ix. pp. 124-127 [871 A]), form, I think, almost the only +instances which I know. And, speaking generally, whatever is elaborate, +finished, pretentious, is likely to be of subliminal facture; while only +things scrappy, perplexed, and tentative, have floated to us veritably +from afar. + +I need not here go into the details of the Hindow preincarnation or of +the more modern and accessible characterisation of Marie Antoinette, but +will pass on to certain minor, but interesting phenomena, which +Professor Flournoy calls _teleological automatisms_. These are small +acts of helpfulness--_beneficent synergies_, as we might term them, in +contrast with the _injurious synergies_, or combined groups of _hurtful_ +actions, with which hysteria has made us familiar.[184] + +"One day," says Professor Flournoy (p. 35), "Miss Smith, when desiring +to lift down a large and heavy object which lay on a high shelf, was +prevented from doing so because her raised arm remained for some seconds +as though petrified in the air and incapable of movement. She took this +as a warning, and gave up the attempt. At a subsequent séance Leopold +stated that it was he who had thus fixed Hélène's arm to prevent her +from grasping this object, which was much too heavy for her and would +have caused her some accident. + +"Another time, a shopman, who had been looking in vain for a certain +pattern, asked Hélène if by chance she knew what had become of it. +Hélène answered mechanically and without reflection--'Yes, it has been +sent to Mr. J.' (a client of the house). At the same time she saw before +her the number 18 in large black figures a few feet from the ground, and +added instinctively, 'It was sent eighteen days ago.' [This was in the +highest degree improbable, but was found to be absolutely correct.] +Leopold had no recollection of this, and does not seem to have been the +author of this cryptomnesic automatism." + +A similar phenomenon has also been noted (p. 87) when warning is +conveyed by an actual phantasmal figure. Mlle. Smith has seen an +_apparition_ of Leopold, barring a particular road, under circumstances +which make it probable that Mlle. Smith would on that day have had cause +to regret taking that route. + +This case of Professor Flournoy's, then--this classical case, as it may +already be fairly termed--may serve here as our culminant example of the +free scope and dominant activity of the unassisted subliminal self. The +telepathic element in this case, if it exists, is relatively small; what +we are watching in Mlle. Hélène Smith resembles, as I have said, a kind +of exaggeration of the submerged constructive faculty,--a hypertrophy of +genius--without the innate originality of mind which made even the +dreams of R. L. Stevenson a source of pleasure to thousands of readers. + +In reference to the main purpose of this work, such cases as these, +however curious, can be only introductory to automatisms of deeper +moment. In our attempt to trace an evolutive series of phenomena +indicating ever higher human faculty, the smallest telepathic +incident,--the most trivial proof, if proof it be, of communication +received without sensory intermediation from either an incarnate or a +discarnate mind outweighs in importance the most complex ramifications +and burgeonings of the automatist's own submerged intelligence. + +I pass on, then, to evidence which points, through motor automatisms, to +supernormal faculty; and I shall begin by referring the reader to +certain experiments (due to Professor Richet) in the simplest of all +forms of motor automatism, viz., table-tilting, with results which only +telepathy can explain. (See Appendix VIII. A.) + +Trivial though they seem, such experiments may with a little care be +made absolutely conclusive. Had Professor Richet's friends, for example, +been willing to prolong this series, we might have had a standing +demonstration of telepathy, reproducible at will.[185] + +And now I pass on to some experiments with Planchette, in which an +element of telepathy was shown. The following account from Mrs. Alfred +Moberly, Tynwald, Hythe, Kent, is corroborated, with some additional +examples, by two other ladies present at the time. + +(From _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. ii. p. 235.) + + +_May 9th, 1884._ + + The operators were placed out of sight of the rest of the company, + who selected--in silence--a photograph, one of an albumful, and + fixed their attention on it. We--the operators--were requested to + keep our minds a blank as far as possible and follow the first + involuntary motion of the Planchette. In three out of five cases it + wrote the name or initial or some word descriptive of the selected + portrait. We also obtained the signatures to letters selected in + the same manner. We both knew perfectly well that _we_ were + writing--not the spirits, as the rest of the company persist to + this day in believing--but had only the slightest idea what the + words might prove to be. + + We have tried it since, and generally with some curious result. A + crucial test was offered by two gentlemen in the form of a question + to which we couldn't possibly guess the answer. "Where's Toosey?" + The answer came, "In Vauxhall Road." "Toosey," they explained, was + a pet terrier who had disappeared; suspicion attaching to a plumber + living in the road mentioned, who had been working at the house and + whose departure coincided with Toosey's. + +Of course, in the case of the inquiry after the lost dog, we may suppose +that the answer given came from the questioner's own mind. Mrs. Moberly +and her friends seem to have been quite aware of this; and were little +likely to fall into the not uncommon error of asking Planchette, for +instance, what horse will win the Derby, and staking, perhaps, some +pecuniary consideration on the extremely illusory reply.[186] + +And now we come to the palmary case of the late Rev. P. H. Newnham, +Vicar of Maker, Devonport, who was personally known to Edmund Gurney and +myself, and was a man in all ways worthy of high respect. The long +series of communications between Mr. Newnham and his wife, which date +back to 1871, and whose contemporaneous written record is preserved in +the archives of the S.P.R., must, I think, always retain their primacy +as early and trustworthy examples of a telepathic transference where the +percipient's automatic script answers questions penned by the agent in +such a position that the percipient could not in any normal manner +discern what those questions were. No part of our evidence seems to me +more worthy of study than this.[187] + +It must be distinctly understood that Mrs. Newnham did not see or hear +the questions which Mr. Newnham wrote down.[188] The fact, therefore, +that her answers bore any relation to the questions shows that the sense +of the questions was telepathically conveyed to her. This is the leading +and important fact. The _substance_ of the replies written is also +interesting, and Mr. Newnham has some good comments thereon. But even +had the replies contained no facts which Mrs. Newnham could not have +known, this would not detract from the main value of the evidence, which +consists in the fact that _Mrs. Newnham's hand wrote replies clearly and +repeatedly answering questions which she neither heard nor saw_. + +In this case we have the advantage of seeing before us the entire series +of questions and answers, and thus of satisfying ourselves that the +misses (which in that case are very few) are marked as well as the hits, +and consequently that the coincidences between question and answer are +at any rate not the result of chance. In several other cases which I +have known, where the good faith of the informants has been equally +above question, the possibility of an explanation by chance alone has +been a more important element in the problem. All our evidence has +tended to show that the telepathic power itself is a variable thing; +that it shows itself in flashes, for the most part spontaneously, and +seldom persists through a series of deliberate experiments. And if an +automatist possessing power of this uncertain kind has exercised it at +irregular moments and with no scientific aim;--and has kept, moreover, +no steady record of success and failure;--then it becomes difficult to +say that even some brilliant coincidences afford cogent proof of +telepathic action.[189] + +I pass on to a small group of cases which form a curious transition from +these communications _inter vivos_ to communications which I shall class +as coming from the dead. These are cases where the message professes to +come from a deceased person, but shows internal evidence of having come, +telepathically, from the mind of some one present, or, indeed, from some +living person at a distance. (See the case given in Appendix VIII. B.) + +But this, although a real risk, is by no means the only risk of +deception which such messages involve. The communication may conceivably +come from some unembodied spirit indeed, but not from the spirit who is +claimed as its author. + +The reader who wishes to acquaint himself with this new range of +problems cannot do better than study the record of the varied +experiences of automatic writing which have been intermingled with Miss +A.'s crystal-visions, etc.[190] + +There is no case that I have watched longer than Miss A.'s;--none where +I have more absolute assurance of the scrupulous probity of the +principal sensitive herself and of the group who share the +experiments;--but none also which leaves me more often baffled as to the +unseen source of the information given. There is a knowledge both of the +past and of the future, which seems capriciously limited, and is mingled +with mistakes, yet on the other hand is of a nature which it is +difficult to refer to any individual human mind, incarnate or +discarnate. We meet here some of the first indications of a possibility +that discarnate spirits communicating with us have occasional access to +certain sources of knowledge which even to themselves are inscrutably +remote and obscure. + +The written diagnoses and prognoses given by the so-called "Semirus," +often without Miss A.'s even seeing the patient or hearing the nature of +his malady, have become more and more remarkable. Miss A. and her +friends do not wish these private matters to be printed, and I cannot +therefore insist upon the phenomena here. Yet in view of the amount of +telæsthesia which Miss A.'s various automatisms reveal, it should first +be noted that human organisms seem especially pervious to such _vue à +distance_. "Semirus," "Gelalius," etc., are obvious pseudonyms; and +neither Semirus' prescriptions nor Gelalius' cosmogony contain enough of +indication to enable us to grasp their origin.[191] + +From the communications of these remote personages I go on to certain +messages avowedly coming from persons more recently departed, and into +which something more of definite personality seems to enter. One element +of this kind is _handwriting_; there are many cases where resemblance of +handwriting is one of the evidential points alleged. Now proof of +identity from resemblance of handwriting may conceivably be very strong. +But in estimating it we must bear two points in mind. The first is that +(like the resemblances of so-called "spirit-photographs" to deceased +friends) it is often very loosely asserted. One needs, if not an +expert's opinion, at least a careful personal scrutiny of the three +scripts--the automatist's voluntary and his automatic script, and the +deceased person's script--before one can feel sure that the resemblance +is in more than some general scrawliness. This refers to the cases where +the automatist has provably never seen the deceased person's +handwriting. Where he _has_ seen that handwriting, we have to remember +(in the second place) that a hypnotised subject can frequently imitate +any known handwriting far more closely than in his waking state; and +that consequently we are bound to credit the subliminal self with a +mimetic faculty which may come out in these messages without any +supraliminal guidance whatever on the automatist's part. In +_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. v. pp. 549-65 [864 A], is an account of a +series of experiments by Professor Rossi-Pagnoni at Pesaro, into which +the question of handwriting enters. The account illustrates automatic +utterance as well as other forms of motor automatism, and possibly also +telekinetic phenomena. The critical discussion of the evidence by Mr. +H. Babington Smith, to whom we are indebted for the account, shows with +what complex considerations we have to deal in the questions now before +us. + +I now cite a few cases where the point of central interest is the +announcement of a death unknown to the sitters.[192] + +In Appendix VIII. C is given a case which we received from Dr. +Liébeault, of Nancy, and which was first published in _Phantasms of the +Living_ (vol. i. p. 293), where it was regarded as an example of a +spontaneous telepathic impulse proceeding directly from a dying person. +I now regard it as more probably due to the action of the spirit after +bodily death. + +I shall next give a _résumé_ of a case of curious complexity received +from M. Aksakof;--an automatic message written by a Mdlle. Stramm, +informing her of the death of a M. Duvanel. The principal incidents may +here be disentangled as follows:-- + + Duvanel dies by his own hand on January 15th, 1887, in a Swiss + village, where he lives alone, having no relations except a brother + living at a distance, whom Mdlle. Stramm had never seen (as the + principal witness, M. Kaigorodoff, informs us in a letter of May + 1890). + + Mdlle. Stramm's father does not hear of Duvanel's death till two + days later, and sends her the news in a letter dated January 18th, + 1887. + + Five hours after Duvanel's death an automatic message announcing it + is written at the house of M. Kaigorodoff, at Wilna in Russia, by + Mdlle. Stramm, who had certainly at that time received no news of + the event. + + From what mind are we to suppose that this information came? + + (1) We may first attempt to account for Mdlle. Stramm's message on + the theory of _latency_. We may suppose that the telepathic message + came from the dying man, but did not rise into consciousness until + an opportunity was afforded by Mdlle. Stramm's sitting down to + write automatically. + + But to this interpretation there is an objection of a very curious + kind. The message written by Mdlle. Stramm was not precisely + accurate. Instead of ascribing Duvanel's death to suicide, it + ascribed it to a stoppage of blood, "un engorgement de sang." + + And when M. Stramm, three days after the death, wrote to his + daughter in Russia to tell her of it, he also used the same + expression, "un engorgement de sang," thus disguising the actual + truth in order to spare the feelings of his daughter, who had + formerly refused to marry Duvanel, and who (as her father feared) + might receive a painful shock if she learnt the tragic nature of + his end. There was, therefore, a singular coincidence between the + automatic and the normally-written message as to the death;--a + coincidence which looks as though the same mind had been at work + in each instance. But that mind cannot have been M. Stramm's + ordinary mind, as he was not supraliminally aware of Duvanel's + death at the time when the first message was written. It may, + however, be supposed that his subliminal self had received the + information of the death telepathically, had transmitted it in a + deliberately modified form to his daughter, while it remained + latent in himself, and had afterwards influenced his supraliminal + self to modify the information in the same way when writing to her. + + (2) But we must also consider the explanation of the coincidence + given by the intelligence which controlled the automatic writing. + That intelligence asserted itself to be a brother of Mdlle. + Stramm's, who died some years before. And this "Louis" further + asserted that he had himself influenced M. Stramm to make use of + the same euphemistic phrase, with the object of avoiding a shock to + Mdlle. Stramm; for which purpose it was needful that the two + messages should agree in ascribing the death to the same form of + sudden illness. + + Now if this be true, and the message did indeed come from the + deceased "Louis," we have an indication of continued existence, and + continued knowledge of earthly affairs, on the part of a person + long dead. + + But if we consider that the case, as presented to us, contains no + proof of "Louis'" identity, so that "Louis" may be merely one of + those arbitrary names which the automatist's subliminal + intelligence seems so prone to assume; then we must suppose that + Duvanel was actually operative on two occasions after death, first + inspiring in Mdlle. Stramm the automatic message, and then + modifying in M. Stramm the message which the father might otherwise + have sent. + +I next quote a case in Appendix VIII. D which illustrates the continued +terrene knowledge on the part of the dead of which other instances were +given in the last chapter. + +And lastly, I give in Appendix VIII. E a case which in one respect +stands alone. It narrates the success of a direct experiment,--a +test-message planned before death, and communicated after death, by a +man who held that the hope of an assurance of continued existence was +worth at least a resolute effort, whatever its result might be. His +tests, indeed, were two, and both were successful. One was the revealing +of the place where, before death, he hid a piece of brick marked and +broken for special recognition, and the other was the communication of +the contents of a short letter which he wrote and sealed before death. +We may say that the information was certainly not possessed +supraliminally by any living person. There are two other cases +(_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. vi. pp. 353-355, and _op. cit._ vol viii. +pp. 238-242 [876 A and B]) where information given through automatists +may hypothetically be explicable by telepathy from the living, although, +indeed, in my own view, it probably emanated from the deceased as +alleged. In one of these cases the place where a missing will had been +hidden was revealed to the automatist, but it is not clear whether the +will was actually discovered or not before the automatic writing was +obtained (although the automatist was unaware of its discovery), and in +any case, apparently, its whereabouts was known to some living person +who had hidden it, and may not have been known to the deceased before +death. + +In the other case the whereabouts of a missing note of hand was revealed +to the automatists, and even if this could be regarded as absolutely +unknown supraliminally to any living person, it is not by any means +certain that the fact was known before death to the deceased person from +whom the message purported to come. + +These cases, therefore, are not such strong evidence for personal +identity as the one to which I have referred above, and which I have +given, as recording what purports to be the successful accomplishment of +an experiment which every one may make;--which every one _ought_ to +make;--for, small as may be the chances of success, a few score of +distinct successes would establish a presumption of man's survival which +the common sense of mankind would refuse to explain away. + +Here, then, let us pause and consider to what point the evidence +contained in this chapter has gradually led us. We shall perceive that +the motor phenomena have confirmed, and have also greatly extended, the +results to which the cognate sensory phenomena had already pointed. We +have already noted, in each of the two states of sleep and of waking, +the variously expanding capacities of the subliminal self. We have +watched a hyperæsthetic intensification of ordinary faculty,--leading up +to telæsthesia, and to telepathy, from the living and from the departed. +Along with these powers, which, on the hypothesis of the soul's +independent existence, are at least within our range of analogical +conception, we have noted also a precognitive capacity of a type which +no fact as yet known to science will help us to explain. + +Proceeding to the study of motor automatisms, we have found a _third_ +group of cases which independently confirm in each of these lines in +turn the results of our analysis of sensory automatisms both in sleep +and in waking. Evidence thus convergent will already need no ordinary +boldness of negative assumption if it is to be set aside. But motor +automatisms have taught us much more than this. At once more energetic +and more persistent than the sensory, they oblige us to face certain +problems which the lightness and fugitiveness of sensory impressions +allowed us in some measure to evade. Thus when we discussed the +mechanism (so to call it) of visual and auditory phantasms, two +competing conceptions presented themselves for our choice,--the +conception of _telepathic impact_, and the conception of _psychical +invasion_. Either (we said) there was an influence exerted by the agent +on the percipient's mind, which so stimulated the sensory tracts of his +brain that he externalised that impression as a quasi-percept, or else +the agent in some way modified an actual portion of space where (say) an +apparition was discerned, perhaps by several percipients at once. + +Phrased in this manner, the telepathic impact seemed the less startling, +the less extreme hypothesis of the two,--mainly, perhaps, because the +picture which it called up was left so vague and obscure. But now +instead of a fleeting hallucination we have to deal with a strong and +lasting impulse--such, for instance, as the girl's impulse to _write_, +in Dr. Liébeault's case (Appendix VIII. C):--an impulse which seems to +come from the depths of the being, and which (like a post-hypnotic +suggestion) may override even strong disinclination, and keep the +automatist uncomfortable until it has worked itself out. We may still +call this a _telepathic impact_, if we will, but we shall find it hard +to distinguish that term from a _psychical invasion_. This strong, yet +apparently alien, motor innervation corresponds in fact as closely as +possible to our idea of an _invasion_--an invasion no longer of the room +only in which the percipient is sitting, but of his own body and his own +powers. It is an invasion which, if sufficiently prolonged, would become +a _possession_; and it both unites and intensifies those two earlier +conjectures;--of telepathic impact on the percipient's mind, and of +"phantasmogenetic presence" in the percipient's surroundings. What +seemed at first a mere impact is tending to become a persistent control; +what seemed an incursion merely into the percipient's environment has +become an incursion into his organism itself. + +As has been usual in this inquiry, this slight forward step from +vagueness to comparative clearness of conception introduces us at once +to a whole series of novel problems. Yet, as we have also learnt to +expect, some of our earlier phenomena may have to be called in with +advantage to illustrate phenomena more advanced. + +In cases of split personality, to begin with, we have seen just the same +phenomena occurring where certainly no personality was concerned save +the percipient's own. We have seen a section of the subliminal self +partially or temporarily dominating the organism; perhaps controlling +permanently one arm alone;[193] or perhaps controlling intermittently +the whole nervous system;--and all this with varying degrees of +displacement of the primary personality. + +Similarly with post-hypnotic suggestion. We have seen the subliminal +self ordered to write (say) "It has left off raining"--and thereupon +writing the words without the conscious will of the automatist--and +again with varying degrees of displacement of the waking self. The step +hence to such a case as Mrs. Newnham's is thus not a very long one. Mrs. +Newnham's subliminal self, exercising supernormal faculty, and by some +effort of its own, acquires certain facts from Mr. Newnham's mind, and +uses her hand to write them down automatically. The great problem here +introduced is how the subliminal self acquires the facts, rather than +how it succeeds in writing them down when it has once acquired them. + +But as we go further we can no longer limit the problem in this way,--to +the activities of the automatist's subliminal self. We cannot always +assume that some portion of the automatist's personality gets at the +supernormal knowledge by some effort of its own. Our evidence, as we +know, has pointed decisively to telepathic impacts or influences from +without. What, then, is the mechanism here? Are we still to suppose that +the automatist's subliminal self executes the movements--obeying somehow +the bidding of the impulse from without? or does the external agent, who +sends the telepathic message, himself execute the movements also, +directly using the automatist's arm? And if telekinetic movements +accompany the message (a subject thus far deferred, but of prime +importance), are we to suppose that these also are effected by the +percipient's subliminal self, under the guidance of some external +spirit, incarnate or discarnate? or are they effected directly by that +external spirit? + +We cannot really say which of these two is the easier hypothesis. + +From one point of view it may seem simpler to keep as long as we can to +that acknowledged _vera causa_, the automatist's subliminal self; and to +collect such observations as may indicate any power on its part of +producing physical effects outside the organism. Such scattered +observations occur at every stage, and even Mrs. Newnham (I may briefly +observe in passing) thought that her pencil, when writing down the +messages telepathically derived from her husband, was moved by something +other than the ordinary muscular action of the fingers which held it. On +the other hand, there seems something very forced in attributing to an +external spirit's agency impulses and impressions which seem intimately +the automatist's own, and at the same time refusing to ascribe to that +external agency phenomena which take place outside the automatist's +organism, and which present themselves to him as objective facts, as +much outside his own being as the fall of the apple to the ground. + +Reflecting on such points--and once admitting this kind of interaction +between the automatist's own spirit and an external spirit, incarnate or +discarnate--we find the possible combinations presenting themselves in +perplexing variety;--a variety both of agencies on the part of the +invading spirit, and of effects on the part of the invaded spirit and +organism. + +What is that which invades? and what is that which is displaced or +superseded by this invasion? In what ways may two spirits co-operate in +the possession and control of the same organism? + +These last words--control and possession--remind us of the great mass of +vague tradition and belief to the effect that spirits of the departed +may exercise such possession or control over the living. To those +ancient and vague beliefs it will be our task in the next chapter to +give a form as exact and stable as we can. And observe with how entirely +novel a preparation of mind we now enter on that task. The examination +of "possession" is no longer to us, as to the ordinary civilised +inquirer, a merely antiquarian or anthropological research into forms of +superstition lying wholly apart from any valid or systematic thought. On +the contrary, it is an inquiry directly growing out of previous +evidence; directly needed for the full comprehension of known facts as +well as for the discovery of facts unknown. We need, (so to say), to +analyse the spectrum of helium, as detected in the sun, in order to +check and correct our spectrum of helium as detected in the Bath waters. +We are obliged to seek for certain definite phenomena in the spiritual +world in order to explain certain definite phenomena of the world of +matter. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +TRANCE, POSSESSION, AND ECSTASY + + Vicit iter durum pietas. + + --VIRGIL. + + +_Possession_, to define it for the moment in the narrowest way, is a +more developed form of Motor Automatism. The difference broadly is, that +in Possession the automatist's own personality does for the time +altogether disappear, while there is a more or less complete +_substitution_ of personality; writing or speech being given by a spirit +through the entranced organism. The change which has come over this +branch of evidence since the present work was first projected, in 1888, +is most significant. There existed indeed, at that date, a good deal of +evidence which pointed in this direction,[194] but for various reasons +most of that evidence was still possibly explicable in other ways. Even +the phenomena of Mr. W. S. Moses left it possible to argue that the main +"controls" under which he wrote or spoke when entranced were +self-suggestions of his own mind, or phases of his own deeper +personality. I had not then had the opportunity, which the kindness of +his executors after his death afforded to me, of studying the whole +series of his original note-books, and forming at first-hand my present +conviction that spiritual agency was an actual and important element in +that long sequence of communications. On the whole, I did not then +anticipate that the theory of possession could be presented as more than +a plausible speculation, or as a supplement to other lines of proof of +man's survival of death. + +The position of things, as the reader of the S.P.R. _Proceedings_ knows, +has since that time undergone a complete change. The trance-phenomena of +Mrs. Piper--so long and so carefully watched by Dr. Hodgson and +others--formed, I think, by far the most remarkable mass of psychical +evidence till then adduced in any quarter. And more recently other +series of trance-phenomena with other "mediums"--though still +incomplete--have added materially to the evidence obtained through Mrs. +Piper. The result broadly is that these phenomena of possession are now +the most amply attested, as well as intrinsically the most advanced, in +our whole repertory. + +Nor, again, is the mere increment of direct evidence, important though +that is, the sole factor in the changed situation. Not only has direct +evidence grown, but indirect evidence, so to say, has moved to meet it. +The notion of personality--of the control of organism by spirit--has +gradually been so modified that Possession, which passed till the other +day as a mere survival of savage thought, is now seen to be the +consummation, the furthest development of many lines of experiment, +observation, reflection, which the preceding chapters have opened to our +view. + +Let us then at once consider what the notion of possession does actually +claim. It will be better to face that claim in its full extent at once, +as it will be seen that the evidence, while rising through various +stages, does in the end insist on all that the ancient term implies. The +leading modern cases, of which Stainton Moses and Mrs. Piper may be +taken as types, are closely analogous, presenting many undesigned +coincidences, some of which come out only on close examination. + +The claim, then, is that the automatist, in the first place, falls into +a trance, during which his spirit partially "quits his body:" enters at +any rate into a state in which the spiritual world is more or less open +to its perception; and in which also--and this is the novelty--it so far +ceases to occupy the organism as to leave room for an invading spirit to +use it in somewhat the same fashion as its owner is accustomed to use +it. + +The brain being thus left temporarily and partially uncontrolled, a +disembodied spirit sometimes, but not always, succeeds in occupying it; +and occupies it with varying degrees of control. In some cases (Mrs. +Piper) two or more spirits may simultaneously control different portions +of the same organism. + +The controlling spirit proves his identity mainly by reproducing, in +speech or writing, facts which belong to his memory and not to the +automatist's memory. He may also give evidence of supernormal perception +of other kinds. + +His manifestations may differ very considerably from the automatist's +normal personality. Yet in one sense it is a process of selection rather +than of addition; the spirit selects what parts of the brain-machinery +he will use, but he cannot get out of that machinery more than it is +constructed to perform. The spirit can indeed produce facts and names +unknown to the automatist; but they must be, as a rule, such facts and +names as the automatist could easily have repeated, had they been known +to him:--not, for instance, mathematical formulæ or Chinese sentences, +if the automatist is ignorant of mathematics or of Chinese. + +After a time the control gives way, and the automatist's spirit returns. +The automatist, awaking, may or may not remember his experiences in the +spiritual world during the trance. In some cases (Swedenborg) there is +this memory of the spiritual world, but no possession of the organism by +an external spirit. In others (Cahagnet's subject) there is utterance +during the trance as to what is being discerned by the automatist, yet +no memory thereof on waking. In others (Mrs. Piper) there is neither +utterance as a rule, or at least no prolonged utterance, by the +automatist's own spirit, nor subsequent memory; but there is writing or +utterance during the trance by controlling spirits. + +Now this seems a strange doctrine to have reached after so much +disputation. For it simply brings us back to the creeds of the Stone +Age. We have come round again to the primitive practices of the shaman +and the medicine-man;--to a doctrine of spiritual intercourse which was +once œcumenical, but has now taken refuge in African swamps and +Siberian tundras and the snow-clad wastes of the Red Indian and the +Esquimaux. If, as is sometimes advised, we judge of the worth of ideas +by tracing their _origins_, no conception could start from a lower level +of humanity. It might be put out of court at once as unworthy of +civilised men. + +Fortunately, however, our previous discussions have supplied us with a +somewhat more searching criterion. Instead of asking in what age a +doctrine originated--with the implied assumption that the more recent it +is, the better--we can now ask how far it is in accord or in discord +with a great mass of actual recent evidence which comes into contact, in +one way or another, with nearly every belief as to an unseen world which +has been held at least by western men. Submitted to this test, the +theory of possession gives a remarkable result. It cannot be said to be +inconsistent with any of our proved facts. We know absolutely nothing +which negatives its possibility. + +Nay, more than this. The theory of possession actually supplies us with +a powerful method of co-ordinating and explaining many earlier groups of +phenomena, if only we will consent to explain them in a way which at +first sight seemed extreme in its assumptions--seemed unduly prodigal of +the marvellous. Yet as to that difficulty we have learnt by this time +that no explanation of psychical phenomena is really simple, and that +our best clue is to get hold of some group which seems to admit of one +interpretation only, and then to use that group as a _point de repère_ +from which to attack more complex problems. + +Now I think that the Moses-Piper group of trance-phenomena cannot be +intelligently explained on any theory except that of possession. And I +therefore think it important to consider in what way earlier phenomena +have led up to possession, and in what way the facts of possession, in +their turn, affect our view of these earlier phenomena. + +If we analyse our observations of possession, we find two main +factors--the central operation, which is the control by a spirit of the +sensitive's organism; and the indispensable prerequisite, which is the +partial and temporary desertion of that organism by the percipient's own +spirit. + +Let us consider first how far this withdrawal of the living man's spirit +from his organism has been rendered conceivable by evidence already +obtained. + +First of all, the splits, and substitutions of phases of personality +with which our second chapter made us familiar have great significance +for _possession_ also. + +We have there seen some secondary personality, beginning with slight and +isolated sensory and motor manifestations, yet going on gradually to +complete predominance,--complete control of all supraliminal +manifestation. + +The mere collection and description of such phenomena has up till now +savoured of a certain boldness. The idea of tracing the possible +mechanism involved in these transitions has scarcely arisen. + +Yet it is manifest that there must be a complex set of laws concerned +with such alternating use of brain-centres;--developments, one may +suppose, of those unknown physical laws underlying ordinary memory, of +which no one has formed as yet even a first rough conception. + +An ordinary case of ecmnesia may present problems as insoluble in their +way as those offered by spirit-possession itself. There may be in +ecmnesia periods of life absolutely and permanently extruded from +memory; and there may be also periods which are only temporarily thus +extruded. Thus on Wednesday and Thursday I may be unaware of what I +learnt and did on Monday and Tuesday; and then on Friday I may recover +Monday's and Tuesday's knowledge, as well as retaining Wednesday's and +Thursday's, so that my brain-cells have taken on, so to say, two +separate lines of education since Sunday--that which began on Monday, +and that which began on Wednesday. These intercurrent educations may +have been naturally discordant, and may be fused in all kinds of ways in +the ultimate synthesis. + +These processes are completely obscure; and all that can be said is that +their mechanism probably belongs to the same unknown series of +operations which ultimately lead to that completest break in the history +of the brain-cells which consists in their intercalary occupation by an +external spirit. + +Passing on to _genius_, which I discussed in my third chapter, it is +noticeable that there also there is a certain degree of temporary +substitution of one control for another over important brain-centres. We +must here regard the subliminal self as an entity partially distinct +from the supraliminal, and its occupation of these brain-centres +habitually devoted to supraliminal work is a kind of possession, which +illustrates in yet another way the rapid metastasis of psychical product +(so to term it) of which these highest centres are capable. The highest +genius would thus be the completest _self-possession_,--the occupation +and dominance of the whole organism by those profoundest elements of the +self which act from the fullest knowledge, and in the wisest way. + +The next main subject which fell under our description was _sleep_. And +this state--the normal state which most resembles trance--has long ago +suggested the question which first hints at the possibility of ecstasy, +namely, What becomes of the soul during sleep? I think that our evidence +has shown that sometimes during apparent ordinary sleep the spirit may +travel away from the body, and may bring back a memory, more or less +confused, of what it has seen in this clairvoyant excursion. This may +indeed happen for brief flashes during waking moments also. But ordinary +sleep seems to help the process; and deeper states of sleep--spontaneous +or induced--seem still further to facilitate it. In the coma preceding +death, or during that "suspended animation" which is sometimes taken for +death, this travelling faculty has seemed to reach its highest point. + +I have spoken of deeper states of sleep, "spontaneous or induced," and +here the reader will naturally recall much that has been said of +ordinary somnambulism, much that has been said of hypnotic trance. +Hypnotic trance has created for us, with perfect facility, situations +externally indistinguishable from what I shall presently claim as true +possession. A quasi-personality, arbitrarily created, may occupy the +organism, responding to speech or sign in some characteristic fashion, +although without producing any fresh verifiable facts as evidence to the +alleged identity. Nay, sometimes, as in a few of the Pesaro experiments +(see _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. v. pp. 563-565), there may be +indications that something of a new personality is there. And on the +other hand, the sensitive's own spirit often claims to have been absent +elsewhere,--much in the fashion in which it sometimes imagines itself to +have been absent during ordinary sleep, but with greater persistence and +lucidity. + +Our inquiry into the nature of what is thus alleged to be seen in sleep +and cognate states has proved instructive. Sometimes known earthly +scenes appear to be revisited--with only such alteration as may have +taken place since the sleeper last visited them in waking hours. But +sometimes also there is an admixture of an apparently _symbolical_ +element. The earthly scene includes some element of human action, which +is presented in a selected or abbreviated fashion, as though some mind +had been concerned to bring out a special significance from the complex +story. Sometimes this element becomes quite dominant; phantasmal figures +are seen; or there may be a prolonged symbolical representation of an +entry into the spiritual world. + +Cases like these do of course apparently support that primitive doctrine +of the spirit's actual wandering in space. On the other hand, this +notion has become unwelcome to modern thought, which is less unwilling +to believe in some telepathic intercourse between mind and mind in which +space is not involved. For my own part, I have already explained that I +think that the evidence to an at least apparent movement of some kind in +space must outweigh any mere speculative presumption against it. And I +hold that these new experiences of possession fall on this controversy +with decisive force. It is so strongly claimed, in every instance of +possession, that the sensitive's own spirit must in some sense _vacate_ +the organism, in order to allow another spirit to enter,--and the +evidence for the reality of possession is at the same time so +strong,--that I think that we must argue back from this spatial change +as a relatively certain fact, and must place a corresponding +interpretation on earlier phenomena. Such an interpretation, if once +admitted, does certainly meet the phenomena in the way most accordant +with the subjective impressions of the various percipients. + +As we have already repeatedly found, it is the bold evolutionary +hypothesis which best fixes and colligates the scattered facts. We +encounter in these studies phenomena of degeneration and phenomena of +evolution. The degenerative phenomena are explicable singly and in +detail as declensions in divergent directions from an existing level. +The evolutive phenomena point, on the other hand, to new +generalisations;--to powers previously unrecognised towards which our +evidence _converges_ along constantly multiplying lines. + +This matter of psychical excursion from the organism ultimately involves +the extremest claim to novel faculty which has ever been advanced for +men. For it involves, as we shall see, the claim to _ecstasy_:--to a +wandering vision which is not confined to this earth or this material +world alone, but introduces the seer into the spiritual world and among +communities higher than any which this planet knows. The discussion of +this transportation, however, will be better deferred until after the +evidence for possession has been laid before the reader at some length. + +Continuing, then, for the present our analysis of the idea of +possession, we come now to its specific feature,--the occupation by a +spiritual agency of the entranced and partially vacated organism. Here +it is that our previous studies will do most to clear our conceptions. +Instead of at once leaping to the question of what spirits in their +essence are,--of what they can do and cannot do,--of the antecedent +possibility of their re-entry into matter, and the like,--we must begin +by simply carrying the idea of telepathy to its furthest point. We must +imagine telepathy becoming as central and as intense as possible;--and +we shall find that of two diverging types of telepathic intercourse +which will thus present themselves, the one will gradually correspond to +possession, and the other to ecstasy. + +But here let us pause, and consider what is the truest conception which +we are by this time able to form of telepathy. The _word_ has been a +convenient one; the _central notion_--of communication beyond this range +of sense--can at any rate thus be expressed in simple terms. But +nevertheless there has been nothing to assure us that our real +comprehension of telepathic processes has got much deeper than that +verbal definition. Our conception of telepathy, indeed, to say nothing +of telæsthesia, has needed to be broadened with each fresh stage of our +evidence. That evidence at first revealed to us certain transmissions of +thoughts and images which suggested the passage of actual etherial +vibrations from brain to brain. Nor indeed can any one say at any point +of our evidence that etherial vibrations are demonstrably _not_ +concerned in the phenomena. We cannot tell how far from the material +world (to use a crude phrase) some etherial agency may possibly extend. +But telepathic phenomena are in fact soon seen to overpass any +development which imaginative analogy can give to the conception of +etherial radiation from one material point to another. + +For from the mere transmission of isolated ideas or pictures there is, +as my readers know, a continuous progression to impressions and +apparitions far more persistent and complex. We encounter an influence +which suggests no mere impact of etherial waves, but an intelligent and +responsive _presence_, resembling nothing so much as the ordinary human +intercourse of persons in bodily nearness. Such visions or auditions, +inward or externalised, are indeed sometimes felt to involve an even +closer contact of spirits than the common intercourse of earth allows. +One could hardly assign etherial undulations as their cause without +assigning that same mechanism to all our emotions felt towards each +other, or even to our control over our own organisms. + +Nay, more. There is--as I have striven to show--a further progression +from these telepathic intercommunications between living men to +intercommunications between living men and discarnate spirits. And this +new thesis,--in every way of vital importance,--while practically +solving one problem on which I have already dwelt, opens also a +possibility of the determination of another problem, nowise accessible +until now. In the first place, we may now rest assured that telepathic +communication is not necessarily propagated by vibrations proceeding +from an ordinary material _brain_. For the discarnate spirit at any rate +has no such brain from which to start them. + +So much, in the first place, for the _agent's_ end of the communication. + +And in the second place, we now discern a possibility of getting at the +_percipient's_ end; of determining whether the telepathic impact is +received by the _brain_ or by the _spirit_ of the living man, or by both +inseparably, or sometimes by one and sometimes by the other. + +On this problem, I say, the phenomena of automatic script, of +trance-utterance, of spirit-possession, throw more of light than we +could have ventured to hope. + +Stated broadly, our trance-phenomena show us to begin with that several +currents of communication can pass at once from discarnate spirits to a +living man;--and can pass in very varying ways. For clearness' sake I +will put aside for the present all cases where the telepathic impact +takes an externalised or sensory form, and will speak only of +intellectual impressions and motor automatisms. + +Now these may pass through all grades of apparent _centrality_. If a +man, awake and in other respects fully self-controlled, feels his hand +impelled to scrawl words on a piece of paper, without consciousness of +motor effort of _his own_, the impulse does not seem to him a _central_ +one, although some part of his brain is presumably involved. On the +other hand, a much less conspicuous invasion of his personality may feel +much more central;--as, for instance, a premonition of evil,--an inward +heaviness which he can scarcely define. And so the motor automatism +goes on until it reaches the point of _possession_;--that is to say, +until the man's own consciousness is absolutely in abeyance, and every +part of his body is utilised by the invading spirit or spirits. What +happens in such conditions to the man's ruling principle--to his own +spirit--we must consider presently. But so far as his organism is +concerned, the invasion seems complete: and it indicates a power which +is indeed telepathic in a true sense;--yet not quite in the sense which +we originally attached to the word. We first thought of telepathy as of +a communication between two minds, whereas what we have here looks more +like a communication between a mind and a body,--an external mind, in +place of the mind which is accustomed to rule that particular body. + +There is in such a case no apparent communication between the discarnate +mind and the _mind_ of the automatist. Rather there is a kind of contact +between the discarnate mind and the _brain_ of the automatist, in so far +that the discarnate mind, pursuing its own ends, is helped up to a +certain point by the accumulated capacities of the automatist's +brain;--and similarly is hindered by its incapacities. + +Yet here the most characteristic element of telepathy, I repeat, seems +to have dropped out altogether. There is no perceptible communion +between the mind of the entranced person and any other mind whatever. He +is _possessed_, but is kept in unconsciousness, and never regains memory +of what his lips have uttered during his trance. + +But let us see whether we have thus grasped all the +trance-phenomena;--whether something else may not be going on, which is +more truly, more centrally telepathic. + +To go back to the earliest stage of telepathic experience, we can see +well enough that the experimental process might quite possibly involve +two different factors. The percipient's mind must somehow receive the +telepathic impression;--and to this reception we can assign no definite +physical correlative;--and also the percipient's motor or sensory +centres must receive an excitation;--which excitation may be +communicated, for aught we know, either by his own mind in the ordinary +way, or by the agent's mind in some direct way,--which I may call +_telergic_, thus giving a more precise sense to a word which I long ago +suggested as a kind of correlative to _telepathic_. That is to say, +there may even in these apparently simple cases be first a transmission +from agent to percipient in the spiritual world, and then an action on +the percipient's physical brain, of the same type as spirit-possession. +This action on the physical brain may be due either to the percipient's +own spirit, or subliminal self, or else directly to the agent's spirit. +For I must repeat that the phenomena of possession seem to indicate +that the extraneous spirit acts on a man's organism in very much the +same way as the man's own spirit habitually acts on it. One must thus +practically regard the body as an instrument upon which a spirit +plays;--an ancient metaphor which now seems actually our nearest +approximation to truth. + +Proceeding to the case of telepathic or veridical apparitions, we see +the same hints of a double nature in the process;--traces of two +elements mingling in various degrees. At the spiritual end there may be +what we have called "clairvoyant visions,"--pictures manifestly +symbolical, and not located by the observer in ordinary +three-dimensional space. These seem analogous to the views of the +spiritual world which the sensitive enjoys during entrancement. Then +comes that larger class of veridical apparitions where the figure seems +to be externalised from the percipient's mind, some stimulus having +actually been applied,--whether by agent's or percipient's spirit,--to +the appropriate brain-centre. These cases of "sensory automatism" +resemble those experimental transferences of pictures of cards, etc. And +beyond these again, on the physical or rather the ultra-physical side, +come those _collective_ apparitions which in my view involve some +unknown kind of modification of a certain portion of space not occupied +by any organism,--as opposed to a modification of centres in one special +brain. Here comes in, as I hold, the gradual transition from subjective +to objective, as the portion of space in question is modified in a +manner to affect a larger and larger number of percipient minds. + +Now when we proceed from these apparitions of the living to apparitions +of the departed, we find very much the same types persisting still. We +find symbolical _visions_ of departed persons, and of scenes among which +they seem to dwell. We find externalised _apparitions_ or phantasms of +departed persons,--indicating that some point in the percipient's brain +has been stimulated by his own or by some other spirit. And finally, as +has already been said, we find that in certain cases of possession these +two kinds of influence are simultaneously carried to an extreme. The +percipient automatist of earlier stages becomes no longer a percipient +but an automatist pure and simple,--so far as his body is +concerned,--for his whole brain--not one point alone--seems now to be +stimulated and controlled by an extraneous spirit, and he is not himself +aware of what his body writes or utters. And meantime his spirit, +partially set free from the body, may be purely percipient;--may be +enjoying that other spiritual form of communication more completely than +in any type of vision which our description had hitherto reached. + +This point attained, another analogy, already mentioned, will be at once +recalled. There is another class of phenomena, besides telepathy, of +which this definition of possession at once reminds us. We have dealt +much with _secondary personalities_,--with severances and alternations +affecting a man's own spirit, in varying relation with his organism. +Félida X.'s developed secondary personality, for instance (Appendix II. +C), might be defined as another fragment--or another synthesis--of +Félida's spirit acting upon her organism in much the same way as the +original fragment--or the primary synthesis--of her spirit was wont to +act upon it. + +Plainly, this analogy is close enough to be likely to lead to practical +confusion. On what grounds can we base our distinctions? What justifies +us in saying that Félida X.'s organism was controlled only by another +modification of her own personality, but that Mrs. Piper's is controlled +by George Pelham (see page 330 _et seq._)? May there not be any amount +of self-suggestion, colouring with the fictitious hue of all kinds of +identities what is in reality no more than an allotropic form of the +entranced person himself? Is even the possession by the new personality +of some fragments of fresh knowledge any proof of spirit-control? May +not that knowledge be gained clairvoyantly or telepathically, with no +intervention of any spirit other than of living men? + +Yes, indeed, we must reply, there _is_ here a danger of confusion, there +_is_ a lack of any well-defined dividing line. While we must decide on +general rules, we must also keep our minds open to possible exceptions. + +On the negative side, indeed, general rules will carry us a good way. We +must _not_ allow ourselves to ascribe to spirit-control cases where no +new knowledge is shown in the trance state. And this rule has at once an +important consequence,--a consequence which profoundly modifies the +antique idea of possession. I know of no evidence,--reaching in any way +our habitual standard,--either for angelic, for diabolical, or for +hostile possession. + +And here comes the question: What attitude are we to assume to savage +cases of possession? Are we to accept as genuine the possession of the +Esquimaux, the Chinaman,--nay, of the Hebrew of old days? + +Chinese possession is a good example, as described in Dr. Nevius' book +(on _Demon Possession and Allied Themes_, an account of which by +Professor Newbold is given in _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xiii. p. 602 +[912 A]). I agree with Professor Newbold in holding that no proof has +been shown that there is more in the Chinese cases than that hysterical +duplication of personality with which we are so familiar in France and +elsewhere. + +A devil is not a creature whose existence is independently known to +science; and from the accounts the behaviour of the invading devils +seems due to mere self-suggestion. With uncivilised races, even more +than among our own friends, we are bound to insist on the rule that +there must be some supernormal knowledge shown before we may assume an +external influence. It may of course be replied that the character shown +by the "devils" was fiendish and actually _hostile_ to the possessed +person. Can we suppose that the tormentor was actually a fraction of the +tormented? + +I reply that such a supposition, so far from being absurd, is supported +by well-known phenomena both in insanity and in mere hysteria. + +Especially in the Middle Ages,--amid powerful self-suggestions of evil +and terror,--did these quasi-possessions reach an intensity and violence +which the calm and sceptical atmosphere of the modern hospital checks +and discredits. The devils with terrifying names which possessed Sœur +Angélique of Loudun[195] would at the Salpêtrière under Charcot in our +days have figured merely as stages of "clounisme" and "attitudes +passionelles." + +And even now these splits of personality seem occasionally to destroy +all sympathy between the normal individual and a divergent fraction. No +great sympathy was felt by Léonie II. for Léonie I.[196] And Dr. Morton +Prince's case[197] shows us the deepest and ablest of the personalities +of his "Miss Beauchamp" positively spiteful in its relation to her main +identity. + +Bizarre though a house thus divided against itself may seem, the moral +dissidence is merely an exaggeration of the moral discontinuity +observable in the typical case of Mrs. Newnham.[198] _There_ the +secondary intelligence was merely tricky, not malevolent. But its +trickiness was wholly alien from Mrs. Newnham's character,--was +something, indeed, which she would have energetically repudiated. + +It seems, therefore,--and the analogy of dreams points in this direction +also,--that our moral nature is as easily split up as our intellectual +nature, and that we cannot be any more certain that the minor current of +personality which is diverted into some new channel will retain _moral_ +than that it will retain _intellectual_ coherence. + +To return once more to the Chinese devil-possessions. Dr. Nevius +asserts, though without adducing definite proof, that the possessing +devils sometimes showed supernormal knowledge. This is a better argument +for their separate existence than their fiendish temper is; but it is +not in itself enough. The knowledge does not seem to have been specially +appropriate to the supposed informing spirit. It seems as though it may +have depended upon heightened memory, with possibly some slight +telepathic or telæsthetic perception. Heightened memory is thoroughly +characteristic of some hysterical phases; and even the possible traces +of telepathy (although far the most important feature of the phenomena, +if they really occurred) are, as we have seen, not unknown in trance +states (like Léonie's) where there is no indication of an invading +spirit. + +Temporary control of the organism by a widely divergent fragment of the +personality, self-suggested in some dream-like manner into hostility to +the main mass of the personality, and perhaps better able than that +normal personality to reach and manipulate certain stored +impressions,--or even certain supernormal influences,--such will be the +formula to which we shall reduce the invading Chinese devil, as +described by Dr. Nevius,--and _probably_ the great majority of supposed +devil-possessions of similar type. + +The great majority, no doubt, but perhaps not _all_. It would indeed be +matter for surprise if such trance-phenomena as those of Mrs. Piper and +other modern cases had appeared in the world without previous parallel. +Much more probable is it that similar phenomena have occurred +sporadically from the earliest times,--although men have not had enough +of training to analyse them. + +And, in fact, among the endless descriptions of trance-phenomena with +which travellers furnish us, there are many which include points so +concordant with our recent observations that we cannot but attach some +weight to coincidences so wholly undesigned.[199] But although this may +be admitted, I still maintain that the only invaders of the organism +who have as yet made good their title have been human, and have been +friendly; and with this clearance should, I think, vanish the somewhat +grim associations which have gathered around the word _possession_. + +Assuming, then, as I think we at present may assume, that we have to +deal only with spirits who have been men like ourselves, and who are +still animated by much the same motives as those which influence us, we +may briefly consider, on similar analogical grounds, what range of +spirits are likely to be able to affect us, and what difficulties they +are likely to find in doing so. Of course, actual experience alone can +decide this; but nevertheless our expectations may be usefully modified +if we reflect beforehand how far such changes of personality as we +already know can suggest to us the limits of these profounder +substitutions. + +What, to begin with, do we find to be the case as to addition of faculty +in alternating states? How far do such changes bring with them +unfamiliar powers? + +Reference to the recorded cases will show us that existing faculty may +be greatly quickened and exalted. There may be an increase both in +actual perception and in power of remembering or reproducing what has +once been perceived. There may be increased control over muscular +action,--as shown, for instance, in improved billiard-playing,--in the +secondary state. But there is little evidence of the +acquisition--telepathy apart--of any actual mass of fresh +knowledge,--such as a new language, or a stage of mathematical knowledge +unreached before. We shall not therefore be justified by analogy in +expecting that an external spirit controlling an organism will be able +easily to modify it in such a way as to produce speech in a language +previously unknown. The brain is used as something between a typewriter +and a calculating machine. German words, for instance, are not mere +combinations of letters, but specific formulæ; they can only seldom and +with great difficulty be got out of a machine which has not been +previously fashioned for their production. + +Consider, again, the analogies as to _memory_. In the case of +alternations of personality, memory fails and changes in what seems a +quite capricious way. The gaps which then occur recall (as I have said) +the _ecmnesia_ or blank unrecollected spaces which follow upon accidents +to the head, or upon crises of fever, when all memories that belong to a +particular person or to a particular period of life are clean wiped out, +other memories remaining intact. Compare, again, the memory of waking +life which we retain in _dream_. This too is absolutely capricious;--I +may forget my own name in a dream, and yet remember perfectly the kind +of chairs in my dining-room. Or I may remember the chairs, but locate +them in some one else's house. No one can predict the kind of confusion +which may occur. + +We have also the parallel of _somnambulic utterance_. In talking with a +somnambulist, be the somnambulism natural or induced, we find it hard to +get into continuous colloquy on our own subjects. To begin with, he +probably will not speak continuously for long together. He drops back +into a state in which he cannot express himself at all. And when he does +talk, he is apt to talk only on his own subjects;--to follow out his own +train of ideas,--interrupted rather than influenced by what _we_ say to +_him_. The difference of _state_ between waking and sleep is in many +ways hard to bridge over. + +We have thus three parallelisms which may guide and limit our +expectations. From the parallelism of possession with split +personalities we may infer that a possessing spirit is not likely to be +able to inspire into the recipient brain ideas or words of very +unfamiliar type. From the parallelism of possession with dream we may +infer that the memory of the possessing spirit may be subject to strange +omissions and confusions. From the parallelism with somnambulism we may +infer that colloquy between a human observer and the possessing spirit +is not likely to be full or free, but rather to be hampered by +difference of state, and abbreviated by the difficulty of maintaining +psychical contact for long together. + +These remarks will, I hope, prepare the reader to consider the problems +of possession with the same open-mindedness which has been needed for +the study of previous problems attacked in the present work. + +But before we can proceed to the actual evidence there is another aspect +of possession which must be explained. A group of phenomena are involved +which have in various ways done much to confuse and even to retard our +main inquiry, but which, when properly placed and understood, are seen +to form an inevitable part of any scheme which strives to discover the +influence of unseen agencies in the world we know. + +In our discussion of all telepathic and other supernormal influence I +have thus far regarded it mainly from the psychological and not from the +physical side. I have spoken as though the field of supernormal action +has been always the metetherial world. Yet true as this dictum may be in +its deepest sense, it cannot represent the _whole_ truth "for beings +such as we are, in a world like the present." For us every psychological +fact has (so far as we know) a physical side; and metetherial events, to +be perceptible to us, must somehow affect the world of matter. + +In sensory and motor automatisms, then, we see effects, supernormally +initiated, upon the world of matter. + +_Imprimis_, of course, and in ordinary life our own spirits (their +existence once granted) affect our own bodies and are our standing +examples of spirit affecting matter. Next, if a man receives a +telepathic impact from another incarnate spirit which causes him to see +a phantasmal figure, that man's brain has, we may suppose, been directly +affected by his own spirit rather than by the spirit of the distant +friend. But it may not always be true even in the case of sensory +automatisms that the distant spirit has made a suggestion merely to the +percipient's spirit which the percipient's own spirit carries out; and +in motor automatisms, as they develop into _possession_, there are +indications, as I have already pointed out, that the influence of the +agent's spirit is _telergic_ rather than telepathic, and that we have +extraneous spirits influencing the human brain or organism. That is to +say, they are producing movements in matter;--even though that matter be +organised matter and those movements molecular. + +So soon as this fact is grasped,--and it has not always been grasped by +those who have striven to establish a fundamental difference between +spiritual influence on our spirits and spiritual influence on the +material world,--we shall naturally be prompted to inquire whether +inorganic matter as well as organic ever shows the agency of extraneous +spirits upon it. The reply which first suggests itself is, of course, in +the negative. We are constantly dealing with inorganic matter, and no +hypothesis of spiritual influence exerted on such matter is needed to +explain our experiments. But this is a rough general statement, hardly +likely to cover phenomena so rare and fugitive as many of those with +which in this inquiry we deal. Let us begin, so to say, at the other +end; not with the broad experience of life, but with the delicate and +exceptional cases of _possession_ of which we have lately been speaking. + +Suppose that a discarnate spirit, in temporary possession of a living +organism, is impelling it to motor automatisms. Can we say _a priori_ +what the limits of such automatic movements of that organism are likely +to be, in the same way as we can say what the limits of any of its +voluntary movements are likely to be? May not this extraneous spirit get +more motor power out of the organism than the waking man himself can get +out of it? It would not surprise us, for example, if the movements in +trance showed increased _concentration_; if a dynamometer (for instance) +was more forcibly squeezed by the spirit acting through the man than by +the man himself. Is there any other way in which one would imagine that +a spirit possessing me could use my vital force more skilfully than I +could use it myself? + +I do not know how my will moves my arm; but I know by experience that my +will generally moves only my arm and what my arm can touch;--whatever +objects are actually in contact with the "protoplasmic skeleton" which +represents the life of my organism. Yet I can sometimes move objects not +in actual contact, as by melting them with the heat or (in the dry air +of Colorado) kindling them with the electricity, which my fingers emit. +I see no very definite limit to this power. I do not know all the forms +of energy which my fingers might, under suitable training, emit. + +And now suppose that a possessing spirit can use my organism more +skilfully than I can. May he not manage to emit from that organism some +energy which can visibly move ponderable objects not actually in contact +with my flesh? That would be a phenomenon of possession not very unlike +its other phenomena;--and it would be _telekinesis_. + +By that word (due to M. Aksakoff) it is convenient to describe what have +been called "the physical phenomena of spiritualism," as to whose +existence as a reality, and not as a system of fraudulent pretences, +fierce controversy has raged for half a century, and is still raging. + +The interest excited in the ordinary public by these phenomena has, as +is well known, fostered much fraud, to expose and guard against which +has been one of the main tasks of the S.P.R.[200] + +Indeed, the persistent simulation of telekinesis has, naturally enough, +inspired persistent doubt as to its genuine occurrence even in cases +where simulation has been carefully guarded against, or is antecedently +improbable. And thus while believing absolutely in the occurrence of +telekinetic phenomena, I yet hold that it would be premature to press +them upon my readers' belief, or to introduce them as an integral part +of my general expository scheme. From one point of view, their detailed +establishment, as against the theory of fraud, demands an expert +knowledge of conjuring and other arts which I cannot claim to possess. +From another point of view, their right comprehension must depend upon a +knowledge of the relations between matter and ether such as is now only +dimly adumbrated by the most recent discoveries;--for instance, +discoveries as to previously unsuspected forms of radiation. + +In a long Appendix, viz., "Scheme of Vital Faculty"[201]--originally +written with reference to the manifestations through Mr. Stainton +Moses--I have tried to prepare the way for future inquiries; to indicate +in what directions a better equipped exploration may hereafter reap rich +reward. Even that tentative sketch, perhaps, may have been too ambitious +for my powers in the present state not only of my own, but of human +knowledge; and in this chapter I shall allude to telekinetic phenomena +only where unavoidable,--owing to their inmixture into phenomena more +directly psychological,--and in the tone of the historian rather than of +the scientific critic. + + * * * * *[202] + +The way has now been so far cleared for our cases of Possession that at +least the principal phenomena claimed have been (I hope) made +intelligible, and shown to be concordant with other phenomena already +described and attested. It will be best, however, to consider first some +of the more rudimentary cases before going on to our own special +instances of possession,--those of Mr. Stainton Moses or Mrs. Piper. + +We have already seen that there is no great gulf between the sudden +incursions, the rapid messages of the dead, with which we are already +familiar, and incursions so intimate, messages so prolonged, as to lay +claim to a name more descriptive than that of motor automatisms. + +And similarly no line of absolute separation can be drawn between the +brief psychical _excursions_ previously described, and those more +prolonged excursions of the spirit which I would group under the name of +ecstasy. + +In the earlier part of this book I have naturally dwelt rather on the +evidence for supernormal acquisition of knowledge than on the methods of +such acquisition, and my present discussion must needs be restricted to +a certain extent in the same way. We must, however, attempt some +provisional scheme of classification, though recognising that the +difficulties of interpretation which I pointed out in Chapter IV., when +endeavouring to distinguish between telepathy and telæsthesia, meet us +again in dealing with possession and ecstasy. We may not, that is, be +able to say, as regards a particular manifestation, whether it is an +instance of incipient possession, or incipient ecstasy, or even whether +the organism is being "controlled" directly by some extraneous spirit or +by its own incarnate spirit. It is from the extreme cases that we form +our categories. But now that we have reached some conception of what is +involved in ecstasy and possession, we can interpret some earlier cases +in this new light. Such experiences, for instance, as those of Mr. +Mamtchitch (Appendix VII. A) and Miss Conley (Appendix VII. D), suggest +a close kinship to the more developed cases of Mr. Moses and Mrs. Piper. + +In other cases it may be clear that no control of any discarnate spirit +is involved, but there seems to be something like incipient possession +by the subliminal self or incarnate spirit. From this point of view the +first case given in Appendix IX. B is of undoubted psychological +interest. If it is not a case of thought-transference from Miss C. to +Mrs. Luther (possibly between their subliminal selves during sleep), we +must assume that a very remarkable recrudescence of latent memory +occurred to the latter independently, at the same time that a similar +though less remarkable revival of memory occurred to the former. But I +introduce the case here simply as suggestive of the momentary domination +of the subliminal over the supraliminal self. + +In Professor Thoulet's case[203] we find a fuller control by the +subliminal self, with a manifestation of knowledge suggesting some +spiritual excursion; in Mr. Goodall's case there seems to be a +telepathic conversation between his subliminal self controlling his +utterance and some perhaps discarnate spirit; and finally, in Mr. +Wilkie's case, there is the definite superposition, as it were, of a +discarnate spirit's message upon the automatist in such a way that we +are led to wonder whether it was the _mind_ or the _brain_ of the +automatist that received the message. The first step apparently is the +abeyance of the supraliminal self and the dominance of the subliminal +self, which may lead in rare cases to a form of trance (or of what we +have hitherto called secondary personality) where the whole body of the +automatist is controlled by his own subliminal self, or incarnate +spirit, but where there is no indication of any relation with discarnate +spirits. The next form of trance is where the incarnate spirit, whether +or not maintaining control of the whole body, makes excursions into or +holds telepathic intercourse with the spiritual world. And, lastly, +there is the trance of possession by another, a discarnate spirit. We +cannot, of course, always distinguish between these three main types of +trance--which, as we shall see later, themselves admit of different +degrees and varieties. + +The most striking case known to me of the first form of +trance--possession by the subliminal self--is that of the Rev. C. B. +Sanders,[204] whose trance-personality has always called itself by the +name of "X + Y = Z." The life of the normal Mr. Sanders has apparently +been passed in the environment of a special form of Presbyterian +doctrine, and there seems to have been a fear on the part of Mr. Sanders +himself lest the trance manifestations of which he was the subject +should conflict with the theological position which he held as a +minister; and indeed for several years of his early suffering "he was +inclined to regard his peculiar case of affliction as the result of +Satanic agency." On the part of some of his friends also there seems to +be a special desire to show that "X + Y = Z" was not heterodox. Under +these circumstances it is perhaps not surprising that we find so much +reticence in "X + Y = Z" concerning his own relations to the normal Mr. +Sanders, whom he calls "his casket." What little explanation is offered +seems to be in singular harmony with one of the main tenets advanced in +this book, since the claim made by "X + Y = Z" is obviously that he +represents the incarnate spirit of Mr. Sanders exercising the higher +faculties which naturally pertain to it, but which can be manifested to +the full only when it is freed from its fleshly barriers. This +frequently occurs, he says, in dying persons, who describe scenes in the +spiritual world, and in his own experience when "his casket" is +similarly affected, and the bodily obstructions to spiritual vision are +removed. + +In this case, then, the subliminal self seems to take complete control +of the organism, exercising its own powers of telepathy and telæsthesia, +but showing no evidence of direct communication with discarnate spirits. +We must now pass on to the most notable recent case where such +communication has been claimed,--that of Swedenborg,--to whose +exceptional trance-history and attempt to give some scientific system to +his experiences of ecstasy I referred in Chapter I. + +The _evidential_ matter which Swedenborg has left behind him is +singularly scanty in comparison with his pretensions to a communion of +many years with so many spirits of the departed. But I think that the +half-dozen "evidential cases" scattered through his memoirs are stamped +with the impress of truth,--and I think, also, that without some true +experience of the spiritual world Swedenborg could not have entered into +that atmosphere of truth in which even his worst errors are held in +solution. Swedenborg's writings on the world of spirits fall in the +main into two classes,--albeit classes not easily divided. There are +_experiential_ writings and there are _dogmatic_ writings. The first of +these classes contains accounts of what he saw and felt in that world, +and of such inferences with regard to its laws as his actual experience +suggested. Now, speaking broadly, all this mass of matter, covering some +hundreds of propositions, is in substantial accord with what has been +given through the most trustworthy sensitives since Swedenborg's time. +It is indeed usual to suppose that they have all been influenced by +Swedenborg; and although I feel sure that this was not so in any direct +manner in the case of the sensitives best known to myself, it is +probable that Swedenborg's alleged experiences have affected modern +thought more deeply than most modern thinkers know. + +On the other hand, the _second_ or purely _dogmatic_ class of +Swedenborg's writings,--the records of instruction alleged to have been +given to him by spirits on the inner meaning of the Scriptures, +etc.,--these have more and more appeared to be mere arbitrary +fancies;--mere projections and repercussions of his own preconceived +ideas. + +On the whole, then,--with some stretching, yet no contravention, of +conclusions independently reached,--I may say that Swedenborg's +story,--one of the strangest lives yet lived by mortal men,--is +corroborative rather than destructive of the slowly rising fabric of +knowledge of which he was the uniquely gifted, but uniquely dangerous, +precursor. + +It seemed desirable here to refer thus briefly to the doctrinal +teachings of Swedenborg, but I shall deal later with the general +question how much or how little of the statements of "sensitives" about +the spiritual world--whether based on their own visions or on the +allegations of their "controlling spirits"--are worthy of credence. In +the case of Swedenborg there was at least some evidence, of the kind to +which we can here appeal, of his actual communication with discarnate +spirits;[205] but in most other cases of alleged ecstasy there is little +or nothing to show that the supposed revelations are not purely +subjective. (See, _e.g._, the revelations of Alphonse Cahagnet's +sensitives, described in his _Arcanes de la vie future dévoilées_.)[206] +At most, these visions must be regarded as a kind of symbolical +representation of the unseen world.[207] + +Among Cahagnet's subjects, however, there was one young woman, Adèle +Maginot, who not only saw heavenly visions of the usual +post-Swedenborgian kind, but also obtained evidential +communications--not unlike those of Mrs. Piper--purporting to come from +discarnate spirits. Fortunately these were recorded with unusual care +and thoroughness by Cahagnet, and the case thus becomes one of +considerable importance for our inquiries. A general account of +Cahagnet's work has recently been given in the _Proceedings_ S.P.R. +(vol. xiv. p. 50) by Mr. Podmore, who, though finding it "almost +impossible to doubt that Adèle's success was due to some kind of +supernormal faculty," thinks it might be accounted for by telepathy from +living persons. It appears that in all her trances Adèle--like Mr. +Sanders--was controlled by her own subliminal self--that is to say, her +supraliminal self became dormant, under "magnetism" by Cahagnet, while +her subliminal self in trance-utterance manifested a knowledge which +was, as I incline to think from its analogies with more developed cases, +obtained from the spiritual world. That this knowledge should be mixed +with much that was erroneous or unverifiable is not surprising. + +It is also interesting to note the occurrence in this case of +circumstances which in their general character have become so habitual +in trances of "mediumistic" type that they are not only found in genuine +subjects, but are continually being simulated by the fraudulent. I refer +to the so-called "taking on of the death conditions" of a communicating +spirit, who, as Adèle stated, died of suffocation. "Adèle chokes as this +man choked, and coughed as he did.... I was obliged to release her by +passes; she suffered terribly." + +I need scarcely say that this suggests incipient possession. There were +occasional analogous instances in the early trances of Mrs. Piper, when +Phinuit was the controlling influence (see _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. +viii. p. 98, Professor Barrett Wendell's account; and vol. xiii. p. +384). Other points of similarity between the accounts of the entranced +Adèle and the utterances of Phinuit will be apparent to the student of +the records. + +The next case to be considered, and so far one of the most important, is +that of D. D. Home. + +The study of such records as are available of Home's psychical phenomena +leaves me with the conviction that,--apart altogether from the +telekinetic phenomena with which they were associated,--his +trance-utterances belong to the same natural order as those, for +instance, of Mr. Moses and Mrs. Piper. There are, however, important +differences between these cases,--differences which should be of special +instruction to us in endeavouring to comprehend the possession that +completely excludes the subliminal self, and to appreciate the +difficulty of obtaining this complete possession. + +Thus in Home's case the subliminal self seems, throughout the longest +series of séances of which we have a record, to have been the spirit +chiefly controlling him during the trance and acting as intermediary for +other spirits, who occasionally, however, took complete possession. + +In Mrs. Piper's case, as we shall see, the subliminal self is very +little in direct evidence; its manifestations form a fleeting interlude +between her waking state and her possession by a discarnate spirit. In +Mr. Moses' case, the subliminal self was rarely in direct evidence at +all when he was entranced; but we infer from these other cases that it +was probably dominant at some stage of his trance, even if at other +times it was excluded or became completely dormant. + +And if, in Home's case, as there seems reason to suppose, the subliminal +self may have participated with discarnate spirits in the production of +telekinetic phenomena, as well as in the communication of tests of +personal identity, it is not improbable that the subliminal self of Mr. +Moses may also have been actively concerned in both these classes of +phenomena. + +But, although I attribute much value to what evidence exists in the case +of Home, it cannot but be deplored that the inestimable chance for +experiment and record which this case afforded was almost entirely +thrown away by the scientific world. Unfortunately the record is +especially inadequate in reference to Home's trances and the evidence +for the personal identity of the communicating spirits. His name is +known to the world chiefly in connection with the telekinetic phenomena +which are said to have occurred in his presence, and the best accounts +of which we owe to Sir William Crookes. It is not my intention, as I +have already explained, to deal with these, but it must be understood +that they form an integral part of the manifestations in this case, as +in the case of Stainton Moses. For detailed accounts of them the reader +should consult the history of Home's life and experiences.[208] + +To the history of William Stainton Moses I now turn. Here the evidence +for the telekinetic phenomena is comparatively slight, since they +occurred almost exclusively in the presence of a small group of intimate +personal friends, and were never scrutinised and examined by outside +witnesses as were Home's manifestations. On the other hand, we have +detailed records of Mr. Moses' whole series of experiences, while in the +case of Home, as I have said, the record is very imperfect. As to the +telekinetic phenomena, Mr. Moses himself regarded them as a mere means +to an end, in accordance with the view urged on him by his +"controls,"--that they were intended as proofs of the power and +authority of these latter, while the real message lay in the religious +teaching imparted to him. + +It was on May 9th, 1874, that Edmund Gurney and I met Stainton Moses for +the first time, through the kindness of Mrs. Cowper-Temple (afterwards +Lady Mount-Temple), who knew that we had become interested in +"psychical" problems, and wished to introduce us to a man of honour who +had recently experienced phenomena, due wholly to some gift of his own, +which had profoundly changed his conception of life. + +Here was a man of University education, of manifest sanity and probity, +who vouched to us for a series of phenomena,--occurring to himself, and +with no doubtful or venal aid,--which seemed at least to prove, in +confusedly intermingled form, three main theses unknown to Science. +These were (1) the existence in the human spirit of hidden powers of +insight and of communication; (2) the personal survival and near +presence of the departed; and (3) interference, due to unknown agencies, +with the ponderable world. He spoke frankly and fully; he showed his +note-books; he referred us to his friends; he inspired a belief which +was at once sufficient, and which is still sufficient, to prompt to +action. + +The experiences which Stainton Moses had undergone had changed his +views, but not his character. He was already set in the mould of the +hard-working, conscientious, dogmatic clergyman, with a strong desire to +do good, and a strong belief in preaching as the best way to do it. For +himself the essential part of what I have called his "message" lay in +the actual words automatically uttered or written,--not in the +accompanying phenomena which really gave their uniqueness and importance +to the automatic processes. In a book called _Spirit Teachings_ he +collected what he regarded as the real fruits of those years of +mysterious listening in the vestibule of a world unknown. + +My original impressions as regards Mr. Moses were strengthened by the +opportunity which I had of examining his unpublished MSS. after his +death on September 5th, 1892. These consist of thirty-one +note-books--twenty-four of automatic script, four of records of physical +phenomena, and three of retrospect and summary. In addition to these, +the material available for a knowledge of Mr. Moses' experiences +consists of his own printed works, and the written and printed +statements of witnesses to his phenomena. + +Of this available material a detailed account will be found in +_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. ix. pp. 245-352, and vol. xi. pp. 24-113, +together with a brief record of Mr. Moses' life. + +With the even tenor of this straightforward and reputable life was +inwoven a chain of mysteries which, as I think, in what way soever they +be explained, make it one of the most extraordinary which our century +has seen. For its true history lies in that series of physical +manifestations which began in 1872 and lasted for some eight years, and +that series of automatic writings and trance-utterances which began in +1873, received a record for some ten years, and did not, as is believed, +cease altogether until the earthly end was near. + +These two series were intimately connected; the physical phenomena being +avowedly designed to give authority to the speeches and writings which +professed to emanate from the same source. There is no ground for +separating the two groups, except the obvious one that the automatic +phenomena are less difficult of credence than the physical; but, for +reasons already stated, it has seemed to me desirable to exclude the +latter from detailed treatment in this work. They included the apparent +production of such phenomena as intelligent raps, movements of objects +untouched, levitation, disappearance and reappearance of objects, +passage of matter through matter, direct writing, sounds supernormally +made on instruments, direct sounds, scents, lights, objects +materialised, hands materialised (touched or seen). Mr. Moses was +sometimes, but not always, entranced while these physical phenomena were +occurring. Sometimes he was entranced and the trance-utterance purported +to be that of a discarnate spirit. At other times, especially when +alone, he wrote automatically, retaining his own ordinary consciousness +meanwhile, and carrying on lengthy discussions with the "spirit +influence" controlling his hand and answering his questions, etc. As a +general rule the same alleged spirits both manifested themselves by +raps, etc., at Mr. Moses' sittings with his friends, and also wrote +through his hand when he was alone. In this, as in other respects, Mr. +Moses' two series of writings--when alone and in company--were +concordant, and, so to say, complementary;--explanations being given by +the writing of what had happened at the séances. When "direct writing" +was given at the séances the handwriting of each alleged spirit was the +same as that which the same spirit was in the habit of employing in the +automatic script. The claim to individuality was thus in all cases +decisively made. + +Now the personages thus claiming to appear may be divided roughly into +three classes:-- + +A.--First and most important are a group of persons recently deceased, +and sometimes manifesting themselves at the séances before their decease +was known through any ordinary channel to any of the persons present. +These spirits in many instances give tests of identity, mentioning facts +connected with their earth-lives which are afterwards found to be +correct. + +B.--Next comes a group of personages belonging to generations more +remote, and generally of some distinction in their day. Grocyn, the +friend of Erasmus, may be taken as a type of these. Many of these also +contribute facts as a proof of identity, which facts are sometimes more +correct than the conscious or admitted knowledge of any of the sitters +could supply. In such cases, however, the difficulty of proving identity +is increased by the fact that most of the correct statements are readily +accessible in print, and may conceivably have either been read and +forgotten by Mr. Moses, or have become known to him by some kind of +clairvoyance. + +C.--A third group consists of spirits who give such names as Rector, +Doctor, Theophilus, and, above all, Imperator. These from time to time +reveal the names which they assert to have been theirs in earth-life. +These concealed names are for the most part both more illustrious, and +more remote, than the names in Class B,--and were withheld by Mr. Moses +himself, who justly felt that the assumption of great names is likely +to diminish rather than to increase the weight of the communication. + +I now pass on to consider briefly the nature of the evidence that the +alleged spirits were what they purported to be, as described, in the +first place, in Mr. Moses' books of automatic writing. The contents of +these books consist partly of messages tending to prove the identity of +communicating spirits; partly of discussions or explanations of the +physical phenomena; and partly of religious and moral disquisitions. + +These automatic messages were almost wholly written by Mr. Moses' own +hand, while he was in a normal waking state. The exceptions are of two +kinds. (1) There is one long passage, alleged by Mr. Moses to have been +written by himself while in a state of trance. (2) There are, here and +there, a few words alleged to be in "direct writing";--written, that is +to say, by invisible hands, but in Mr. Moses' presence; as several times +described in the notes of séances where other persons were present. + +Putting these exceptional instances aside, we find that the writings +generally take the form of a dialogue, Mr. Moses proposing a question in +his ordinary thick, black handwriting. An answer is then generally, +though not always, given; written also by Mr. Moses, and with the same +pen, but in some one of various scripts which differ more or less widely +from his own. Mr. Moses' own description of the process, as given in the +preface to _Spirit Teachings_, may be studied with advantage. + +A prolonged study of the MS. books has revealed nothing inconsistent +with this description. I have myself, of course, searched them carefully +for any sign of confusion or alteration, but without finding any; and I +have shown parts of them to various friends, who have seen no points of +suspicion. It seems plain, moreover, that the various entries were made +at or about the dates to which they are ascribed. They contain constant +references to the séances which went on concurrently, and whose dates +are independently known; and in the later books, records of some of +these séances are interspersed in their due places amongst other matter. +The MSS. contain also a number of allusions to other contemporaneous +facts, many of which are independently known to myself. + +I think, moreover, that no one who had studied these entries throughout +would doubt the originally private and intimate character of many of +them. The tone of the spirits towards Mr. Moses himself is habitually +courteous and respectful. But occasionally they have some criticism +which pierces to the quick, and which goes far to explain to me Mr. +Moses' unwillingness to have the books fully inspected during his +lifetime. He did, no doubt, contemplate their being at least read by +friends after his death; and there are indications that there may have +been a still more private book, now doubtless destroyed, to which +messages of an intimate character were sometimes consigned. + +Indeed, the questions at issue, as to these messages, refer not so much +to their _genuineness_ as to their _authenticity_, in the proper sense +of those words. That they were written down in good faith by Mr. Moses +as proceeding from the personages whose names are signed to them, there +can be little doubt. But as to whether they did really proceed from +those personages or no there may in many cases be very great doubt;--a +doubt which I, at least, shall be quite unable to remove. By the very +conditions of the communication they cannot show commanding intellect, +or teach entirely new truths, since their manifestations are _ex +hypothesi_ limited by the capacity--not by the previous _knowledge_, but +by the previous _capacity_--of the medium. And if they give facts not +consciously known to the medium--facts however elaborate--it may, of +course, be suggested that these facts have been _subliminally acquired_ +by the medium through some unconscious passage of the eye over a printed +page, or else that they are _clairvoyantly learnt_, without the agency +of any but the medium's own mind, though acting in a supernormal +fashion. + +The case of Hélène Smith has shown us how far-reaching may be the +faculties of hyperæsthesia and hypermnesia in the subliminal self; but +in view of the then general ignorance of the scientific world on this +subject, it is not surprising that both Mr. Moses and his friends +absolutely rejected this explanation of his phenomena, and that the +evidence appeared to them more conclusive than it possibly can to us. +Whether or not the alleged spirits were concerned,--as may sometimes, of +course, have been the case,--we can hardly avoid thinking that the +subliminal self of the medium played at least a considerable part in the +communications. + +In two cases the announcement of a death was made to Mr. Moses, when the +news was apparently not known to him by any normal means. One of these +is the case of President Garfield (_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xi. p. +100). The other (see my article in _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xi. pp. 96 +_et seq._) is in some ways the most remarkable of all, from the series +of chances which have been needful in order to establish its veracity. +Specially noticeable in this case is the resemblance of the handwriting +of the script to that of the alleged control, a lady whose writing was +almost certainly unknown to Mr. Moses. Both to the lady's son and to +myself the resemblance appeared incontestable, and our opinion was +confirmed by Dr. Hodgson, who was an expert in such matters. + +And now we must briefly go through the points which make such messages +as were received by Mr. Moses _primâ facie_ evidential, which indicate, +that is to say, that they actually do come in some way from their +alleged source. A brief recapitulation of the main stages of evidential +quality in messages given by automatic writing or by trance-utterances +is all that will be needed here. + +(1) Evidentially lowest comes the class of messages which is by far the +most common; messages, namely, in which, although some special identity +may be claimed, all the facts given have been consciously known to the +automatist. Here we may well suppose that his own personality alone is +concerned, and that the messages have a _subliminal_, but not an +_external_ source. + +(2) Next above these come messages containing facts likely to be known +to the alleged spirit, and not consciously known to the automatist; but +which facts may nevertheless have some time been noted by the +automatist, even unwittingly, and may have thus obtained lodgment in his +subliminal memory. + +(3) Next come facts which can be proved,--with such varying degrees of +certainty as such negative proof allows,--never to have been in any way +known to the automatist; but which nevertheless are easily to be found +in books; so that they may have been learnt clairvoyantly by the +automatist himself, or learnt and communicated to him by some mind other +than that of the alleged spirit. + +(4) Next come facts which can be proved, with similar varying degrees of +certainty according to the circumstances, never to have been known to +the automatist, or recorded in print; but which were known to the +alleged spirit and can be verified by the memories of living persons. + +(5) Above this again would come that class of _experimental_ messages, +or posthumous letters, of which we have as yet very few good examples, +where the departed person has before death arranged some special +test--some fact or sentence known only to himself, which he is to +transmit after death, if possible, as a token of his return. + +(6) Thus much for the various kinds of verbal messages, which can be +kept and analysed at leisure. We must now turn to evidence of a +different and not precisely comparable kind. In point of fact it is not +these inferences from written matter which have commonly been most +efficacious in compelling the survivor's belief in the reality of the +friend's return. Whether logically or no, it is not so much the written +message that he trusts, but some phantom of face and voice that he knew +so well. It is this familiar convincing presence,--εικτο δἑ θἑσκελον +ἁυτὡ,--on which the percipient has always insisted, since Achilles +strove in vain to embrace Patroclus' shade. + +How far such a phantasm is in fact a proof of any real action on the +part of the spirit thus recognised is a problem which has been dealt +with already in Chapter VII. The upshot of our evidence to my mind is +that although the apparition of a departed person cannot _per se_ rank +as evidence of his presence, yet this is not a shape which purely +hallucinatory phantasms seem often to assume; and if there be any +corroborative evidence, as, for instance, writing which claims to come +from the same person, the chance that he is really operative is +considerable. In Mr. Moses' case almost all the figures which he saw +brought with them some corroboration by writing, trance-utterance, +gesture-messages (as where a figure makes signs of assent or dissent), +or raps. + +(7) And this brings us to a class largely represented in Mr. Moses' +series, where writings professing to come from a certain spirit are +supported by physical phenomena of which that spirit claims also to be +the author. Whether such a line of proof can ever be made logically +complete or no, one can imagine many cases where it would be practically +convincing to almost all minds. Materialisations of hands, or direct +writing in the script of the departed, have much of actual cogency; and +these methods, with others like them, are employed by Mr. Moses' +"controls" in their efforts to establish their own identities. Physical +phenomena in themselves, however, carry no proof of an intelligence +outside that of the sensitive himself, and, as I have said, may in many +cases be a mere extension of his own ordinary muscular powers, and not +due to any external agency at all. + +If we confine ourselves to the verbal messages, we find that the cases +most fully represented in the records of Mr. Moses are limited to the +first three classes mentioned above, and those which come under the +fourth class--verifiable facts of which there is no printed record and +which it is practically certain that the medium could never have +known--are comparatively few. This may partly be accounted for by the +small number of sitters with Mr. Moses and the fact that they were his +personal friends. The records of Mrs. Piper, on the other hand, to which +we now turn, are especially rich in incidents that fall under the fourth +heading, and the evidential value of the verbal messages in this case +is, therefore, much greater than in the case of Mr. Moses. Whereas for +Mr. Moses the identity of many of his communicators rested largely upon +their being guaranteed by Imperator and his group of helpers,--in the +case of Mrs. Piper the spirits of some recently-departed friends who +have given much evidence of their identity appear to maintain the +independent reality and guiding control over Mrs. Piper of these same +intelligences--Imperator, Rector, Doctor, and others--that Mr. Moses +claimed as ruling in his own experience. + +The case of Mrs. Piper differs in two important respects from that of W. +Stainton Moses or D. D. Home. In the first place no telekinetic +phenomena have occurred in connection with her trance-manifestations; +and in the second place her supraliminal self shows no traces of any +supernormal faculty whatsoever. She presents an instance of automatism +of the extreme type where the "possession" is not merely local or +partial, but affects, so to say, the whole psychical area,--where the +supraliminal self is for a time completely displaced, and the whole +personality appears to suffer intermittent change. In other words, she +passes into a trance, during which her organs of speech or writing are +"controlled" by other personalities than the normal waking one. +Occasionally, either just before or just after the trance, the +subliminal self appears to take some control of the organism for a brief +interval; but with this exception the personalities that speak or write +during her trance claim to be discarnate spirits. + +Mrs. Piper's trances may be divided into three stages: (1) Where the +dominant controlling personality was known as "Dr. Phinuit" and used the +vocal organs almost exclusively, communicating by _trance-utterance_, +1884-91. + +(2) Where the communications were made chiefly by automatic writing in +the trance under the supervision more particularly of the control known +as "George Pelham," or "G. P.," although "Dr. Phinuit" usually +communicated also by speech during this period, 1892-96. + +(3) Where supervision is alleged to be exercised by Imperator, Doctor, +Rector, and others already mentioned in connection with the experiences +of Mr. Moses, and where the communications have been mainly by writing, +but occasionally also by speech. This last stage, which began early in +1897, still continues, and the final outcome remains to be seen. + +I proceed now to indicate in further detail the nature of the evidence +and the character of the manifestations themselves, and begin by quoting +from Dr. Hodgson (_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xiii. pp. 367-68) a brief +statement of some of the historical facts of the case. + + Mrs. Piper has been giving sittings for a period extending over + thirteen [now, 1901, seventeen] years. Very early in her trance + history she came under the attention of Professor James, who sent + many persons to her as strangers, in most cases making the + appointments himself, and in no case giving their names. She came + to some extent under my own supervision in 1887, and I also sent + many persons to her, in many cases accompanying them and recording + the statements made at their sittings, and taking all the care that + I could to prevent Mrs. Piper's obtaining any knowledge beforehand + of who the sitters were to be. In 1889-90 Mrs. Piper gave a series + of sittings in England under the supervision of Dr. Walter Leaf and + Mr. Myers and Professor Lodge, where also the most careful + precautions possible were taken to ensure that the sitters went as + strangers to Mrs. Piper. Further sittings were supervised by myself + in 1890-91 after Mrs. Piper's return to America. Many persons who + had sittings in the course of these earlier investigations were + convinced that they were actually receiving communications from + their "deceased" friends through Mrs. Piper's trance, but although + the special investigators were satisfied, from their study of the + trance-phenomena themselves and a careful analysis of the detailed + records of the sittings, that some supernormal power was involved, + there was no definite agreement as to their precise significance. + And to myself it seemed that any hypothesis that was offered + presented formidable difficulties in the way of its acceptance. In + the course of these earlier investigations the communications were + given almost entirely through the speech-utterance of the + trance-personality known as Phinuit, and even the best of them were + apt to include much matter that was irrelevant and unlike the + alleged communicators, while there were many indications that + Phinuit himself was far from being the kind of person in whom we + should be disposed to place implicit credence. + + During the years 1892-96 inclusive, I exercised a yet closer + supervision of Mrs. Piper's trances than I had done in previous + years, continuing to take all the precautions that I could as + regards the introduction of persons as strangers. This period was + marked by a notable evolution in the quality of the trance results, + beginning early in 1892. The character of the manifestations + changed with the development of automatic writing in the trance, + and with what was alleged to be the continual rendering of active + assistance by the communicator whom I have called G. P. [George + Pelham]. As a result of this it appeared that communicators were + able to express their thoughts directly through the writing by Mrs. + Piper's hand, instead of conveying them more dimly and partially + through Phinuit as intermediary; and the advice and guidance which + they, apparently, received from G. P. enabled them to avoid much of + the confusion and irrelevancy so characteristic of the earlier + manifestations. + +I do not propose here to discuss the hypothesis of fraud in this case, +since it has been fully discussed by Dr. Hodgson, Professor William +James, Professor Newbold of Pennsylvania University, Dr. Walter Leaf, +and Sir Oliver Lodge.[209] I merely quote, as a summary of the argument, +a few words of Professor James, from _The Psychological Review_, July, +1898, pp. 421-22:-- + + Dr. Hodgson considers that the hypothesis of fraud cannot be + seriously maintained. I agree with him absolutely. The medium has + been under observation, much of the time under close observation, + as to most of the conditions of her life, by a large number of + persons, eager, many of them, to pounce upon any suspicious + circumstance for [nearly] fifteen years. During that time, not only + has there not been one single suspicious circumstance remarked, but + not one suggestion has ever been made from any quarter which might + tend positively to explain how the medium, living the apparent life + she leads, could possibly collect information about so many sitters + by natural means. The scientist who is confident of "fraud" here, + must remember that in science as much as in common life a + hypothesis must receive some positive specification and + determination before it can be profitably discussed, and a fraud + which is no assigned kind of fraud, but simply "fraud" at large, + fraud _in abstracto_, can hardly be regarded as a specially + scientific explanation of concrete facts. + +Unfortunately we have no contemporary records of what occurred during +Mrs. Piper's earliest trances; nor practically any information as to the +first manifestations of the Phinuit personality. It seems clear at least +that the _name_ Phinuit was the result of suggestion at these earliest +trances (see _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. viii. pp. 46-58), and many may +think it most probable that the Phinuit "control" was nothing more than +a secondary personality of Mrs. Piper. But, according to the statements +(for which there is of course no evidence) made by "Imperator," Phinuit +was an "earth-bound" or inferior spirit, who had become confused and +bewildered in his first attempts at communication, and had, as we say, +"lost his consciousness of personal identity." That such an occurrence +is not uncommon in this life is plain from the cases to which I have +drawn attention in Chapter II. of this book, and we cannot prove it to +be impossible that profound memory disturbances should be produced in an +inexperienced discarnate spirit when first attempting to communicate +with us through a material organism. Be that as it may, the Phinuit +personality has not manifested either directly or indirectly since +January 1897, when "Imperator" claimed the supervision of Mrs. Piper's +trances. + +There were various cases of alleged direct "control" by spirits other +than Phinuit during the first stage of Mrs. Piper's trance history. But +such cases were not usual, and on the whole, although there seemed to be +abundant proof of some supernormal faculty which demanded at least the +hypothesis of thought-transference from living persons both near and +distant, and suggested occasionally some power of telæsthesia or +perhaps even of premonition, yet the main question with which we are now +concerned,--whether Mrs. Piper's organism was controlled, directly or +indirectly, by discarnate spirits who could give satisfactory evidence +of their identity,--remained undecided. + +More important, as regards this question of personal identity, is the +series of sittings which formed the second stage of Mrs. Piper's trance +history, in the years 1892-96, (of which a detailed account is given in +_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xiii. pp. 284-582, and vol. xiv. pp. 6-49), +where the chief communicator or intermediary was G. P. This G. P., whose +name (although, of course, well known to many persons) has been altered +for publication into "George Pelham," was a young man of great ability, +mainly occupied in literary pursuits. Although born an American citizen, +he was a member of a noble English family. I never met him, but I have +the good fortune to include a number of his friends among my own, and +with several of these I have been privileged to hold intimate +conversation on the nature of the communications which they received. I +have thus heard of many significant utterances of G. P.'s, which are +held too private for print; and I have myself been present at sittings +where G. P. manifested. For the full discussion of the evidence tending +to prove the identity of G. P., I refer my readers to the original +report in the _Proceedings_ S.P.R. I quote here a general summary, given +by Dr. Hodgson several years later, of the whole series of his +manifestations. (From _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xiii. pp. 328-330.) + + On the first appearance of the communicating G. P. to Mr. Hart in + March 1892, he gave not only his own name and that of the sitter, + but also the names of several of their most intimate common + friends, and referred specifically to the most important private + matters connected with them. At the same sitting reference was made + to other incidents unknown to the sitters, such as the account of + Mrs. Pelham's taking the studs from the body of G. P. and giving + them to Mr. Pelham to be sent to Mr. Hart, and the reproduction of + a notable remembrance of a conversation which G. P. living had with + Katharine, the daughter of his most intimate friends, the Howards. + These were primary examples of two kinds of knowledge concerning + matters unknown to the sitters, of which various other instances + were afterwards given; knowledge of events connected with G. P. + which had occurred since his death, and knowledge of special + memories pertaining to the G. P. personality before death. A week + later, at the sitting of Mr. Vance, he made an appropriate inquiry + after the sitter's son, and in reply to inquiries rightly specified + that the sitter's son had been at college with him, and further + correctly gave a correct description of the sitter's summer home as + the place of a special visit. This, again, was paralleled by many + later instances where appropriate inquiries were made and + remembrances recalled concerning other personal friends of G. P. + Nearly two weeks later came his most intimate friends, the Howards, + and to these, using the voice directly, he showed such a fulness of + private remembrance and specific knowledge and characteristic + intellectual and emotional quality pertaining to G. P. that, though + they had previously taken no interest in any branch of psychical + research, they were unable to resist the conviction that they were + actually conversing with their old friend G. P. And this conviction + was strengthened by their later experiences. Not least important, + at that time, was his anxiety about the disposal of a certain book + and about certain specified letters which concern matters too + private for publication. He was particularly desirous of convincing + his father, who lived in Washington, that it was indeed G. P. who + was communicating, and he soon afterwards stated that his father + had taken his photograph to be copied, as was the case, though Mr. + Pelham had not informed even his wife of this fact. Later on he + reproduced a series of incidents, unknown to the sitters, in which + Mrs. Howard had been engaged in her own home. Later still, at a + sitting with his father and mother in New York, a further intimate + knowledge was shown of private family circumstances, and at the + following sitting, at which his father and mother were not present, + he gave the details of certain private actions which they had done + in the interim. At their sitting, and at various sittings of the + Howards, appropriate comments were made concerning different + articles presented which had belonged to G. P. living, or had been + familiar to him; he inquired after other personal articles which + were not presented at the sittings, and showed intimate and + detailed recollections of incidents in connection with them. In + points connected with the recognition of articles with their + related associations of a personal sort, the G. P. communicating, + so far as I know, has never failed. Nor has he failed in the + recognition of personal friends. I may say generally that out of a + large number of sitters who went as strangers to Mrs. Piper, the + communicating G. P. has picked out the friends of G. P. living, + precisely as the G. P. living might have been expected to do + [thirty cases of recognition out of at least one hundred and fifty + persons who have had sittings with Mrs. Piper since the first + appearance of G. P., and no case of false recognition], and has + exhibited memories in connection with these and other friends which + are such as would naturally be associated as part of the G. P. + personality, which certainly do not suggest in themselves that they + originate otherwise, and which are accompanied by the emotional + relations which were connected with such friends in the mind of G. + P. living. At one of his early communications G. P. expressly + undertook the task of rendering all the assistance in his power + towards establishing the continued existence of himself and other + communicators, in pursuance of a promise of which he himself + reminded me, made some two years or more before his death, that if + he died before me and found himself "still existing," he would + devote himself to prove the fact; and in the persistence of his + endeavour to overcome the difficulties in communicating as far as + possible, in his constant readiness to act as amanuensis at the + sittings, in the effect which he has produced by his counsels,--to + myself as investigator, and to numerous other sitters and + communicators,--he has, in so far as I can form a judgment in a + problem so complex and still presenting so much obscurity, + displayed all the keenness and pertinacity which were eminently + characteristic of G. P. living. + + Finally the manifestations of this G. P. communicating have not + been of a fitful and spasmodic nature, they have exhibited the + marks of a continuous living and persistent personality, + manifesting itself through a course of years, and showing the same + characteristics of an independent intelligence whether friends of + G. P. were present at the sittings or not. I learned of various + cases where in my absence active assistance was rendered by G. P. + to sitters who had never previously heard of him, and from time to + time he would make brief pertinent reference to matters with which + G. P. living was acquainted, though I was not, and sometimes in + ways which indicated that he could to some extent see what was + happening in our world to persons in whose welfare G. P. living + would have been specially interested. + +The sitter called Mr. Hart, to whom G. P. first manifested, died at +Naples three years afterwards, and communicated, with the help of G. P., +on the second day after his death. An account of his communications is +given in _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xiii. pp. 353-57. + +There are numerous instances in the reports in the _Proceedings_ (see +vol. vi. pp. 647-50; vol. viii. pp. 15-26; vol. xiii., _passim_; and +vol. xvi. pp. 131-3), of the giving of information unknown to the +sitters and afterwards verified. A striking illustration of this +occurred in the case of the lady called "Elisa Mannors," whose near +relatives and friends concerned in the communications were known to +myself. On the morning after the death of her uncle, called F. in the +report, she described an incident in connection with the appearance of +herself to her uncle on his death-bed. I quote Dr. Hodgson's account of +this (_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xiii. p. 378, footnote). + + The notice of his [F.'s] death was in a Boston morning paper, and I + happened to see it on my way to the sitting. The first writing of + the sitting came from Madame Elisa, without my expecting it. She + wrote clearly and strongly, explaining that F. was there with her, + but unable to speak directly, that she wished to give me an account + of how she had helped F. to reach her. She said that she had been + present at his death-bed, and had spoken to him, and she repeated + what she had said, an unusual form of expression, and indicated + that he had heard and recognised her. This was confirmed in detail + in the only way possible at that time, by a very intimate friend of + Madame Elisa and myself, and also of the nearest surviving relative + of F. I showed my friend the account of the sitting, and to this + friend, a day or two later, the relative, who was present at the + death-bed, stated spontaneously that F. when dying said that he saw + Madame Elisa who was speaking to him, and he repeated what she was + saying. The expression so repeated, which the relative quoted to my + friend, was that which I had received from Madame Elisa through + Mrs. Piper's trance, when the death-bed incident was of course + entirely unknown to me. + +Rare are the "Peak in Darien" cases (see page 233), but cases like this +are rarer still. + +With regard to the last of the three periods of Mrs. Piper's +trance-history, the only detailed published accounts are contained in +Professor Hyslop's report of his sittings in _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. +xvi.[210] But neither his records nor the manuscript records which I +have seen contain any proof of the personal identity of the alleged +spirits called "Imperator," "Doctor," "Rector," etc., or any proof of +the identity of these intelligences with those claimed by Mr. Moses. +(See _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xiii. pp. 408-9.) Whether any such proof +will be forthcoming in the future remains to be seen,--or indeed, +whether proof or disproof for us at present is even possible. + +We must now try to form some more definite idea--based not on +preconceived theories but on our actual observation of trances--of the +processes of possession. + +Let us try to realise what kind of feat it is which we are expecting the +disembodied spirit to achieve. Such language, I know, again suggests the +medicine-man's wigwam rather than the study of the white philosopher. +Yet can we feel sure that the process in our own minds which has (as we +think) refined and spiritualised man's early conceptions of an unseen +world has been based upon any observed facts? + +In dealing with matters which lie outside human experience, our only +clue is some attempt at _continuity_ with what we already know. We +cannot, for instance, form independently a reliable conception of life +in an unseen world. That conception has never yet been fairly faced from +the standpoint of our modern ideas of continuity, conservation, +evolution. The main notions that have been framed of such survival have +been framed first by savages and then by _a priori_ philosophers. + +The savage made his own picture first. And he at any rate dimly felt +after a principle of continuity; although he applied it in the crudest +fashion. Yet the happy hunting-ground and the faithful dog were +conceptions not more arbitrary and unscientific than that eternal and +unimaginable worship _in vacuo_ which more accredited teachers have +proclaimed. And, passing on to modern philosophic conceptions, one may +say that where the savage assumed _too little_ difference between the +material and the spiritual world the philosopher has assumed _too much_. +He has regarded the gulf as too unbridgeable; he has taken for granted +too clean a sweep of earthly modes of thought. Trying to shake off time, +space, and definite form, he has attempted to transport himself too +magically to what may be in reality an immensely distant goal. + +What, then, is to be our conception of identity prolonged beyond the +tomb? In earth-life the actual body, in itself but a subordinate element +in our thought of our friend, did yet by its physical continuity +override as a symbol of identity all lapses of memory, all changes of +the character within. Yet it was memory and character,--the stored +impressions upon which he reacted, and his specific mode of +reaction,--which made our veritable friend. How much of memory, how much +of character, must he preserve for our recognition? + +Do we ask that either he or we should remember always, or should +remember all? Do we ask that his memory should be expanded into +omniscience and his character elevated into divinity? And, whatever +heights he may attain, do we demand that he should reveal to us? Are the +limitations of our material world no barrier to him? + +It is safest to fall back for the present upon the few points which +these communications do seem to indicate. The spirit, then, is holding +converse with a living man, located in a certain place at a certain +moment, and animated by certain thoughts and emotions. The spirit (to +which I must give a neuter pronoun for greater clearness) in some cases +can find and follow the man as it pleases. It is therefore in some way +cognizant of space, although not conditioned by space. Its mastery of +space may perhaps bear somewhat the same relation to our eyesight as our +eyesight bears to the gropings of the blind. Similarly, the spirit +appears to be partly cognizant of our _time_, although not wholly +conditioned thereby. It is apt to see as _present_ both certain things +which appear to us as past and certain things which appear to us as +future. + +Once more, the spirit is at least partly conscious of the thought and +emotions of its earthly friend, so far as directed towards itself; and +this not only when the friend is in the presence of the sensitive, but +also (as G. P. has repeatedly shown) when the friend is at home and +living his ordinary life. + +Lastly, it seems as though the spirit had some occasional glimpses of +material fact upon the earth (as the contents of drawers and the like), +not manifestly proceeding through any living mind. I do not, however, +recall any clear evidence of a spirit's perception of material facts +which provably have never been known to any incarnate mind whatever. + +Accepting this, then, for argument's sake, as the normal condition of a +spirit in reference to human things, what process must it attempt if it +wishes to communicate with living men? That it _will_ wish to +communicate seems probable enough, if it retains not only memory of the +loves of earth, but actual fresh consciousness of loving emotion +directed towards it after death. + +Seeking then for some open avenue, it discerns something which +corresponds (in G. P.'s phrase) to a _light_--a glimmer of translucency +in the confused darkness of our material world. This "light" indicates a +_sensitive_--a human organism so constituted that a spirit can +temporarily _inform_ or _control_ it, not necessarily interrupting the +stream of the sensitive's ordinary consciousness; perhaps using a hand +only, or perhaps, as in Mrs. Piper's case, using voice as well as hand, +and occupying all the sensitive's channels of self-manifestation. The +difficulties which must be inherent in such an act of control are thus +described by Dr. Hodgson:-- + +"If, indeed, each one of us is a 'spirit' that survives the death of the +fleshly organism, there are certain suppositions that I think we may not +unreasonably make concerning the ability of the discarnate 'spirit' to +communicate with those yet incarnate. Even under the best of conditions +for communication--which I am supposing for the nonce to be possible--it +may well be that the aptitude for communicating clearly may be as rare +as the gifts that make a great artist, or a great mathematician, or a +great philosopher. Again, it may well be that, owing to the change +connected with death itself, the 'spirit' may at first be much confused, +and such confusion may last for a long time; and even after the 'spirit' +has become accustomed to its new environment, it is not an unreasonable +supposition that if it came into some such relation to another living +human organism as it once maintained with its own former organism, it +would find itself confused by that relation. The state might be like +that of awaking from a prolonged period of unconsciousness into strange +surroundings. If my own ordinary body could be preserved in its present +state, and I could absent myself from it for days or months or years, +and continue my existence under another set of conditions altogether, +and if I could then return to my own body, it might well be that I +should be very confused and incoherent at first in my manifestations by +means of it. How much more would this be the case were I to return to +_another_ human body. I might be troubled with various forms of aphasia +and agraphia, might be particularly liable to failures of inhibition, +might find the conditions oppressive and exhausting, and my state of +mind would probably be of an automatic and dreamlike character. Now, the +communicators through Mrs. Piper's trance exhibit precisely the kind of +confusion and incoherence which it seems to me we have some reason _a +priori_ to expect if they are actually what they claim to be." + +At the outset of this chapter I compared the phenomena of possession +with those of alternating personalities, of dreams, and of somnambulism. +Now it seems probable that the thesis of multiplex personality--namely, +that no known current of man's consciousness exhausts his whole +consciousness, and no known self-manifestation expresses man's whole +potential being--may hold good both for embodied and for unembodied men, +and this would lead us to expect that the manifestations of the +departed,--through the sensory automatisms dealt with in Chapter VII., +and the motor automatisms considered in Chapter VIII., up to the +completer form of possession illustrated in the present chapter,--would +resemble those fugitive and unstable communications between widely +different strata of personality of which embodied minds offer us +examples. G. P. himself appears to be well aware of the dreamlike +character of the communications, which, indeed, his own style often +exemplifies. Thus he wrote on February 15th, 1894:-- + +"Remember we share and always shall have our friends in the dream-life, +_i.e._ your life so to speak, which will attract us for ever and ever, +and so long as we have any friends _sleeping_ in the material world; you +to us are more like as we understand sleep, you look shut up as one in +prison, and in order for us to get into communication with you, we have +to enter into your sphere, as one like yourself, asleep. This is just +why we make mistakes, as you call them, or get confused and muddled." + +Yet even this very difficulty and fragmentariness of communication ought +in the end to be for us full of an instruction of its own. We are here +actually witnessing the central mystery of human life, unrolling itself +under novel conditions, and open to closer observation than ever before. +We are seeing a mind use a brain. The human brain is in its last +analysis an arrangement of matter expressly adapted to being acted upon +by a spirit; but so long as the accustomed spirit acts upon it the +working is generally too smooth to allow us a glimpse of the mechanism. +_Now_, however, we can watch an unaccustomed spirit, new to the +instrument, installing itself and feeling its way. The lessons thus +learnt are likely to be more penetrating than any which mere morbid +interruptions of the accustomed spirit's work can teach us. In aphasia, +for instance, we can watch with instruction special difficulties of +utterance, supervening on special injuries to the brain. But in +_possession_ we perceive the controlling spirit actually engaged in +overcoming somewhat similar difficulties--writing or uttering the wrong +word, and then getting hold of the right one--and sometimes even finding +power to explain to us something of the minute verbal mechanism (so to +term it) through whose blocking or dislocation the mistake has arisen. + +And we may hope, indeed, that as our investigations proceed, and as we +on this side of the fateful gulf, and the discarnate spirits on the +other, learn more of the conditions necessary for perfect control of the +brain and nervous system of intermediaries,--the communications will +grow fuller and more coherent, and reach a higher level of unitary +consciousness. + +Among the cases of trance discussed in this chapter, we have found +intimately interwoven with the phenomena of possession many instances of +its correlative,--ecstasy. Mrs. Piper's fragmentary utterances and +visions during her passage from trance to waking life,--utterances and +visions that fade away and leave no remembrance in her waking self; +Stainton Moses' occasional visions, his journeys in the "spirit world" +which he recorded on returning to his ordinary consciousness; Home's +entrancement and converse with the various controls whose messages he +gave;--all these suggest actual excursions of the incarnate spirit from +its organism. The theoretical importance of these spiritual excursions +is, of course, very great. It is, indeed, so great that most men will +hesitate to accept a thesis which carries us straight into the inmost +sanctuary of mysticism; which preaches "a precursory entrance into the +most holy place, as by divine transportation." + +Yet I think that this belief, although extreme, is not, at the point to +which our evidence has carried us, in any real way improbable. To put +the matter briefly, if a spirit from outside can enter the organism, the +spirit from inside can go out, can change its centre of perception and +action, in a way less complete and irrevocable than the change of death. +Ecstasy would thus be simply the complementary or correlative aspect of +spirit-control. Such a change need not be a _spatial_ change, any more +than there need be any _spatial_ change for the spirit which invades the +deserted organism. Nay, further: if the incarnate spirit can in this +manner change its centre of perception in response (so to say) to a +discarnate spirit's invasion of the organism, there is no obvious reason +why it should not do so on other occasions as well. We are already +familiar with "travelling clairvoyance," a spirit's change of centre of +perception among the scenes of the material world. May there not be an +extension of travelling clairvoyance to the spiritual world? a +spontaneous transfer of the centre of perception into that region from +whence discarnate spirits seem now to be able, on their side, to +communicate with growing freedom? + +The conception of _ecstasy_--at once in its most literal and in its most +lofty sense--has thus developed itself, almost insensibly, from several +concurrent lines of actual modern evidence. It must still, of course, be +long before we can at all adequately separate,--I can hardly say the +objective from the subjective element in the experience, for we have got +beyond the region where the meaning of those words is clear,--but the +element in the experience which is recognised and responded to by +spirits other than the ecstatic's, from the element which belongs to his +own spirit alone. + +In the meantime, however, the fact that this kind of communion of +ecstasy has been, in preliminary fashion, rendered probable is of the +highest importance for our whole inquiry. We thus come directly into +relation with the highest form which the various religions known to men +have assumed in the past. + +It is hardly a paradox to say that the evidence for ecstasy is stronger +than the evidence for any other religious belief. Of all the subjective +experiences of religion, ecstasy is that which has been most urgently, +perhaps to the psychologist most convincingly, asserted; and it is not +confined to any one religion. From a psychological point of view, one +main indication of the importance of a subjective phenomenon found in +religious experience will be the fact that it is common to all +religions. I doubt whether there is any phenomenon, except ecstasy, of +which this can be said. From the medicine-man of the lowest savages up +to St. John, St. Peter, St. Paul, with Buddha, Mahomet and Swedenborg on +the way, we find records which, though morally and intellectually much +differing, are in psychological essence the same. + +At all stages alike we find that the spirit is conceived as quitting the +body; or, if not quitting it, at least as greatly expanding its range of +perception in some state resembling trance. Observe, moreover, that on +this view all genuine recorded forms of ecstasy are akin, and all of +them represent a real fact. + +To our embodied souls the matter round us seems real and self-existent; +to souls emancipated it is but the sign of the degree which we have +reached, and thus the highest task of science must be to link and +co-ordinate the symbols appropriate to our terrene state with the +symbols appropriate to the state immediately above us. Nay, one might +push this truth to paradox, and maintain that of all earth's inspired +spirits it has been the least divinised, the least lovable, who has +opened the surest path for men. Religions have risen and die again; +philosophy, poetry, heroism, answer only indirectly the prime need of +men. Plotinus, "the eagle soaring above the tomb of Plato," is lost to +sight in the heavens. Conquering and to conquer, the Maid rides on +through other worlds than ours. Virgil himself, "light among the +vanished ages, star that gildest yet this earthly shore," sustains our +spirit, as I have said, but indirectly, by filling still our fountain of +purest intellectual joy. But the prosaic Swede,--his stiff mind prickly +with dogma,--the opaque cell-walls of his intelligence flooded cloudily +by the irradiant day,--this man as by the very limitations of his +faculty, by the practical humility of a spirit trained to acquire but +not to generate truth,--has awkwardly laid the corner-stone, grotesquely +sketched the elevation of a temple which our remotest posterity will be +upbuilding and adorning still. For he dimly felt that man's true passage +and intuition from state to state depends not upon individual ecstasy, +but upon comprehensive law; while yet all law is in fact but symbol; +adaptation of truth timeless and infinite to intelligences of lower or +higher range. + +Beyond us still is mystery; but it is mystery lit and mellowed with an +infinite hope. We ride in darkness at the haven's mouth; but sometimes +through rifted clouds we see the desires and needs of many generations +floating and melting upwards into a distant glow, "up through the light +of the seas by the moon's long-silvering ray." + +The high possibilities that lie before us should be grasped once for +all, in order that the dignity of the quest may help to carry the +inquirer through many disappointments, deceptions, delays. But he must +remember that this inquiry must be extended over many generations; nor +must he allow himself to be persuaded that there are byways to mastery. +I will not say that there cannot possibly be any such thing as occult +wisdom, or dominion over the secrets of nature ascetically or magically +acquired. But I will say that every claim of this kind which my +colleagues or I have been able to examine has proved deserving of +complete mistrust; and that we have no confidence here any more than +elsewhere in any methods except the open, candid, straightforward +methods which the spirit of modern science demands. + +All omens point towards the steady continuance of just such labour as +has already taught us all we know. Perhaps, indeed, in this complex of +interpenetrating spirits our own effort is no individual, no transitory +thing. That which lies at the root of each of us lies at the root of the +Cosmos too. Our struggle is the struggle of the Universe itself; and the +very Godhead finds fulfilment through our upward-striving souls. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +EPILOGUE + +Εδὁκει τἱς μοι γυνἡ προσελθοὑσα καλἡ καἱ εὑειδἡς, λευκἁ ἱμἁτια με καἱ +ἑιπεἱν, Ὡ Σὡκρατες, Ἡυατἱ κεν τριτἁτω φθἱην ἑρἱβωλον ἱκοιο.--Πλἁτωνος +Κρἱτων. + + +The task which I proposed to myself at the beginning of this work is +now, after a fashion, accomplished. Following the successive steps of my +programme, I have presented,--not indeed all the evidence which I +possess, and which I would willingly present,--but enough at least to +illustrate a continuous exposition, and as much as can be compressed +into two volumes, with any hope that these volumes will be read at +all.[211] I have indicated also the principal inferences which that +evidence immediately suggests. Such wider generalisations as I may now +add must needs be dangerously speculative; they must run the risk of +alienating still further from this research many of the scientific minds +which I am most anxious to influence. + +This risk, nevertheless, I feel bound to face. For two reasons,--or, I +should perhaps say, for one main reason seen under two aspects,--I +cannot leave this obscure and unfamiliar mass of observation and +experiment without some words of wider generalisation, some epilogue +which may place these new discoveries in clearer relation to the +existing schemes of civilised thought and belief. + +In the first place, I feel that some such attempt at synthesis is +needful for the practical purpose of enlisting help in our long inquiry. +As has been hinted more than once, the real drag upon its progress has +been not opposition but indifference. Or if indifference be too strong a +word, at any rate the interest evoked has not been such as to inspire to +steady independent work anything like the number of coadjutors who would +have responded to a new departure in one of the sciences which all men +have learnt to respect. The inquiry falls between the two stools of +religion and science; it cannot claim support either from the "religious +world" or from the Royal Society. Yet even apart from the instinct of +pure scientific curiosity (which surely has seldom seen such a field +opening before it), the mighty issues depending on these phenomena +ought, I think, to constitute in themselves a strong, an exceptional +appeal. I desire in this book to emphasise that appeal;--not only to +produce conviction, but also to attract co-operation. And actual +converse with many persons has led me to believe that in order to +attract such help, even from scientific men, some general view of the +moral upshot of all the phenomena is needed;--speculative and uncertain +though such a general view must be. + +Again,--and here the practical reason already given expands into a wider +scope,--it would be unfair to the evidence itself were I to close this +work without touching more directly than hitherto on some of the deepest +faiths of men. The influence of the evidence set forth in this book +should not be limited to the conclusions, however weighty, which that +evidence may be thought to establish. Rather these discoveries should +prompt, as nothing else could have prompted, towards the ultimate +achievement of that programme of scientific dominance which the +_Instauratio Magna_ proclaimed for mankind. Bacon foresaw the gradual +victory of observation and experiment--the triumph of actual analysed +fact--in every department of human study;--in every department save one. +The realm of "Divine things" he left to Authority and Faith. I here urge +that that great exemption need be no longer made. I claim that there now +exists an incipient method of getting at this Divine knowledge also, +with the same certainty, the same calm assurance, with which we make our +steady progress in the knowledge of terrene things. The authority of +creeds and Churches will thus be replaced by the authority of +observation and experiment. The impulse of faith will resolve itself +into a reasoned and resolute imagination, bent upon raising even higher +than now the highest ideals of man. + +Most readers of the preceding pages will have been prepared for the +point of view thus frankly avowed. Yet to few readers can that point of +view at first present itself otherwise than as alien and repellent. +Philosophy and orthodoxy will alike resent it as presumptuous; nor will +science readily accept the unauthorised transfer to herself of regions +of which she has long been wont either to deny the existence, or at any +rate to disclaim the rule. Nevertheless, I think that it will appear on +reflection that some such change of standpoint as this was urgently +needed,--nay, was ultimately inevitable. + +I need not here describe at length the deep disquiet of our time. Never, +perhaps, did man's spiritual satisfaction bear a smaller proportion to +his needs. The old-world sustenance, however earnestly administered, is +too unsubstantial for the modern cravings. And thus through our +civilised societies two conflicting currents run. On the one hand +health, intelligence, morality,--all such boons as the steady progress +of planetary evolution can win for man,--are being achieved in +increasing measure. On the other hand this very sanity, this very +prosperity, do but bring out in stronger relief the underlying +_Welt-Schmers_, the decline of any real belief in the dignity, the +meaning, the endlessness of life. + +There are many, of course, who readily accept this limitation of view; +who are willing to let earthly activities and pleasures gradually +dissipate and obscure the larger hope. But others cannot thus be easily +satisfied. They rather resemble children who are growing too old for +their games;--whose amusement sinks into an indifference and discontent +for which the fitting remedy is an initiation into the serious work of +men. + +A similar crisis has passed over Europe once before. There came a time +when the joyful naïveté, the unquestioning impulse of the early world +had passed away; when the worship of Greeks no more was beauty, nor the +religion of Romans Rome. Alexandrian decadence, Byzantine despair, found +utterance in many an epigram which might have been written to-day. Then +came a great uprush or incursion from the spiritual world, and with new +races and new ideals Europe regained its youth. + +The unique effect of that great Christian impulse begins, perhaps, to +wear away. But more grace may yet be attainable from the region whence +that grace came. Our age's restlessness, as I believe, is the +restlessness not of senility but of adolescence; it resembles the +approach of puberty rather than the approach of death. + +What the age needs is not an abandonment of effort, but an increase; the +time is ripe for a study of unseen things as strenuous and sincere as +that which Science has made familiar for the problems of earth. For now +the scientific instinct,--so newly developed in mankind,--seems likely +to spread until it becomes as dominant as was in time past the +religious; and if there be even the narrowest chink through which man +can look forth from his planetary cage, our descendants will not leave +that chink neglected or unwidened. The scheme of knowledge which can +commend itself to such seekers must be a scheme which, while it +_transcends_ our present knowledge, steadily _continues_ it;--a scheme +not catastrophic, but evolutionary; not promulgated and closed in a +moment, but gradually unfolding itself to progressive inquiry. + +Must there not also be a continuous change, an unending advance in the +human ideal itself? so that Faith must shift her standpoint from the +brief Past to the endless Future, not so much caring to supply the +lacunæ of tradition as to intensify the conviction that there is still a +higher life to work for, a holiness which may be some day reached by +grace and effort as yet unknown. + +It may be that for some generations to come the truest faith will lie in +the patient attempt to unravel from confused phenomena some trace of the +supernal world;--to find thus at last "the substance of things hoped +for, the evidence of things not seen." I confess, indeed, that I have +often felt as though this present age were even unduly favoured;--as +though no future revelation and calm could equal the joy of this great +struggle from doubt into certainty;--from the materialism or agnosticism +which accompany the first advance of Science into the deeper scientific +conviction that there is a deathless soul in man. I can imagine no other +crisis of such deep delight. But after all this is but like the starving +child's inability to imagine anything sweeter than his first bite at the +crust. Give him but _that_, and he can hardly care for the moment +whether he is fated to be Prime Minister or ploughboy. + +Equally transitory, equally dependent on our special place in the story +of man's upward effort, is another shade of feeling which many men have +known. They have felt that uncertainty gave scope to faith and courage +in a way which scientific assurance could never do. There has been a +stern delight in the choice of virtue,--even though virtue might bring +no reward. This joy, like the joy of Columbus sailing westward from +Hierro, can hardly recur in precisely the same form. But neither (to +descend to a humbler comparison) can we grown men again give ourselves +up to learning in the same spirit of pure faith, without prefigurement +of result, as when we learnt the alphabet at our mother's knees. Have we +therefore relaxed since then our intellectual effort? Have we felt that +there was no longer need to struggle against idleness when once we knew +that knowledge brought a sure reward? + +Endless are the varieties of lofty joy. In the age of Thales, Greece +knew the delight of the first dim notion of cosmic unity and law. In the +age of Christ, Europe felt the first high authentic message from a world +beyond our own. In our own age we reach the perception that such +messages may become continuous and progressive;--that between seen and +unseen there is a channel and fairway which future generations may learn +to widen and to clarify. Our own age may seem the best to us; so will +their mightier ages seem to them. + + "'Talia saecla' suis dixerunt 'currite' fusis + Concordes stabili Fatorum numine Parcae." + +_Spiritual evolution_:--that, then, is our destiny, in this and other +worlds;--an evolution gradual with many gradations, and rising to no +assignable close. And the passion for Life is no selfish weakness, it is +a factor in the universal energy. It should keep its strength unbroken +even when our weariness longs to fold the hands in endless slumber; it +should outlast and annihilate the "pangs that conquer trust." If to the +Greeks it seemed a λιποταξἱα--a desertion of one's +post in battle--to quit by suicide the life of earth, how much more +craven were the desire to desert the Cosmos,--the despair, not of this +planet only, but of the Sum of Things! + +Nay, in the infinite Universe man may now feel, for the first time, at +home. The worst fear is over; the true security is won. The worst fear +was the fear of spiritual extinction or spiritual solitude; the true +security is in the telepathic law. + +Let me draw out my meaning at somewhat greater length. + +As we have dwelt successively on various aspects of telepathy, we have +gradually felt the conception enlarge and deepen under our study. It +began as a quasi-mechanical transference of ideas and images from one to +another brain. Presently we found it assuming a more varied and potent +form, as though it were the veritable ingruence or invasion of a distant +mind. Again, its action was traced across a gulf greater than any space +of earth or ocean, and it bridged the interval between spirits incarnate +and discarnate, between the visible and the invisible world. There +seemed no limit to the distance of its operation, or to the intimacy of +its appeal. + + ἑν θἡρσιν ἑν βροτοἱσιν ἑν θεοις ἁνω. + +This Love, then, which (as Sophocles has it) rules "beasts and men and +gods" with equal sway, is no matter of carnal impulse or of emotional +caprice. Rather it is now possible to define Love (as we have already +defined Genius) in terms which convey for us some new meaning in +connection with phenomena described in this work. Genius, as has been +already said, is a kind of exalted but undeveloped clairvoyance. The +subliminal uprush which inspires the poet or the musician presents to +him a deep, but vague perception of that world unseen, through which the +seer or the sensitive projects a narrower but an exacter gaze. Somewhat +similarly, Love is a kind of exalted but unspecialised telepathy;--the +simplest and most universal expression of that mutual gravitation or +kinship of spirits which is the foundation of the telepathic law. + +This is the answer to the ancient fear; the fear lest man's fellowships +be the outward and his solitude the inward thing; the fear lest all +close linking with our fellows be the mere product of the struggle for +existence,--of the tribal need of strength and cohesion;--the fear that +if love and virtue thus arose, love and virtue may thus likewise perish. +It is an answer to the dread that separate centres of conscious life +must be always strangers, and often foes; their leagues and fellowships +interested and illusory; their love the truce of a moment amid infinite +inevitable war. + +Such fears, I say, vanish when we learn that it is the soul in man which +links him with other souls; the body which dissevers even while it seems +to unite; so that "no man liveth to himself nor dieth to himself," but +in a sense which goes deeper than metaphor, "We are every one members +one of another." Like atoms, like suns, like galaxies, our spirits are +systems of forces which vibrate continually to each other's attractive +power. + +All this as yet is dimly adumbrated; it is a first hint of a scheme of +thought which it may well take centuries to develop. But can we suppose +that, when once this conception of the bond between all souls has taken +root, men will turn back from it to the old exclusiveness, the old +controversy? Will they not see that this world-widening knowledge is +both old and new, that _die Geisterwelt ist nicht verschlossen_? that +always have such revelations been given, but develop now into a mightier +meaning,--with the growth of wisdom in those who send them, and in us +who receive? + +Surely we have here a conception, at once wider and exacter than ever +before, of that "religious education of the world" on which theologians +have been fain to dwell. We need assume no "supernatural interference" +no "plan of redemption." We need suppose only that the same process +which we observe to-day has been operating for ages between this world +and the next. + +Let us suppose that whilst incarnate men have risen from savagery into +intelligence, discarnate men have made on their part a like advance. Let +us suppose that they have become more eager and more able to use, for +communication with earth, the standing laws of relation between the +spiritual and the material Universe. + +At first, on such a hypothesis, certain automatic phenomena will occur, +but will not be purposely modified by spirit power. Already and always +there must have been points of contact where unseen things impinged upon +the seen. Always there would be "clairvoyant wanderings," where the +spirit of _shaman_ or of medicine-man discerned things distant upon +earth by the spirit's excursive power. Always there would be apparitions +at death,--conscious or unconscious effects of the shock which separated +soul from body; and always "hauntings,"--where the spirit, already +discarnate, revisited, as in a dream perceptible by others, the scenes +which once he knew. + +From this groundwork of phenomena developed (to take civilised Europe +alone) the oracular religion first, the Christian later. The golden +gifts of Crœsus to Delphi attested the clairvoyance of the Pythia as +strongly, perhaps, as can be expected of any tradition which comes to us +from the morning of history. + +And furthermore, do we not better understand at once the uniqueness and +the reality of the Christian revelation itself, when we regard it as a +culmination rather than an exception,--as destined not to destroy the +cosmic law, but to fulfil it? Then first in human history came from the +unseen a message such as the whole heart desired;--a message adequate in +its response to fundamental emotional needs not in that age only, but in +all ages that should follow. _Intellectually_ adequate for all coming +ages that revelation could not be;--given the laws of mind, incarnate +alike and discarnate,--the evolution, on either side of the gulf of +death, of knowledge and power. + +No one at the date of that revelation suspected that uniformity, that +continuity of the Universe which long experience has now made for us +almost axiomatic. No one foresaw the day when the demand for miracle +would be merged in the demand for higher law. + +This newer scientific temper is not confined, as I believe, to the +denizens of this earth alone. The spiritual world meets it, as I think +our evidence has shown, with eager and strenuous response. But that +response is made, and must be made, along the lines of our normal +evolution. It must rest upon the education, the disentanglement, of +_that_ within us mortals which exists in the Invisible, a partaker of +the undying world. And on our side and on theirs alike, the process must +be steady and continuous. We have no longer to deal with some isolated +series of events in the past,--interpretable this way or that, but in no +way renewable,--but rather with a world-wide and actual condition of +things, recognisable every year in greater clearness, and changing in +directions which we can better and better foresee. This new aspect of +things needs something of new generalisation, of new forecast,--it +points to a provisional synthesis of religious belief which may fitly +conclude the present work. + + PROVISIONAL SKETCH OF A RELIGIOUS SYNTHESIS + + ὁλβιος ὁστις ἱδὡν ἑκεἱνα κοἱλαν + εἱσιν ὑπὁ χθὁνα οἱδεν μἑν βἱου κεἱνος τελευτἁν, + οἱδεν δε διὁσδοτον ἁρχἁν. + + --PINDAR. + +I see ground for hoping that we are within sight of a religious +synthesis, which, although as yet provisional and rudimentary, may in +the end meet more adequately than any previous synthesis the reasonable +needs of men. Such a synthesis cannot, I think, be reached by a mere +predominance of any one existing creed, nor by any eclectic or syncretic +process. Its prerequisite is the actual acquisition of new knowledge +whether by discovery or by revelation--knowledge discerned from without +the veil or from within--yet so realised that the main forms of +religious thought, by harmonious expansion and development, shall find +place severally as elements in a more comprehensive whole. And enough of +such knowledge has, I think, been now attained to make it desirable to +submit to my readers the religious results which seem likely to follow. + +With such a purpose, our conception of religion should be both profound +and comprehensive. I will use here the definition already adopted of +religion as the sane and normal response of the human spirit to all that +we know of cosmic law; that is, to the known phenomena of the universe, +regarded as an intelligible whole. For on the one hand I cannot confine +the term to any single definite view or tradition of things unseen. On +the other hand, I am not content to define religion as "morality tinged +with emotion," lest morality _per se_ should seem to hang in air, so +that we should be merely gilding the tortoise which supports the earth. +Yet my definition needs some further guarding if it is to correspond +with our habitual use of language. Most men's subjective response to +their environment falls below the level of true religious thought. It is +scattered into cravings, or embittered by resentment, or distorted by +superstitious fear. But of such men I do not speak; rather of men in +whom the great pageant has inspired at least some vague out-reaching +toward the Source of All; men for whom knowledge has ripened into +meditation, and has prompted high desire. I would have Science first +sublimed into Philosophy, and then kindled by Religion into a burning +flame. For, from my point of view, man cannot be too religious. I desire +that the environing, the interpenetrating universe,--its energy, its +life, its love,--should illume in us, in our low degree, that which we +ascribe to the World-Soul, saying, "God is Love," "God is Light." The +World-Soul's infinite energy of omniscient benevolence should become in +us an enthusiasm of adoring co-operation,--an eager obedience to +whatsoever with our best pains we can discern as the justly ruling +principle--τὁ ἡγεμονικὁν--without us and within. + +Yet if we form so high an ideal of religion,--raising it so far above +any blind obedience or self-seeking fear that its submission is wholly +willing, and its demand is for spiritual response alone,--we are bound +to ask ourselves whether it is right and reasonable to be religious, to +regard with this full devotion a universe apparently imperfect and +irresponsive, and a Ruling Principle which so many men have doubted or +ignored. + +The pessimist holds the view that sentient existence has been a +deplorable blunder in the scheme of things. The egotist at least _acts_ +upon the view that the universe has no moral coherence, and that "each +for himself" is the only indisputable law. I am sanguine enough to think +that the answer to the pessimist and the egotist has by our new +knowledge been made complete. There remains, indeed, a difficulty of +subtler type, but instinctive in generous souls. "The world," such an +one may say, "is a mixed place, and I am plainly bound to do my best to +improve it. But am I bound to feel--can any bribe of personal happiness +justify me in feeling--_religious enthusiasm_ for a universe in which +even one being may have been summoned into a sentiency destined to +inescapable pain?" + +The answer to this ethical scruple must be a matter largely of faith. If +indeed we knew that this earthly life was all, or (far worse) that it +was followed for any one soul by endless pain, we could not without some +moral jugglery ascribe perfection of both power and goodness to a +personal or impersonal First Cause of such a doom. But if we believe +that endless life exists for all, with infinite possibilities of human +redress and of divine justification, then it seems right to assume that +the universe is either already (in some inscrutable fashion) wholly +good, or is at least in course of becoming so; since it may be becoming +so in part through the very ardour of our own faith and hope. + +I do but mention these initial difficulties; I shall not dwell on them +here. I speak to men who have determined, whether at the bidding of +instinct or of reason, that it is well to be religious; well to approach +in self-devoted reverence an infinite Power and Love. Our desire is +simply to find the least unworthy way of thinking of matters which +inevitably transcend and baffle our finite thought. + +And here, for the broad purpose of our present survey, we may divide +the best religious emotion of the world in triple fashion; tracing three +main streams of thought,--streams which on the whole run parallel, and +which all rise, as I believe, from some source in the reality of things. + +First, then, I place that obscure consensus of independent thinkers in +many ages and countries which, to avoid any disputable title, I will +here call simply the Religion of the Ancient Sage. Under that title +(though Lao Tz[)u] is hardly more than a name) it has been set forth to +us in brief summary by the great sage and poet of our own time; and such +words as Natural Religion, Pantheism, Platonism, Mysticism, do but +express or intensify varying aspects of its main underlying conception. +That conception is the coexistence and interpenetration of a real or +spiritual with this material or phenomenal world; a belief driven home +to many minds by experiences both more weighty and more concordant than +the percipients themselves have always known. More weighty, I say, for +they have implied the veritable nascency and operation of a "last and +largest sense"; a faculty for apprehending, not God, indeed (for what +finite faculty can apprehend the Infinite?), but at least some dim and +scattered tokens and prefigurements of a true world of Life and Love. +More _concordant_ also; and this for a reason which till recently would +have seemed a paradox. For the mutual corroboration of these signs and +messages lies not only in their fundamental agreement up to a certain +point, but in their inevitable divergence beyond it;--as they pass from +things felt into things imagined; from actual experience into dogmatic +creed. + +The Religion of the Ancient Sage is of unknown antiquity. Of unknown +antiquity also are various Oriental types of religion, culminating in +historical times in the Religion of Buddha. For Buddhism all +interpenetrating universes make the steps upon man's upward way; until +deliverance from illusion leaves the spirit merged ineffably in the +impersonal All. But the teaching of Buddha has lost touch with reality; +it rests on no basis of observed or of reproducible fact. + +On a basis of observed facts, on the other hand, Christianity, the +youngest of the great types of religion, does assuredly rest. Assuredly +those facts, so far as tradition has made them known to us, do tend to +prove the superhuman character of its Founder, and His triumph over +death; and thus the existence and influence of a spiritual world, where +men's true citizenship lies. These ideas, by common consent, lay at the +origin of the Faith. Since those first days, however, Christianity has +been elaborated into codes of ethic and ritual adapted to Western +civilisation;--has gained (some think) as a rule of life what it has +lost as a simplicity of spirit. + +From the unfettered standpoint of the Ancient Sage the deep concordance +of these and other schemes of religious thought may well outweigh their +formal oppositions. And yet I repeat that it is not from any mere +welding of these schemes together, nor from any choice of the best +points in existing syntheses, that the new synthesis for which I hope +must be born. It must be born from new-dawning knowledge; and in that +new knowledge I believe that each great form of religious thought will +find its indispensable--I may almost say its predicted--development. Our +race from its very infancy has stumbled along a guarded way; and now the +first lessons of its early childhood reveal the root in reality of much +that it has instinctively believed. + +What I think I know, therefore, I am bound to tell; I must give the +religious upshot of observation and experiment in such brief +announcement as an audience like this[212] has a right to hear, even +before our discoveries can be laid in full before the courts of science +for definite approval. + +The _religious upshot_, I repeat:--for I cannot here reproduce the mass +of evidence which has been published in full elsewhere. Its general +character is by this time widely known. Observation, experiment, +inference, have led many inquirers, of whom I am one, to a belief in +direct or telepathic intercommunication, not only between the minds of +men still on earth, but between minds or spirits still on earth and +spirits departed. Such a _discovery_ opens the door also to +_revelation_. By discovery and by revelation--by observation from +without the veil, and by utterance from within--certain theses have been +provisionally established with regard to such departed souls as we have +been able to encounter. First and chiefly, I at least see ground to +believe that their state is one of endless evolution in wisdom and in +love. Their loves of earth persist; and most of all those highest loves +which seek their outlet in adoration and worship. We do not find, +indeed, that support is given by souls in bliss to any special scheme of +terrene theology. Thereon they know less than we mortal men have often +fancied that we knew. Yet from their step of vantage-ground in the +Universe, at least, they see that it is good. I do not mean that they +know either of an end or of an explanation of evil. Yet evil to them +seems less a terrible than a slavish thing. It is embodied in no mighty +Potentate; rather it forms an isolating madness from which higher +spirits strive to free the distorted soul. There needs no chastisement +of fire; self-knowledge is man's punishment and his reward; +self-knowledge, and the nearness or the aloofness of companion souls. +For in that world love is actually self-preservation; the Communion of +Saints not only adorns but constitutes the Life Everlasting. Nay, from +the law of telepathy it follows that that communion is valid for us here +and now. Even now the love of souls departed makes answer to our +invocations. Even now our loving memory--love is itself a +prayer--supports and strengthens those delivered spirits upon their +upward way. No wonder; since we are to them but as fellow-travellers +shrouded in a mist; "neither death, nor life, nor height, nor depth, nor +any other creature," can bar us from the hearth-fire of the universe, or +hide for more than a moment the inconceivable oneness of souls. + +And is not this a fresh instalment, or a precursory adumbration, of that +Truth into which the Paraclete should lead? Has any world-scheme yet +been suggested so profoundly corroborative of the very core of the +Christian revelation? Jesus Christ "brought life and immortality to +light." By His appearance after bodily death He proved the deathlessness +of the spirit. By His character and His teaching He testified to the +Fatherhood of God. So far, then, as His unique message admitted of +evidential support, it is here supported. So far as He promised things +unprovable, that promise is here renewed. + +I venture now on a bold saying; for I predict that, in consequence of +the new evidence, all reasonable men, a century hence, will believe the +Resurrection of Christ, whereas, in default of the new evidence, no +reasonable men, a century hence, would have believed it. The ground of +this forecast is plain enough. Our ever-growing recognition of the +continuity, the uniformity of cosmic law has gradually made of the +alleged _uniqueness_ of any incident its almost inevitable refutation. +Ever more clearly must our age of science realise that any relation +between a material and a spiritual world cannot be an ethical or +emotional relation alone; that it must needs be a great structural fact +of the Universe, involving laws at least as persistent, as identical +from age to age, as our known laws of Energy or of Motion. And +especially as to that central claim, of the soul's life manifested after +the body's death, it is plain that this can less and less be supported +by remote tradition alone; that it must more and more be tested by +modern experience and inquiry. Suppose, for instance, that we collect +many such histories, recorded on first-hand evidence in our critical +age; and suppose that all these narratives break down on analysis; that +they can all be traced to hallucination, misdescription, and other +persistent sources of error;--can we then expect reasonable men to +believe that this marvellous phenomenon, always vanishing into +nothingness when closely scrutinised in a modern English scene, must yet +compel adoring credence when alleged to have occurred in an Oriental +country, and in a remote and superstitious age? Had the results (in +short) of "psychical research" been purely negative, would not Christian +evidence--I do not say Christian _emotion_, but Christian +_evidence_--have received an overwhelming blow? + +As a matter of fact,--or, if you prefer the phrase, in my own personal +opinion,--our research has led us to results of a quite different type. +They have not been negative only, but largely positive. We have shown +that amid much deception and self-deception, fraud and illusion, +veritable manifestations do reach us from beyond the grave. The central +claim of Christianity is thus confirmed, as never before. If our own +friends, men like ourselves, can sometimes return to tell us of love and +hope, a mightier Spirit may well have used the eternal laws with a more +commanding power. There is nothing to hinder the reverent faith that, +though we be all "the Children of the Most Highest," He came nearer than +we, by some space by us immeasurable, to That which is infinitely far. +There is nothing to hinder the devout conviction that He of His own act +"took upon Him the form of a servant," and was made flesh for our +salvation, foreseeing the earthly travail and the eternal crown. "Surely +before this descent into generation," says Plotinus,[213] "we existed in +the intelligible world; being other men than now we are, and some of us +Gods; clear souls, and minds unmixed with all existence; parts of the +Intelligible, nor severed thence; nor are we severed even now." + +It is not thus to less of reverence that man is summoned, but to more. +Let him keep hold of early sanctities; but let him remember also that +once again "a great sheet has been let down out of heaven"; and lo! +neither Buddha nor Plato is found common or unclean. + +Nay, as to our own soul's future, when that first shock of death is +past, it is in Buddhism that we find the more inspiring, the truer view. +That Western conception of an instant and unchangeable bliss or woe--a +bliss or woe determined largely by a man's beliefs, in this earthly +ignorance, on matters which "the angels desire to look into"--is the +bequest of a pre-Copernican era of speculative thought. In its Mahomedan +travesty, we see the same scheme with outlines coarsened into +grotesqueness;--we see it degrade the cosmic march and profluence into a +manner of children's play. + +Meantime the immemorial musings of unnumbered men have dreamt of a +consummation so far removed that he who gazed has scarcely known whether +it were Nothingness or Deity. With profoundest fantasy, the East has +pondered on the vastness of the world that now is, of the worlds that +are to be. What rest or pasture for the mind in the seven days of +Creation, the four rivers of Paradise, the stars "made also"? The +farther East has reached blindly forth towards astronomical epochs, +sidereal spaces, galactic congregations of inconceivable Being. Pressed +by the incumbency of ancestral gods (as the Chinese legend tells us), it +has "created by one sweep of the imagination a thousand Universes, to be +the Buddha's realm." + +The sacred tale of Buddha, developed from its earlier simplicity by the +shaping stress of many generations, opens to us the whole range and +majesty of human fate. "The destined Buddha has desired to be a Buddha +through an almost unimaginable series of worlds." No soul need ever be +without that hope. "The spirit-worlds are even now announcing the advent +of future Buddhas, in epochs too remote for the computation of men." No +obstacles without us can arrest our way. "The rocks that were thrown at +Buddha were changed into flowers." Not our own worst misdoings need +beget despair. "Buddha, too, had often been to hell for his sins." The +vast complexity of the Sum of Things need not appal us. "Beneath the +bottomless whirlpool of existences, behind the illusion of Form and +Name," we, too, like Buddha, may discover and reveal "the perfection of +the Eternal Law." Us, too, like Buddha, the cosmic welcome may await; as +when "Earth itself and the laws of all worlds" trembled with joy "as +Buddha attained the Supreme Intelligence, and entered into the Endless +Calm." + +I believe that some of those who once were near to us are already +mounting swiftly upon this heavenly way. And when from that cloud +encompassing of unforgetful souls some voice is heard,--as long +ago,--there needs no heroism, no sanctity, to inspire the apostle's +ἑπιθυμἱα εἱς τὁ ἁναλὑὁαι, the desire to lift our anchor, and to sail out +beyond the bar. What fitter summons for man than the wish to live in the +memory of the highest soul that he has known, now risen higher;--to lift +into an immortal security the yearning passion of his love? "As the soul +hasteneth," says Plotinus,[214] "to the things that are above, she will +ever forget the more; unless all her life on earth leave a memory of +things done well. For even here may man do well, if he stand clear of +the cares of earth. And he must stand clear of their memories too; so +that one may rightly speak of a noble soul as forgetting those things +that are behind. And the shade of Hêraklês, indeed, may talk of his own +valour to the shades, but the true Hêraklês in the true world will deem +all that of little worth; being transported into a more sacred place, +and strenuously engaging, even above his strength, in those battles in +which the wise engage." Can we men now on earth claim more of +sustainment than lies in the incipient communion with those enfranchised +souls? What day of hope, of exaltation, has dawned like this, since the +message of Pentecost? + +Yet a durable religious synthesis should do more than satisfy man's +immediate aspiration. It should be in itself progressive and +evolutionary; it should bear a promise of ever deeper holiness, to +answer to the long ages of heightening wisdom during which our race may +be destined to inhabit the earth. This condition has never yet been met. +No scheme, indeed, could meet it which was not based upon recurrent and +developing facts. To such facts we now appeal. We look, not backward to +fading tradition, but onward to dawning experience. We hope that the +intercourse, now at last consciously begun--although as through the +mouth of babes and sucklings, and in confused and stammering +speech--between discarnate and incarnate souls, may through long effort +clarify into a director communion, so that they shall teach us all they +will. + +Science, then, need be no longer fettered by the limitations of this +planetary standpoint; nor ethics by the narrow experience of a single +life. Evolution will no longer appear as a truncated process, an +ever-arrested movement upon an unknown goal. Rather we may gain a +glimpse of an ultimate incandescence where science and religion fuse in +one; a cosmic evolution of Energy into Life, and of Life into Love, +which is Joy. Love, which is Joy at once and Wisdom;--we can do no more +than ring the changes on terms like these, whether we imagine the +transfigurement and apotheosis of conquering souls, or the lower, but +still sacred, destiny which may be some day possible for souls still +tarrying here. We picture the perfected soul as the Buddha, the Saviour, +the _aurai simplicis ignem_, dwelling on one or other aspect of that +trinal conception of Wisdom, Love, and Joy. For souls not yet perfected +but still held on earth I have foretold a growth in _holiness_. By this +I mean no unreal opposition or forced divorcement of sacred and secular, +of flesh and spirit. Rather I define holiness as the joy too high as yet +for our enjoyment; the wisdom just beyond our learning; the rapture of +love which we still strive to attain. Inevitably, as our link with other +spirits strengthens, as the life of the organism pours more fully +through the individual cell, we shall feel love more ardent, wider +wisdom, higher joy; perceiving that this organic unity of Soul, which +forms the inward aspect of the telepathic law, is in itself the Order of +the Cosmos, the Summation of Things. And such devotion may find its +flower in no vain self-martyrdom, no cloistered resignation, but rather +in such pervading ecstasy as already the elect have known; the Vision +which dissolves for a moment the corporeal prison-house; "the flight of +the One to the One." + +"So let the soul that is not unworthy of that vision contemplate the +Great Soul; freed from deceit and every witchery, and collected into +calm. Calmed be the body for her in that hour, and the tumult of the +flesh; ay, all that is about her, calm; calm be the earth, the sea, the +air, and let Heaven itself be still. Then let her feel how into that +silent heaven the Great Soul floweth in.... And so may man's soul be +sure of Vision, when suddenly she is filled with light; for this light +is from Him and is He; and then surely shall one know His presence when, +like a god of old time, He entered into the house of one that calleth +Him, and maketh it full of light." "And how," concludes Plotinus, "may +this thing be for us? Let all else go."[215] + +These heights, I confess, are above the stature of my spirit. Yet for +each of us is a fit ingress into the Unseen; and for some lesser man the +memory of one vanished soul may be beatific as of old for Plotinus the +flooding immensity of Heaven. And albeit no historical religion can +persist as a logical halting-place upon the endless mounting way--that +way which leads unbroken from the first germ of love in the heart to an +inconceivable union with the Divine--yet many a creed in turn may well +be close inwrought and inwoven with our eternal hope. What wonder, if in +the soul's long battle, some Captain of our Salvation shall sometimes +seem to tower unrivalled and alone?--οἱος γἁρ ἑρὑετο Ἱλιον Ἑκτωρ. And +yet in no single act or passion can that salvation stand; far hence, +beyond Orion and Andromeda, the cosmic process works and shall work for +ever through unbegotten souls. And even as it was not in truth the great +ghost of Hector only, but the whole nascent race of Rome, which bore +from the Trojan altar the hallowing fire, so is it not one Saviour only, +but the whole nascent race of man--nay, all the immeasurable progeny and +population of the heavens--which issues continually from behind the veil +of Being, and forth from the Sanctuary of the Universe carries the +ever-burning flame: _A eternumque adytis effert penetralibus ignem_. + + + + +APPENDICES + +TO + +CHAPTER II + + +II. A. It is well known that a great variety of slight causes--hunger, +fatigue, slight poisoning by impure air, a small degree of fever, +etc.--are sometimes enough to produce a transient perturbation of +personality of the most violent kind. I give as an instance the +following account of a feverish experience, sent to me by the late +Robert Louis Stevenson, from Samoa, in 1892 (and published in +_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. ix. p. 9). In Stevenson's paper on his own +dreams, alluded to in Chapter III, we have one of the most striking +examples known to me of that helpful and productive subliminal uprush +which I have characterised as the mechanism of genius. It is therefore, +interesting to observe how, under morbid conditions, this temperament of +genius--this ready permeability of the psychical diaphragm--transforms +what might in others be a mere vague and massive discomfort into a vivid +though incoherent message from the subliminal storm and fire. The result +is a kind of supraliminal duality, the perception at the same time of +two personalities--the one rational and moral, the other belonging to +the stratum of dreams and nightmare. + + +VAILIMA PLANTATION, UPOHO, SAMOAN ISLANDS, +_July 14th, 1892_. + + DEAR MR. MYERS,--I am tempted to communicate to you some + experiences of mine which seem to me (ignorant as I am) of a high + psychological interest. + + I had infamous bad health when I was a child and suffered much from + night fears; but from the age of about thirteen until I was past + thirty I did not know what it was to have a high fever or to wander + in my mind. So that these experiences, when they were renewed, came + upon me with entire freshness; and either I am a peculiar subject, + or I was thus enabled to observe them with unusual closeness. + + Experience A. During an illness at Nice I lay awake a whole night + in extreme pain. From the beginning of the evening _one part of my + mind_ became possessed of a notion so grotesque and shapeless that + it may best be described as a form of words. I thought the pain + was, or was connected with, a wisp or coil of some sort; I knew + not of what it consisted nor yet where it was, and cared not; only + I thought, if the two ends were brought together, the pain would + cease. Now all the time, with _another part of my mind_, which I + venture to think was _myself_, I was fully alive to the absurdity + of this idea, knew it to be a mark of impaired sanity, and was + engaged with _my other self_ in a perpetual conflict. _Myself_ had + nothing more at heart than to keep from my wife, who was nursing + me, any hint of this ridiculous hallucination; the _other_ was + bound that she should be told of it and ordered to effect the cure. + I believe it must have been well on in the morning before the fever + (or _the other fellow_) triumphed, and I called my wife to my + bedside, seized her savagely by the wrist, and looking on her with + a face of fury, cried: "Why do you not put the two ends together + and put me out of pain?" + + Experience B. The other day in Sydney I was seized on a Saturday + with a high fever. Early in the afternoon I began to repeat + mechanically the sound usually written "mhn," caught myself in the + act, instantly stopped it, and explained to my mother, who was in + the room, my reasons for so doing. "That is the beginning of the + mind to wander," I said, "and has to be resisted at the outset." I + fell asleep and woke, and for the rest of the night repeated to + myself mentally a nonsense word which I could not recall next + morning. I had been reading the day before the life of Swift, and + all night long one part of my mind (_the other fellow_) kept + informing me that I was not repeating the word myself, but was only + reading in a book that Swift had so repeated it in his last + sickness. The temptation to communicate this nonsense was again + strongly felt by _myself_, but was on this occasion triumphantly + resisted, and my watcher heard from me all night nothing of Dean + Swift or the word, nothing but what was rational and to the point. + So much for the two consciousnesses when I can disentangle them; + but there is a part of my thoughts that I have more difficulty in + attributing. One part of my mind continually bid me remark the + transrational felicity of the word, examined all the syllables, + showed me that not one was in itself significant, and yet the whole + expressed to a nicety the voluminous distress of one in a high + fever and his annoyance at and recoil from the attentions of his + nurses. It was probably the same part (and for a guess _the other + fellow_) who bid me compare it with the nonsense words of Lewis + Carroll as the invention of a lunatic with those of a sane man. But + surely it was _myself_ (and myself in a perfectly clear-headed + state) that kept me trying all night to get the word by heart, on + the ground that it would afterwards be useful in literature if I + wanted to deal with mad folk. It must have been myself, I say, + because _the other fellow_ believed (or pretended to believe) he + was reading the passage in a book where it could always be found + again when wanted. + + Experience C. The next night _the other fellow_ had an explanation + ready for my sufferings, of which I can only say that it had + something to do with the navy, that it was sheer undiluted + nonsense, had neither end nor beginning, and was insusceptible of + being expressed in words. _Myself_ knew this; yet I gave way, and + my watcher was favoured with some references to the navy. Nor only + that; _the other fellow_ was annoyed--or _I_ was annoyed--on two + inconsistent accounts: first, because he had failed to make his + meaning comprehensible; and second, because the nurse displayed no + interest. _The other fellow_ would have liked to explain further; + but _myself_ was much hurt at having been got into this false + position, and would be led no further. + + In cases A and C the illusion was amorphous. I knew it to be so, + and yet succumbed to the temptation of trying to communicate it. In + case B the idea was coherent, and I managed to hold my peace. Both + consciousnesses, in other words, were less affected in case B, and + both more affected in cases A and C. It is perhaps not always so: + the illusion might be coherent, even practical, and the rational + authority of the mind quite in abeyance. Would not that be lunacy? + + In case A I had an absolute knowledge that I was out of my mind, + and that there was no meaning in my words; these were the very + facts that I was anxious to conceal; and yet when I succumbed to + the temptation of speaking my face was convulsed with anger, and I + wrung my watcher's wrist with cruelty. Here is action, unnatural + and uncharacteristic action, flowing from an idea in which I had no + belief, and which I had been concealing for hours as a plain mark + of aberration. Is it not so with lunatics? + + I have called the one person _myself_, and the other _the other + fellow_. It was myself who spoke and acted; the other fellow seemed + to have no control of the body or the tongue; he could only act + through myself, on whom he brought to bear a heavy strain, resisted + in one case, triumphant in the two others. Yet I am tempted to + think that I know the other fellow; I am tempted to think he is the + dreamer described in my Chapter on Dreams to which you refer. Here + at least is a dream belonging to the same period, but this time a + pure dream, an illusion, I mean, that disappeared with the return + of the sense of sight, not one that persevered during waking + moments, and while I was able to speak and take my medicine. It + occurred the day after case B and before case C. + + Case D. In the afternoon there sprang up a storm of wind with + monstrous clouds of dust; my room looked on a steep hill of trees + whose boughs were all blowing in the same direction; the world + seemed to pass by my windows like a mill-race. By this turmoil and + movement I was confused, but not distressed, and surprised not to + be distressed; for even in good health a high wind has often a + painful influence on my nerves. In the midst of this I dozed off + asleep. I had just been reading Scott's "Life of Dryden," and been + struck with the fact that Dryden had translated some of the Latin + hymns, and had wondered that I had never remarked them in his + works. As soon as I was asleep I dreamed a reason why the sound of + the wind and the sight of the flying dust had not distressed me. + There was no wind, it seemed, no dust; it was only Dryden singing + his translated hymns in _one direction_, and all those who had + blamed and attacked him after the Revolution singing them in + _another_. This point of the two directions is very singular and + insane. In part it meant that Dryden was continuously flying past + yet never passing my window in the direction of the wind and dust, + and all his detractors similarly flying past yet not passing + towards the other side. But it applied, besides this, both to the + words and to the music in a manner wholly insusceptible of + expression. + + That was a dream; and yet how exactly it reproduces the method of + _my other fellow_ while I was awake. Here is an explanation for a + state of mind or body sought, and found, in a tissue of rabid, + complicated, and inexpressible folly.--Yours very sincerely. + +ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + +II. B. A good example of the application of true scientific method to +problems which doctors of the old school did not think worth their +science is Dr. Janet's treatment of a singular problem which the +mistakes of brutal ignorance turned in old times into a veritable +scourge of our race. I speak of _demoniacal possession_, in which +affliction Dr. Janet has shown himself a better than ecclesiastical +exorcist. + +I give here a typical case of pseudo-possession from _Névroses et Idées +fixes_ (vol. i. pp. 377-389): Achille, as Professor Janet calls him, was +a timid and rather morbid young man, but he was married to a good wife, +and nothing went specially wrong with him until his return from a +business journey in 1890. He then became sombre and taciturn--sometimes +even seemed unable to speak--then took to his bed and lay murmuring +incomprehensible words, and at last said farewell to his wife and +children, and stretched himself out motionless for a couple of days, +while his family waited for his last breath. + +"Suddenly one morning, after two days of apparent death, Achille sat up +in bed with his eyes wide open, and burst into a terrible laugh. It was +a convulsive laugh which shook all his limbs; an exaggerated laugh which +twisted his mouth; a lugubrious, satanic laugh which went on for more +than two hours. + +"From this moment everything was changed. Achille leapt from his bed and +refused all attentions. To every question he answered, 'There's nothing +to be done! let's have some champagne; it's the end of the world!' Then +he uttered piercing cries, 'They are burning me--they are cutting me to +pieces!'" + +After an agitated sleep, Achille woke up with the conviction that he was +possessed with a devil. And in fact his mouth now uttered blasphemies, +his limbs were contorted, and he repeatedly made unsuccessful efforts at +suicide. Ultimately he was taken to the Salpêtrière, and placed under +Professor Janet, who recognised at once the classic signs of possession. +The poor man kept protesting against the odious outrages on religion, +which he attributed to a devil inside him, moving his tongue against +his will. "Achille could say, like a celebrated victim of possession, +Père Surin, 'It is as though I had two souls; one of which has been +dispossessed of its body and the use of its organs, and is frantic at +the sight of the other soul which has crept in.'" + +It was by no means easy to get either at Achille or at his possessing +devil. Attempts to hypnotise him failed, and any remonstrance was met +with insult. But the wily psychologist was accustomed to such +difficulties, and had resort to a plan too insidious for a common devil +to suspect. He gently moved the hand of Achille in such a way as to +suggest the act of writing, and having thus succeeded in starting +automatic script, he got the devil thus to answer questions quietly put +while the raving was going on as usual. "I will not believe in your +power," said Professor Janet to the malignant intruder, "unless you give +me a proof." "What proof?" "Raise the poor man's left arm without his +knowing it." This was done--to the astonishment of poor Achille--and a +series of suggestions followed, all of which the demon triumphantly and +unsuspectingly carried out, to show his power. Then came the suggestion +to which Professor Janet had been leading up. It was like getting the +djinn into the bottle. "You cannot put Achille soundly to sleep in that +arm-chair!" "Yes, I can!" No sooner said than done, and no sooner done +than Achille was delivered from his tormentor--from his own tormenting +self. + +For there in that hypnotic sleep he was gently led on to tell all his +story; and such stories, when told to a skilled and kindly auditor, are +apt to come to an end in the very act of being told. + +Achille had been living in a day-dream; it was a day-dream which had +swollen to these nightmare proportions, and had, as it were, ousted his +rational being; and in the deeper self-knowledge which the somnambulic +state brings with it the dream and the interpretation thereof became +present to his bewildered mind. + +The fact was that on that fateful journey when Achille's troubles began +he had committed an act of unfaithfulness to his wife. A gloomy anxiety +to conceal this action prompted him to an increasing taciturnity, and +morbid fancies as to his health grew on him until at last his day-dream +led him to imagine himself as actually dead. "His two days' lethargy was +but an episode, a chapter in the long dream." + +What then was the natural next stage of the dream's development? "He +dreamt that, now that he was dead indeed, the devil rose from the abyss +and came to take him. The poor man, as in his somnambulic state he +retraced the series of his dreams, remembered the precise instant when +this lamentable event took place. It was about 11 A.M.: a dog barked in +the court at the moment, incommoded, no doubt, by the smell of +brimstone; flames filled the room; numbers of little fiends scourged the +unhappy man, or drove nails into his eyes, and through the wounds in his +body Satan entered in to take possession of head and heart." + +From this point the pseudo-possession may be said to have begun. The +fixed idea developed itself into sensory and motor automatisms--visions +of devils, uncontrollable utterances, automatic script--ascribed by the +automatist to the possessing devil within. + +And now came the moment when the veracity, the utility, of this new type +of psychological analysis was to be submitted to yet another test. From +the point of view of the ordinary physician Achille's condition was +almost hopeless. Physical treatment had failed, and death from +exhaustion and misery seemed near at hand. Nor could any appeal have +been effective which did not go to the hidden root of the evil, which +did not lighten the load of morbid remorse from which the whole series +of troubles had developed. Fortunately for Achille, he was in the hands +of an unsurpassed minister to minds thus diseased. Professor Janet +adopted his usual tactics--what he terms the _dissociation_ and the +gradual _substitution_ of ideas. The incidents of the miserable memory +were modified, were explained away, were slowly dissolved from the +brooding brain, and the hallucinatory image of the offended wife was +presented to the sufferer at what novelists call the psychological +moment, with pardon in her eyes. "Such stuff as dreams are made +of!"--but even by such means was Achille restored to physical and moral +health; he leads now the life of normal man; he no longer "walketh in a +vain shadow, and disquieteth himself in vain." + + +II. C. I give here the case of Dr. Azam's often quoted patient, Félida +X.[216] In this case the somnambulic life finally became the normal +life; as the "second state," which appeared at first only in short, +dreamlike accesses, gradually replaced the "first state," which finally +recurred but for a few hours at long intervals. But the point on which I +wish to dwell is this: that Félida's second state was altogether +_superior_ to the first--physically superior, since the nervous pains +which had troubled her from childhood disappeared: and mentally +superior, inasmuch as her morose, self-centred disposition was exchanged +for a cheerful activity which enabled her to attend to her children and +her shop much more effectively than when she was in the "état bête," as +she called what was once the only personality that she knew. In this +case, then, which at the time Dr. Azam wrote--1887--was of nearly thirty +years' standing, the spontaneous readjustment of nervous activities--the +second state, no memory of which remained in the first state--resulted +in an improvement profounder than could have been anticipated from any +moral or medical treatment that we know. The case shows us how often the +word "normal" means nothing more than "what happens to exist." For +Félida's _normal_ state was in fact her _morbid_ state: and the new +condition, which seemed at first a mere hysterical abnormality, brought +her at last to a life of bodily and mental sanity which made her fully +the equal of average women of her class. + +A very complete account of the case, reproducing in full almost the +whole of Dr. Azam's report, is given in Dr. A. Binet's _Altérations de +la Personnalité_ (pp. 6-20), and I briefly summarise this here:-- + + Félida was born at Bordeaux, in 1843, of healthy parents. Towards + the age of thirteen years she began to exhibit symptoms of + hysteria. When about fourteen and a half she used suddenly to feel + a pain in her forehead, and then to fall into a profound sleep for + some ten minutes, after which she woke spontaneously in her + secondary condition. This lasted an hour or two; then the sleep + came on again, and she awoke in her normal state. The change at + first occurred every five or six days. As the hysterical symptoms + increased, Dr. Azam was called in to attend her in 1858. + + His report of that time states that in the primary state she + appears very intelligent and fairly well educated; of a melancholy + disposition, talking little, very industrious; constantly thinking + of her maladies and suffering acute pains in various parts of the + body, especially the head--the _clou hystérique_ being very marked; + all her actions, ideas, and words perfectly rational. Almost every + day what she calls her _crise_ comes on spontaneously--often while + she is sitting at her needlework--preceded by a brief interval of + the profound sleep, from which no external stimulus can rouse her. + On waking into the secondary state, she appears like an entirely + different person, smiling and gay; she continues her work + cheerfully or walks about briskly, no longer feeling all the pains + she has just before been complaining of. She looks after her + ordinary domestic duties, goes out, walks about the town, and pays + calls; behaves in every way like an ordinary healthy girl. + + In this condition she remembers perfectly all that has happened on + previous occasions when she was in the same state, and also all the + events of her normal life; whereas during her normal life she + forgets absolutely the occurrences of the secondary state. She + declares constantly that whatever state she is in at the moment is + the normal one--her _raison_--while the other one is always her + _crise_. + + The change of character in the secondary state is strongly marked; + she becomes gay and vivacious--almost noisy; instead of being + indifferent to everything, her sensibilities--both imaginative and + emotional--become excessive. All her faculties appear more + developed and more complete. The condition, in fact, is much + superior to her ordinary one, as shown by the disappearance of her + physical pains, and especially by the state of her memory. + + She married early, and her _crises_ became more frequent, though + there were occasionally long intervals when they never came at all. + But the secondary state, which in 1858 and 1859 only occupied about + a tenth part of her life, gradually encroached more and more on the + primary state, till the latter began to appear only at intervals + and for a brief space of time. + + In 1875 Dr. Azam, having for long lost sight of her, found her a + mother of a family, keeping a shop. Now and then, but more and more + rarely, occurred what she called her _crises_--really relapses into + her _primary_ condition. These were excessively inconvenient, since + she forgot in them all the events of what was now her ordinary + life, all the arrangements of her business, etc.; for instance, in + going to a funeral, she had a _crise_, and consequently found it + impossible to remember who the deceased person was. She had a great + dread of these occurrences, though, by long practice, she had + become very skilful at concealing them from every one but her + husband; and the transition periods in passing from one state to + another, during which she was completely unconscious, were now so + short as to escape general notice. A peculiar feeling of pressure + in the head warned her that the _crise_ was coming, and she would + then, for fear of making mistakes in her business, hastily write + down whatever facts she most needed to keep in mind. + + While the primary state lasted, she relapsed into the extreme + melancholy and depression that characterised her early life, these + being, in fact, now aggravated by her troublesome amnesia. She also + lost her affection for her husband and children, and suffered from + many hysterical pains and other symptoms which were much less acute + in the secondary state. By 1887, however, the primary state only + occurred every month or two, lasting only for a few hours at a + time. + + + + +APPENDICES + +TO + +CHAPTER IV + + +IV. A. From _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. viii. p. 389; related by Mr. +Herbert J. Lewis, 19 Park Place, Cardiff. + + In September 1880, I lost the landing order of a large steamer + containing a cargo of iron ore, which had arrived in the port of + Cardiff. She had to commence discharging at six o'clock the next + morning. I received the landing order at four o'clock in the + afternoon, and when I arrived at the office at six I found that I + had lost it. During all the evening I was doing my utmost to find + the officials of the Custom House to get a permit, as the loss was + of the greatest importance, preventing the ship from discharging. I + came home in a great degree of trouble about the matter, as I + feared that I should lose my situation in consequence. + + That night I dreamed that I saw the lost landing order lying in a + crack in the wall under a desk in the Long Room of the Custom + House. + + At five the next morning I went down to the Custom House and got + the keeper to get up and open it. I went to the spot of which I had + dreamed, and found the paper in the very place. The ship was not + ready to discharge at her proper time, and I went on board at seven + and delivered the landing order, saving her from all delay. + +HERBERT J. LEWIS. + + I can certify to the truth of the above statement. + +THOMAS LEWIS + +(Herbert Lewis's father), + +H. WALLIS. + + _July 14th, 1884_. + +[Mr. E. J. Newell, of the George and Abbotsford Hotel, Melrose, adds the +following corroborative note:--] + + +_August 14th, 1884._ + + I made some inquiries about Mr. Herbert Lewis's dream before I left + Cardiff. He had been searching throughout the room in which the + order was found. His theory as to how the order got in the place in + which it was found, is that it was probably put there by some one + (perhaps with malicious intent), as he does not see how it could + have fallen so. + + The fact that Mr. H. Lewis is exceedingly short-sighted adds to the + probability of the thing which you suggest, that the dream was + simply an unconscious act of memory in sleep. On the other hand he + does not believe it was there when he searched. + +E. J. NEWELL. + +Can there have been a momentary unnoticed spasm of the ciliary muscle, +with the result of extending the range of vision? It may suffice here to +quote--that my suggestion may not seem too fantastic--a few lines from a +personal observation of a somnambule by Dr. Dufay.[217] + +"It is eight o'clock: several workwomen are busy around a table, on +which a lamp is placed. Mdlle. R. L. directs and shares in the work, +chatting cheerfully meantime. Suddenly a noise is heard; it is her head +which has fallen sharply on the edge of the table. This is the beginning +of the access. She picks herself up in a few seconds, pulls off her +spectacles with disgust, and continues the work which she had +begun;--having no further need of the concave glasses which a pronounced +myopia renders needful to her in ordinary life;--and even placing +herself so that her work is less exposed to the light of the lamp." +Similarly, and yet differently, Miss Goodrich-Freer has had an +experience where the title of a book quite unknown to her, which she had +vainly endeavoured to read where it lay at some distance from her, +presented itself in the crystal. In such a case we can hardly suppose +any such spasmodic alteration in ocular conditions as may perhaps occur +in trance. + + +IV. B. This case was recorded by Professor W. Romaine Newbold of the +University of Pennsylvania, in a paper entitled "Subconscious +Reasoning," in the _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xii. pp. 11-20. + + I give the following extracts:-- + + For [these] cases I am indebted to another friend and colleague, + Dr. Herman V. Hilprecht, Professor of Assyrian in the University of + Pennsylvania. Both occurred in his own experience, and I write the + account of the first from notes made by me upon his narrative. + + During the winter, 1882-1883, he was working with Professor + Friedrich Delitzsch, and was preparing to publish, as his + dissertation, a text, transliteration, and translation of a stone + of Nebuchadnezzar I. with notes. He accepted at that time the + explanation given by Professor Delitzsch of the name + Nebuchadnezzar--"_Nabû-kudûrru-usur_," "Nebo protect my mason's + pad, or mortar board," _i.e._, "my work as a builder." One night, + after working late, he went to bed about two o'clock in the + morning. After a somewhat restless sleep, he awoke with his mind + full of the thought that the name should be translated "Nebo + protect my boundary." He had a dim consciousness of having been + working at his table in a dream, but could never recall the details + of the process by which he arrived at this conclusion. Reflecting + upon it when awake, however, he at once saw that _kudûrru_, + "boundary," could be derived from the verb _kadâru_, to enclose. + Shortly afterwards he published this translation in his + dissertation, and it has since been universally adopted. + + I quote this experience, in itself of a familiar type, on account + of its interest when viewed in connection with the more curious + dream next to be related. I was told of the latter shortly after it + happened, and here translate an account written in German by + Professor Hilprecht, August 8th, 1893, before the more complete + confirmation was received. + + "One Saturday evening, about the middle of March, 1893, I had been + wearying myself, as I had done so often in the weeks preceding, in + the vain attempt to decipher two small fragments of agate which + were supposed to belong to the finger-rings of some Babylonian. The + labour was much increased by the fact that the fragments presented + remnants only of characters and lines, that dozens of similar small + fragments had been found in the ruins of the temple of Bel at + Nippur with which nothing could be done, that in this case + furthermore I had never had the originals before me, but only a + hasty sketch made by one of the members of the expedition sent by + the University of Pennsylvania to Babylonia. I could not say more + than that the fragments, taking into consideration the place in + which they were found and the peculiar characteristics of the + cuneiform characters preserved upon them, sprang from the Cassite + period of Babylonian history (_circa_ 1700-1140 B.C.); moreover, as + the first character of the third line of the first fragment seemed + to be KU, I ascribed this fragment, with an interrogation point, to + King Kurigalzu, while I placed the other fragment, as + unclassifiable, with other Cassite fragments upon a page of my book + where I published the unclassifiable fragments. The proofs already + lay before me, but I was far from satisfied. The whole problem + passed yet again through my mind that March evening before I placed + my mark of approval under the last correction in the book. Even + then I had come to no conclusion. About midnight, weary and + exhausted, I went to bed and was soon in deep sleep. Then I dreamed + the following remarkable dream. A tall, thin priest of the old + pre-Christian Nippur, about forty years of age and clad in a simple + abba, led me to the treasure chamber of the temple, on its + south-east side. He went with me into a small, low-ceiled room + without windows, in which there was a large wooden chest, while + scraps of agate and lapis-lazuli lay scattered on the floor. Here + he addressed me as follows: 'The two fragments which you have + published separately upon pages 22 and 26, belong together, are not + finger-rings, and their history is as follows. King Kurigalzu + (_circa_ 1300 B.C.) once sent to the temple of Bel, among other + articles of agate and lapis lazuli, an inscribed votive cylinder of + agate. Then we priests suddenly received the command to make for + the statue of the god Ninib a pair of earrings of agate. We were in + great dismay, since there was no agate as raw material at hand. In + order to execute the command there was nothing for us to do but cut + the votive cylinder into three parts, thus making three rings, each + of which contained a portion of the original inscription. The first + two rings served as earrings for the statue of the god; the two + fragments which have given you so much trouble are portions of + them. If you will put the two together you will have confirmation + of my words. But the third ring you have not yet found in the + course of your excavations, and you never will find it.' With this, + the priest disappeared. I awoke at once and immediately told my + wife the dream that I might not forget it. Next morning--Sunday--I + examined the fragments once more in the light of these disclosures, + and to my astonishment found all the details of the dream precisely + verified in so far as the means of verification were in my hands. + The original inscription on the votive cylinder read: 'To the god + Ninib, son of Bel, his lord, has Kurigalzu, pontifex of Bel, + presented this.' + + "The problem was thus at last solved. I stated in the preface that + I had unfortunately discovered too late that the two fragments + belonged together, made the corresponding changes in the Table of + Contents, pp. 50 and 52, and, it being not possible to transpose + the fragments, as the plates were already made, I put in each plate + a brief reference to the other. (Cf. Hilprecht, 'The Babylonian + Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania,' Series A, Cuneiform + Texts, Vol. I., Part I, 'Old Babylonian Inscriptions, chiefly from + Nippur.') + +"H. V. HILPRECHT." + +Upon the priest's statement that the fragments were those of a votive +cylinder, Professor Hilprecht makes the following comment:-- + +"There are not many of these votive cylinders. I had seen, all told, up +to that evening, not more than two. They very much resemble the +so-called seal cylinders, but usually have no pictorial representations +upon them, and the inscription is not reversed, not being intended for +use in sealing, but is written as it is read." + +The following transliteration of the inscription, in the Sumerian +language, will serve to give those of us who are unlearned in cuneiform +languages an idea of the material which suggested the dream. The +straight vertical lines represent the cuts by which the stone-cutter +divided the original cylinder into three sections. The bracketed words +are entirely lost, and have been supplied by analogy from the many +similar inscriptions. + + Line 1. Dingir N inib du (mu) To the god Ninib, child + " 2. dingir En- (lil) of the god Bel + " 3. luga l-a-ni (ir) his lord + " 4. Ku-r (i- galzu) Kurigalzu + " 5. pa- (tesi dingir Enlil) pontifex of the god Bel + " 6. (in- na- ba) has presented it. + +I translate also the following statement which Mrs. Hilprecht kindly +made at my request. + +"I was awakened from sleep by a sigh, immediately thereafter heard a +spring from the bed, and at the same moment saw Professor Hilprecht +hurrying into his study. Thence came the cry, 'It is so, it is so.' +Grasping the situation, I followed him and satisfied myself in the +midnight hour as to the outcome of his most interesting dream.[218] + +"J. C. HILPRECHT." + + + +At the time Professor Hilprecht told me of this curious dream, which was +a few weeks after its occurrence, there remained a serious difficulty +which he was not able to explain. According to the memoranda in our +possession, the fragments were of different colours, and therefore could +have scarcely belonged to the same object. The original fragments were +in Constantinople, and it was with no little interest that I awaited +Professor Hilprecht's return from the trip which he made thither in the +summer of 1893. I translate again his own account of what he then +ascertained. + + +"_November 10th_, 1895. + + "In August 1893, I was sent by the Committee on the Babylonian + Expedition to Constantinople, to catalogue and study the objects + got from Nippur and preserved there in the Imperial Museum. It was + to me a matter of the greatest interest to see for myself the + objects which, according to my dream, belonged together, in order + to satisfy myself that they had both originally been parts of the + same votive cylinder. Halil Bey, the director of the museum, to + whom I told my dream, and of whom I asked permission to see the + objects, was so interested in the matter, that he at once opened + all the cases of the Babylonian section, and requested me to + search. Father Scheil, an Assyriologist from Paris, who had + examined and arranged the articles excavated by us before me, had + not recognised the fact that these fragments belonged together, and + consequently I found one fragment in one case, and the other in a + case far away from it. As soon as I found the fragments and put + them together, the truth of the dream was demonstrated _ad + oculos_--they had, in fact, once belonged to one and the same + votive cylinder. As it had been originally of finely veined agate, + the stone-cutter's saw had accidentally divided the object in such + a way that the whitish vein of the stone appeared only upon the one + fragment and the larger grey surface upon the other. Thus I was + able to explain Dr. Peters's discordant description of the two + fragments." + +Professor Hilprecht is unable to say what language the old priest used +in addressing him. He is quite certain that it was not Assyrian, and +thinks it was either English or German. + +There are two especial points of interest in this case, the character of +the information conveyed, and the dramatic form in which it was put. The +apparently novel points of information given were:-- + + 1. That the fragments belonged together. + 2. That they were fragments of a votive cylinder. + 3. That the cylinder was presented by King Kurigalzu. + 4. That it was dedicated to Ninib. + 5. That it had been made into a pair of earrings. + +6. That the "treasure chamber" was located upon the south-east side of +the temple. + +A careful analysis reveals the fact that not one of these items was +beyond the reach of the processes of associative reasoning which +Professor Hilprecht daily employs. Among the possible associative +consequents of the writing upon the one fragment, some of the +associative consequents of the writing on the other were sub-consciously +involved; the attraction of these identical elements brings the separate +pieces into mental juxtaposition, precisely as the pieces of a +"dissected map" find one another in thought. In waking life the +dissimilarity of colour inhibited any tendency on the part of the +associative processes to bring them together, but in sleep this +difference of colour seems to have been forgotten--there being no +mention made of it--and the assimilation took place. The second point is +more curious, but is not inexplicable. For as soon as the fragments were +brought into juxtaposition mentally, enough of the inscription became +legible to suggest the original character of the object. This is true +also of the third and fourth points. The source of the fifth is not so +clear. Upon examining the originals, Professor Hilprecht felt convinced +from the size of the hole still to be seen through the fragments that +they could not have been used as finger-rings, and that they had been +used as earrings, but the written description which he had before him at +the time of his dream did not bring these points to view. Still, such +earrings are by no means uncommon objects. Such a supposition might well +have occurred to Professor Hilprecht in his waking state and, in view of +the lack of positive confirmation, it would be rash to ascribe it to any +supernormal power. The last point is most interesting. When he told me +this story, Professor Hilprecht remembered that he had heard from Dr. +John P. Peters, before he had the dream, of the discovery of a room in +which were remnants of a wooden box, while the floor was strewn with +fragments of agate and lapis-lazuli. The walls, of course, and ceiling +have long since perished. The location, however, of the room he did not +know, and suggested I should write to Dr. Peters and find out whether it +was correctly given in his dream, and whether Dr. Peters had told him of +it. Dr. Peters replied that the location given was correct, but, he +adds, he told Professor Hilprecht all these facts as long ago as 1891, +and thinks he provided him with a drawing of the room's relation to the +temple. Of this Professor Hilprecht has no recollection. He thinks it +probable that Dr. Peters told him orally of the location of the room, +but feels sure that if any such plan was given him it would now be found +among his papers. This is a point of no importance, however. We +certainly cannot regard the location as ascertained by supernormal +means. + + +IV. C. From _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xi. p. 505. + +From Mr. Alfred Cooper, of 9 Henrietta Street, Cavendish Square, W. + +[This account was orally confirmed by him to Mr. E. Gurney, June 6th, +1888. It is written by Mr. Cooper, but attested also by the Duchess of +Hamilton.] + + * * * * * + +A fortnight before the death of the late Earl of L----, in 1882, I +called upon the Duke of Hamilton, in Hill Street, to see him +professionally. After I had finished seeing him we went into the +drawing-room, where the Duchess was, and the Duke said to me, "Oh, +Cooper; how is the Earl?" + +The Duchess said, "What Earl?" and on my answering, "Lord L----," she +replied, "That is very odd. I have had a most extraordinary vision. I +went to bed, but after being in bed a short time, I was not exactly +asleep, but thought I saw a scene as if from a play before me. The +actors in it were Lord L----, in a chair, as if in a fit, with a man +standing over him with a red beard. He was by the side of a bath, over +which bath a red lamp was distinctly shown." + +I then said, "I am attending Lord L---- at present; there is very little +the matter with him; he is not going to die; he will be all right very +soon." + +Well, he got better for a week and was nearly well, but at the end of +six or seven days after this I was called to see him suddenly. He had +inflammation of both lungs. + +I called in Sir William Jenner, but in six days he was a dead man. There +were two male nurses attending on him; one had been taken ill. But when +I saw the other the dream of the Duchess was exactly represented. He was +standing near a bath over the Earl and, strange to say, his beard was +red. There was the bath with the red lamp over it. It is rather rare to +find a bath with a red lamp over it, and this brought the story to my +mind. + +The vision seen by the Duchess was told two weeks before the death of +Lord L----. It is a most remarkable thing. + +This account, written in 1888, has been revised by the [late] Duke of +Manchester, father of the Duchess of Hamilton, who heard the vision from +his daughter on the morning after she had seen it. + +(Signed) MARY HAMILTON. + ALFRED COOPER. + + Her Grace had been reading and had just blown out the candle. Her + Grace has had many dreams which have come true years after. + +ALFRED COOPER. + +[The Duchess only knew Lord L---- by sight, and had not heard that he +was ill. She knew she was not asleep, for she opened her eyes to get rid +of the vision and, shutting them, saw the same thing again.] + +An independent and concordant account has been given to me (F. W. H. M.) +orally by a gentleman to whom the Duchess related the dream on the +morning after its occurrence. + + +IV. D. From _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. i. p. 383. The following +account, which first appeared in a letter in the _Religio-Philosophical +Journal_, is from Dr. Bruce, of Micanopy, Fla., U.S.A. The case might be +called "collective," but for the fact that one of the dreams, though +vivid and alarming, was probably not so distinctive as was afterwards +imagined, and, moreover, was possibly dreamt on the night _preceding_ +that on which the tragic event took place. + + +_February 17th, 1884._ + + On Thursday, the 27th of December last, I returned from Gainesville + (twelve miles from here) to my orange grove, near Micanopy. I have + only a small plank house of three rooms at my grove, where I spend + most of my time when the grove is being cultivated. There was no + one in the house but myself at the time, and being somewhat + fatigued with my ride, I retired to my bed very early, probably 6 + o'clock; and, as I am frequently in the habit of doing, I lit my + lamp on a stand by the bed for the purpose of reading. After + reading a short time, I began to feel a little drowsy, put out the + light, and soon fell asleep. Quite early in the night I was + awakened. I could not have been asleep very long, I am sure. I felt + as if I had been aroused intentionally, and at first thought some + one was breaking into the house. I looked from where I lay into the + other two rooms (the doors of both being open), and at once + recognised where I was, and that there was no ground for the + burglar theory; there being nothing in the house to make it worth a + burglar's time to come after. + + I then turned on my side to go to sleep again, and immediately felt + a consciousness of a presence in the room, and, singular to state, + it was not the consciousness of a live person, but of a spiritual + presence. This may provoke a smile, but I can only tell you the + facts as they occurred to me. I do not know how to better describe + my sensations than by simply stating that I felt a consciousness of + a spiritual presence. This may have been a part of the dream, for I + felt as if I were dozing off again to sleep; but it was unlike any + dream I ever had. I felt also at the same time a strong feeling of + superstitious dread, as if something strange and fearful were about + to happen. I was soon asleep again, or unconscious, at any rate, to + my surroundings. Then I saw two men engaged in a slight scuffle: + one fell fatally wounded--the other immediately disappeared. I did + not see the gash in the wounded man's throat, but knew that his + throat was cut. I did not recognise him, either, as my + brother-in-law. I saw him lying with his hands under him, his head + turned slightly to the left, his feet close together. I could, from + the position in which I stood, see but a small portion of his face; + his coat, collar, hair, or something partly obscured it. I looked + at him the second time a little closer to see it I could make out + who it was. I was aware it was some one I knew, but still could not + recognise him. I turned, and then saw my wife sitting not far from + him. She told me she could not leave until he was attended to. (I + had got a letter a few days previously from my wife, telling me she + would leave in a day or two, and was expecting every day a letter + or telegram telling me when to meet her at the depôt.) My attention + was struck by the surroundings of the dead man. He appeared to be + lying on an elevated platform of some kind, surrounded by chairs, + benches, and desks, reminding me somewhat of a schoolroom. Outside + of the room in which he was lying was a crowd of people, mostly + females, some of whom I thought I knew. Here my dream terminated. I + awoke again about midnight; got up and went to the door to see if + there were any prospect of rain; returned to my bed again, and lay + there until nearly daylight before falling asleep again. I thought + of my dream, and was strongly impressed by it. All strange, + superstitious feelings had passed off. + + It was not until a week or ten days after this that I got a letter + from my wife, giving me an account of her brother's death. Her + letter, which was written the day after his death, was mis-sent. + The account she gave me of his death tallies most remarkably with + my dream. Her brother was with a wedding party at the depôt at + Markham station, Fauquier Co., Va. He went into a store near by to + see a young man who kept a bar-room near the depôt, and with whom + he had some words. He turned and left the man, and walked out of + the store. The bar-room keeper followed him out, and without + further words deliberately cut his throat. It was a most brutal and + unprovoked murder. My brother-in-law had on his overcoat, with the + collar turned up. The knife went through the collar and clear to + the bone. He was carried into the store and laid on the counter, + near a desk and show case. He swooned from loss of blood soon after + being cut. The cutting occurred early Thursday night, December + 27th. He did not die, however, until almost daylight, Saturday + morning. + + I have not had a complete account of my sister-in-law's dream. She + was visiting a young lady, a cousin, in Kentucky. They slept + together Friday night, I think, the night of her brother's death. + She dreamed of seeing a man with his throat cut, and awoke very + much alarmed. She awoke her cousin, and they got up and lighted the + lamp and sat up until daylight. That day she received a telegram + announcing her brother's death. + + I cannot give you any certain explanation of these dreams. I do not + believe that they are due to ordinary causes, but to causes of + which science does not at present take cognisance. + +WALTER BRUCE. + +In reply to inquiries, Dr. Bruce says:-- + + +_July 9th, 1884._ + + I have never had another dream similar to the one related in the + letter. I have at times had dreams that were vivid, or from some + cause impressed themselves upon my mind for a time, such as any one + would be likely to have. I cannot call to mind, though, any of + special importance, or with any bearing upon the dream in question. + + I did not mention the dream to any one before receiving the letter + confirming it. I live in rather a retired place in the country, and + if I saw any one during that time to whom I would care to relate + the dream, it did not occur to me to do so. + + You ask me how my wife knew of the circumstances of her brother's + death. She was visiting her relatives in Va. at the time, and was + present when her brother died. + +The following account is from Dr. Bruce's sister-in-law, Mrs. +Stubbing:-- + + +_March 28th, 1885._ + + Whilst in Kentucky on a visit in the year 1883, I had a dream, in + which I saw two persons--one with his throat cut. I could not tell + who it was, though I knew it was somebody that I knew, and as soon + as I heard of my brother's death, I said at once that I knew it was + he that I had seen murdered in my dream; and though I did not hear + how my brother died, I told my cousin, whom I was staying with, + that I knew he had been murdered. This dream took place on Thursday + or Friday night, I do not remember which. I saw the exact spot + where he was murdered, and just as it happened. + +ANNIE S. STUBBING. + + The Thursday and Friday night mentioned in this account are + December 26th and 27th [27th and 28th], 1883. It was upon the + Thursday night my dream occurred. + +WALTER BRUCE. + +In reply to questions, Mrs. Stubbing says:-- + + Yes, I saw one man cut the other. The wound was told to me to be + just like what I had seen in my dream. I received a telegram + announcing the death of my brother on Saturday morning. No, I never + had any such dream as that before. + +IV. E. I quote the following case from _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. +i. p. 425. The account was written by Mrs. T---- in 1883. + + On November 18th, 1863, I was living near Adelaide, and not long + recovered from a severe illness at the birth of an infant, who was + then five months old. My husband had also suffered from neuralgia, + and had gone to stay with friends at the seaside for the benefit of + bathing. One night during his absence the child woke me about + midnight; having hushed him off to sleep, I said, "Now, sir, I hope + you will let me rest!" I lay down, and instantly became conscious + of two figures standing at the door of my room. One, M. N. (these + are not the real initials), whom I recognised at once, was that of + a former lover, whose misconduct and neglect had compelled me to + renounce him. Of this I am sure, that if ever I saw him in my life, + it was then. I was not in the least frightened; but said to myself, + as it were, "You never used to wear that kind of waistcoat." The + door close to which he stood was in a deep recess close to the + fireplace, for there was no grate; we burnt logs only. In that + recess stood a man in a tweed suit. I saw the whole figure + distinctly, but not the face, and for this reason: on the edge of + the mantelshelf always stood a morocco leather medicine chest, + which concealed the face from me. (On this being stated to our + friends, the Singletons, they asked to go into the room and judge + for themselves. They expressed themselves satisfied that would be + the case to any one on the bed where I was.) I had an impression + that this other was a cousin of M. N.'s, who had been the means of + leading him astray while in the North of England. I never saw him + in my life; he died in India. + + M. N. was in deep mourning; he had a look of unutterable sorrow + upon his face, and was deadly pale. He never opened his lips, but I + read his heart as if it were an open book, and it said, "My father + is dead, and I have come into his property." I answered, "How much + you have grown like your father!" Then in a moment, _without + appearing to walk_, he stood at the foot of the child's cot, and I + saw _distinctly_ the blueness of his eyes as he gazed on my boy, + and then raised them to Heaven as if in prayer. + + All vanished. I looked round and remarked a trivial circumstance, + viz., that the brass handles of my chest of drawers had been rubbed + very bright. Not till then was I conscious of having seen a spirit, + but a feeling of awe (not fear) came over me, and I prayed to be + kept from harm, although there was no reason to dread it. I slept + tranquilly, and in the morning I went across to the parsonage and + told the clergyman's wife what I had seen. She, of course, thought + it was merely a dream. But no--if it were a dream should I not have + seen him _as I had known him_, a young man of twenty-two, without + beard or whiskers? But there was all the difference that sixteen + years would make in a man's aspect. + + On Saturday my husband returned, and my brother having ridden out + to see us on Sunday afternoon, I told them both my vision as we sat + together on the verandah. They treated it so lightly that I + determined to write it down in my diary and see if the news were + verified. And from that diary I am now quoting. Also I mentioned it + to at least twelve or fourteen other people, and bid them await the + result. + + And surely enough, at the end of several weeks, my sister-in-law + wrote that M. N.'s father died at C---- Common on November 18th, + 1863, which exactly tallied with the date of the vision. He left + £45,000 to be divided between his son and daughter, but the son has + never been found. + + Many people in Adelaide heard the story before the confirmation + came, and I wrote and told M. N.'s mother. She was much distressed + about it, fearing he was unhappy. She is now dead. My husband was + profoundly struck when he saw my diary corresponding _exactly_ to + the news in the letter I had that moment received in his presence. + +Gurney adds the following note:-- + + Mr. T. has confirmed to us the accuracy of this narrative, and Mrs. + T. has shown to one of us a memorandum of the appearance of two + figures, under date November 18th, in her diary of the year 1863, + and a newspaper obituary confirms this as the date of the death. We + learn from a gentleman who is a near relative of M. N.'s, that M. + N., though long lost sight of, was afterwards heard of, and + outlived his father. + +I should not now take it for granted (as we did at the time when +_Phantasms of the Living_ was compiled) that the agent here "can +apparently only have been the dying man." I think it possible, in the +light of our now somewhat fuller knowledge, that M. N.'s spirit was +aware of his father's death,--even though possibly M. N.'s supraliminal +self may not have heard of it;--so that the invading presence in this +case may have been the discarded lover himself,--dreaming on his own +account at a distance from Mrs. T. The second figure I regard as having +been an object in M. N.'s dream;--symbolical of his own alienation from +Mrs. T. All this sounds fanciful; but I may remark here (as often +elsewhere), that I think that we gain little by attempting to enforce +our own ideas of simplicity upon narratives of this bizarre type. + + +IV. F. From _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. vi. p. 341. + +Communicated by Fräulein Schneller, sister-in-law of the percipient, and +known to F. W. H. M., January 1890. + + +DOBER UND PAUSE, SCHLESIEN, _December 12th, 1889_. + + About a year ago there died in a neighbouring village a brewer + called Wünscher, with whom I stood in friendly relations. His death + ensued after a short illness, and as I seldom had an opportunity of + visiting him, I knew nothing of his illness nor of his death. On + the day of his death I went to bed at nine o'clock, tired with the + labours which my calling as a farmer demands of me. Here I must + observe that my diet is of a frugal kind; beer and wine are rare + things in my house, and water, as usual, had been my drink that + night. Being of a very healthy constitution, I fell asleep as soon + as I lay down. In my dream I heard the deceased call out with a + loud voice, "Boy, make haste and give me my boots." This awoke me, + and I noticed that, for the sake of our child, my wife had left the + light burning. I pondered with pleasure over my dream, thinking in + my mind how Wünscher, who was a good-natured, humorous man, would + laugh when I told him of this dream. Still thinking on it, I hear + Wünscher's voice scolding outside, just under my window. I sit up + in my bed at once and listen, but cannot understand his words. What + can the brewer want? I thought, and I know for certain that I was + much vexed with him, that he should make a disturbance in the + night, as I felt convinced that his affairs might surely have + waited till the morrow. Suddenly he comes into the room from behind + the linen press, steps with long strides past the bed of my wife + and the child's bed; wildly gesticulating with his arms all the + time, as his habit was, he called out, "What do you say to this, + Herr Oberamtmann? This afternoon at five o'clock I have died." + Startled by this information, I exclaim, "Oh, that is not true!" He + replied: "Truly, as I tell you; and, what do you think? They want + to bury me already on Tuesday afternoon at two o'clock," + accentuating his assertions all the while by his gesticulations. + During this long speech of my visitor I examined myself as to + whether I was really awake and not dreaming. + + I asked myself: Is this a hallucination? Is my mind in full + possession of its faculties? Yes, there is the light, there the + jug, this is the mirror, and this the brewer; and I came to the + conclusion: I am awake. Then the thought occurred to me, What will + my wife think if she awakes and sees the brewer in our bedroom? In + this fear of her waking up I turn round to my wife, and to my great + relief I see from her face, which is turned towards me, that she is + still asleep; but she looks very pale. I say to the brewer, "Herr + Wünscher, we will speak softly, so that my wife may not wake up, it + would be very disagreeable to her to find you here." To which + Wünscher answered in a lower and calmer tone: "Don't be afraid, I + will do no harm to your wife." Things do happen indeed for which we + find no explanation--I thought to myself, and said to Wünscher: "If + this be true, that you have died, I am sincerely sorry for it; I + will look after your children." Wünscher stepped towards me, + stretched out his arms and moved his lips as though he would + embrace me; therefore I said in a threatening tone, and looking + steadfastly at him with a frowning brow: "Don't come so near, it is + disagreeable to me," and lifted my right arm to ward him off, but + before my arm reached him the apparition had vanished. My first + look was to my wife to see if she were still asleep. She was. I got + up and looked at my watch, it was seven minutes past twelve. My + wife woke up and asked me: "To whom did you speak so loud just + now?" "Have you understood anything?" I said. "No," she answered, + and went to sleep again. + + I impart this experience to the Society for Psychical Research, in + the belief that it may serve as a new proof for the real existence + of telepathy. I must further remark that the brewer _had_ died that + afternoon at five o'clock, and was buried on the following Tuesday + at two.--With great respect, + +KARL DIGNOWTTY +(Landed Proprietor). + +The usual time for burial in Germany, adds Fräulein Schneller, is three +days after death. This time may be prolonged, however, on application. +There are no special _hours_ fixed. + +In conversation Fräulein S. described her brother-in-law as a man of +strong practical sense and of extremely active habits. + +We have received the "Sterbeurkunde" from the "Standesbeamte" +Siegismund, Kreis Sagan, certifying that Karl Wünscher died Saturday, +September 15th, 1888, at 4.30 P.M., and was buried Tuesday, September +18th, 1888, at 2 P.M. + + * * * * * + +Herr Dignowity writes again, January 18th, 1890:-- + + Frau Wünscher told me that the time of the burial was settled in + the death-room immediately after Wünscher's death, because + relations at a distance had to be summoned by telegram. Wünscher + had suffered from inflammation of the lungs, which ended in spasm + of the heart. During his illness his thoughts had been much + occupied with me, and he often wondered what I should say if I knew + how ill he was. + +Finally, Frau Dignowity (born Schneller) writes from Pause, January +18th, 1890:-- + + I confirm that my husband told me on the morning of September 16th, + 1888, that the brewer Wünscher had given him intimation of his + death. + + + + +APPENDICES + +TO + +CHAPTER V + + +V.A.[219] The principal inorganic objects alleged to have elicited novel +sensations are running water, metals, crystals and magnets;--including +under this last heading the magnetism of the earth, as claimed to be +felt differently by sleepers according as they lie in the north-south or +in the east-west positions. + +(1) The faculty of finding _running water_ has the interest of being the +first subliminal faculty which has been so habitually utilised for +public ends as to form for its possessors a recognised and lucrative +occupation. + +An exhaustive and impartial survey of the existing evidence for the +faculty of "dowsing" is given in Professor W. F. Barrett's two articles +"On the so-called Divining Rod" in the _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xiii. +pp. 2-282, and vol. xv. pp. 130-383. + +From this it seems clear that this power of discovery is genuine, and is +not dependent on the dowser's conscious knowledge or observation. It +forms a subliminal uprush; but whether it is akin to _genius_, as being +a subconscious manipulation of facts accessible through normal sensory +channels, or to _heteræsthesia_ (as resting on a specific sensibility to +the proximity of running water), is a question which will be variously +decided in each special case. The dowser, I should add, is not +hypnotised before he finds the water. But (as Professor Barrett has +shown) he is often thrown, presumably by self-suggestion, into a state +much resembling light hypnotic trance. The perceptivity (we may say) of +central organs, in an unfamiliar direction, is stimulated by +concentrated attention, involving a certain disturbance or abeyance of +perceptivity in other directions. + +(2) I next take the case of metallæsthesia,--that alleged reaction to +special metals which has often been asserted both in hypnotic and in +hysterical cases. As a definite instance I will take the statement made +by certain physicians attending Louis Vivé,[220] that while they +supported him during a hysterical attack a gold ring on the finger of +one of them touched him for some time and left a red mark, as of a burn, +of whose origin the patient knew nothing. It is further alleged--and +this is a quite separate point, although often confused with the +first--that gold is distinguished by some subjects under conditions +where no degree of sensitiveness to weight or temperature could have +shown them that gold was near. + +Now, as to the first point, _e.g._ the Louis Vivé incident, I can +readily believe that the touch of gold, unknown to the subject's +supraliminal consciousness, may produce a redness, subsequent pain, etc. +All that is needed for this is a capricious self-suggestion, like any +other hysterical idea. This self-suggestion might remain completely +unknown to the waking self, which might be puzzled as to the cause of +the redness and pain. The second claim, however, involves much more than +this. If gold is recognised through a covering, for instance, or heated +to the same point as other metals, so that no sensation of weight or +temperature can help observation, this might possibly be by virtue of +some sensibility more resembling the attraction of low organisms to +specific substances whose chemical action on them we cannot determine, +or to particular rays in the spectrum. I am not convinced that this has +yet been proved; but I should not regard it as _a priori_ impossible. + +Medicamentous substances have also been claimed by many different +hypnotists as exerting from a little distance, or when in sealed tubes, +specific influences on patients. The phenomenon is of the same nature as +the alleged specific influences of metals,--all being very possibly +explicable as the mere freak of self-suggestion. + +(3) Considering in the next place the alleged sensibility of certain +persons to crystals and magnets,--known to be absolutely inert in +relation to ordinary men,--we should note the alleged connection between +the perception of magnets and that of running water. + +Some experiments intended to test the reality of the "magnetic sense," +and especially of the so-called "magnetic light"--luminous appearances +described by Baron Reichenbach as being seen by his sensitives in the +neighbourhood of magnets--were carried out by a Committee of the S.P.R., +in 1883. After careful and repeated trials with forty-five "subjects" of +both sexes and of ages between sixteen and sixty, only three of these +professed to see luminous appearances. + +The value of these experiments as evidence of a magnetic sense of +course depends primarily on whether the subjects had any means, direct +or indirect, of knowing when the current was made or broken. The +precautions taken to avoid this and the other conditions of the +experiments are described in detail in the report of them in the +_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. i. pp. 230-37. See also a further note by the +Chairman of the Committee, Professor W. F. Barrett, vol. ii. pp. 56-60. + +(4) And next as to the heteræsthesiæ alleged to be evoked by dead +organic substances, or by living organisms. We may begin by observing +that some of our senses, at any rate, form the subjective expression of +certain chemical reactions. But many kinds of chemical reactions go on +in us besides those which, for example, form the basis of our sense of +taste. And some persons are much more affected than others by certain +special reactions, which from a purely chemical point of view may or may +not be precisely the same for all. Some persons have a specific +sensibility to certain foods, or to certain drugs;--the presence of +which their stomach detects, and to which it responds with extraordinary +delicacy. Now, if it were an important object to discover the presence +of a certain drug, such a sensibility would be regarded as a precious +gift, and the discovery might be quite as valuable when made by the +stomach as it would have been if made by the nose. These are nascent +heteræsthesiæ, which, however, are not fostered either by natural +selection or by human care. + +Of similar type are the specific sensibilities to the presence of +certain plants or animals,--familiar in certain cases of "rose-asthma," +"horse-asthma," and discomfort felt if a cat is in the room. These +feelings have many causes. At one end there is ordinary mechanical +irritation by solid particles. At the other end of the scale there is, +of course, mere self-suggestion. But between the two there seems to be a +kind of sensibility which is not purely self-suggestive, and not exactly +olfactory, but resembles rather the instincts by which insects or other +animals discern each other's neighbourhood. + +(5) It is perhaps through some such power of discrimination that effects +are produced on sensitive subjects by "mesmerised objects,"--assuming, +of course, that sufficient care has been taken to avoid their +discovering by ordinary means that the objects have been specially +manipulated in any way. See some experiments recorded in the +_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. i. pp. 260-262, and a description of +Esdaile's experiments with mesmerised water in vol. iii. p. 409; also +cases in the _Zoist_, _e.g._ vol. v. p. 129, and vol. v. p. 99. + +(6) And now I pass on to medical clairvoyance, or the power of +diagnosing the present or past state of a living organism either from +actual contact or even in the absence of the invalid, and from contact +with some object which he has himself touched. + +The early mesmerists, _e.g._ Puységur, Pététin, Despine, and Teste, all +had the utmost faith in the faculty of their subjects to see their own +disease and prescribe the right remedy. The same attitude of mind can be +traced all through the _Zoist_. Fahnestock was perhaps the first to +point out the ambiguity of this alleged introvision. "It is well known +to me," he says, "that when a resolution is taken, a belief cherished, +or a determination formed by persons while in the somnambulic state, +that, when they awake, although they may know nothing about it or +relative to it, they always do what has been so resolved or determined +upon at the time appointed or specified" (_Statuvolism_, p. 203), and he +quotes experiments to prove his point. With the knowledge we now possess +of the extraordinary power of self-suggestion in producing all kinds of +bodily symptoms, it is obvious that these cases cannot be adduced as +evidence of anything more. A typical instance of one of these early +observations is to be found in the _Zoist_, vol. x. p. 347. See also +Puységur, _Recherches sur l'Homme dans le Somnambulisme_ (Paris, 1811), +pp. 140 _et seq._ and 214 _et seq._; Pététin, _Electricité Animale_ +(Paris, 1808); Despine, _Observations de Médecine Pratique_ +(1838)--"Estelle nous a indiqué tous les soirs, dans sa crise, ce qu'il +y avait à faire pour le lendemain, tant pour le régime alimentaire que +pour les moyens médicamentaires" (p. 38). + + +V. B. Some of the most striking cases of moral reforms produced by +hypnotic suggestion are those recorded by Dr. Auguste Voisin. For +instance:-- + + In the summer of 1884, there was at the Salpêtrière a young woman + of a deplorable type.[221] Jeanne Sch---- was a criminal lunatic, + filthy in habits, violent in demeanour, and with a lifelong + history, of impurity and theft. M. Voisin, who was one of the + physicians on the staff, undertook to hypnotise her on May 31st, at + a time when she could only be kept quiet by the strait jacket and + _bonnet d'irrigation_, or perpetual cold douche to the head. She + would not--indeed, she could not--look steadily at the operator, + but raved and spat at him. M. Voisin kept his face close to hers, + and followed her eyes wherever she moved them. In about ten minutes + a stertorous sleep ensued, and in five minutes more she passed into + a sleep-waking state, and began to talk incoherently. The process + was repeated on many days, and gradually she became sane when in + the trance, though she still raved when awake. Gradually, too, she + became able to obey in waking hours commands impressed on her in + the trance--first trivial orders (to sweep the room and so forth), + then orders involving a marked change of behaviour. Nay more; in + the hypnotic state she voluntarily expressed repentance for her + past life, made a confession which involved more evil than the + police were cognisant of (though it agreed with facts otherwise + known), and finally of her own impulse made good resolves for the + future. Two years later, M. Voisin wrote to me (July 31st, 1886) + that she was then a nurse in a Paris hospital, and that her conduct + was irreproachable. It appeared, then, that this poor woman, whose + history since the age of thirteen had been one of reckless folly + and vice, had become capable of the steady, self-controlled work of + a nurse at a hospital, the reformed character having first + manifested itself in the hypnotic state, partly in obedience to + suggestion, and partly as the natural result of the + tranquillisation of morbid passions. + + M. Dufour, the medical head of another asylum,[222] has adopted + hypnotic suggestion as a regular element in his treatment. "Dès à + présent," he says, "notre opinion est faite: sans crainte de nous + tromper, nous affirmons que l'hypnotisme peut rendre service dans + le traitement des maladies mentales." As was to be expected, he + finds that only a small proportion of lunatics are hypnotisable; + but the effect produced on these, whether by entrancement or + suggestion, is uniformly good. His best subject is a depraved young + man, who after many convictions for crimes (including attempted + murder) has become a violent lunatic. "T.," says Dr. Dufour, "a été + un assez mauvais sujet. Nous n'avons plus à parler au présent, + tellement ses sentiments moraux ont été améliorés par + l'hypnotisme." This change and amelioration of character (over and + above the simple recovery of sanity) has been a marked feature in + some of Dr. Voisin's cases as well. + +See also a case given by Dr. Voisin in the _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, vol. +iii., 1889, p. 130. + + +V. C. The subject of these experiments in telepathic hypnotisation was +Professor Pierre Janet's well-known subject, Madame B. The experiments +were carried out with her at Havre, by Professer Janet and Dr. Gibert, a +leading physician there, and described in the _Bulletins de la Société +de Psychologie Physiologique_, Tome I., p. 24, and in the _Revue +Philosophique_, August 1886. + +I give the following extract from my own notes of experiments, April +20th to 24th, 1886, taken at the time in conjunction with Dr. A. T. +Myers, and forming the bulk of a paper presented to the Société de +Psychologie Physiologique on May 24th (also published in _Proceedings_ +S.P.R., vol. iv. pp. 131-37.) + + In the evening (22nd) we all dined at M. Gibert's, and in the + evening M. Gibert made another attempt to put her to sleep at a + distance from his house in the Rue Séry--she being at the Pavillon, + Rue de la Ferme--and to bring her to his house by an effort of + will. At 8.55 he retired to his study, and MM. Ochorowicz, + Marillier, Janet, and A. T. Myers went to the Pavilion, and waited + outside in the street, out of sight of the house. At 9.22 Dr. Myers + observed Madame B. coming half-way out of the garden-gate, and + again retreating. Those who saw her more closely observed that she + was plainly in the somnambulic state, and was wandering about and + muttering. At 9.25 she came out (with eyes persistently closed, so + far as could be seen), walked quickly past MM. Janet and Marillier, + without noticing them, and made for M. Gibert's house, though not + by the usual or shortest route. (It appeared afterwards that the + bonne had seen her go into the _salon_ at 8.45, and issue thence + asleep at 9.15; had not looked in between those times.[223]) She + avoided lamp-posts, vehicles, etc., but crossed and recrossed the + street repeatedly. No one went in front of her or spoke to her. + After eight or ten minutes she grew much more uncertain in gait, + and paused as though she would fall. Dr. Myers noted the moment in + the Rue Faure; it was 9.35. At about 9.40 she grew bolder, and at + 9.45 reached the street in front of M. Gibert's house. There she + met him, but did not notice him, and walked into his house, where + she rushed hurriedly from room to room on the ground-floor. M. + Gibert had to take her hand before she recognised him. She then + grew calm. + + M. Gibert said that from 8.55 to 9.20 he thought intently about + her, from 9.20 to 9.35 he thought more feebly; at 9.35 he gave the + experiment up, and began to play billiards; but in a few minutes + began to will her again. It appeared that his visit to the + billiard-room had coincided with her hesitation and stumbling in + the street. But this coincidence may of course have been + accidental.... + +Out of a series of twenty-five similar experiments nineteen were +successful. The experiments were made at different times in the day and +at varying intervals, in order to avoid the effects of expectancy in the +subject. + + + + +APPENDICES + +TO + +CHAPTER VI + + +VI. A. This case is taken from _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. ii. p. +94, having been contributed by Colonel Bigge, of 2 Morpeth Terrace, +S.W., who took the account out of a sealed envelope, in Gurney's +presence, for the first time since it was written on the day of the +occurrence. + + An account of a circumstance which occurred to me when quartered at + Templemore, Co. Tipperary, on 20th February 1847. + + This afternoon, about 3 o'clock P.M., I was walking from my + quarters towards the mess-room to put some letters into the + letter-box, when I distinctly saw Lieut.-Colonel Reed, 70th + Regiment, walking from the corner of the range of buildings + occupied by the officers towards the mess-room door; and I saw him + go into the passage. He was dressed in a brown shooting-jacket, + with grey summer regulation tweed trousers, and had a fishing-rod + and a landing-net in his hand. Although at the time I saw him he + was about 15 or 20 yards from me, and although anxious to speak to + him at the moment, I did not do so, but followed him into the + passage and turned into the ante-room on the left-hand side, where + I expected to find him. On opening the door, to my great surprise, + he was not there; the only person in the room was Quartermaster + Nolan, 70th Regiment, and I immediately asked him if he had seen + the colonel, and he replied he had not; upon which I said, "I + suppose he has gone upstairs," and I immediately left the room. + Thinking he might have gone upstairs to one of the officers' rooms, + I listened at the bottom of the stairs and then went up to the + first landing-place; but not hearing anything I went downstairs + again and tried to open the bedroom door, which is opposite to the + ante-room, thinking he might have gone there; but I found the door + locked, as it usually is in the middle of the day. I was very much + surprised at not finding the colonel, and I walked into the + barrack-yard and joined Lieutenant Caulfield, 66th Regiment, who + was walking there; and I told the story to him, and particularly + described the dress in which I had seen the colonel. We walked up + and down the barrack-yard talking about it for about ten minutes, + when, to my great surprise, never having kept my eye from the door + leading to the mess-room (there is only one outlet from it), I saw + the colonel walk into the barracks through the gate--which is in + the opposite direction--accompanied by Ensign Willington, 70th + Regiment, in precisely the same dress in which I had seen him, and + with a fishing-rod and a landing-net in his hand. Lieutenant + Caulfield and I immediately walked to them, and we were joined by + Lieut.-Colonel Goldie, 66th Regiment, and Captain Hartford, and I + asked Colonel Reed if he had not gone into the mess-room about ten + minutes before. He replied that he certainly had not, for that he + had been out fishing for more than two hours at some ponds about a + mile from the barracks, and that he had not been near the mess-room + at all since the morning. + + At the time I saw Colonel Reed going into the mess-room I was not + aware that he had gone out fishing--a very unusual thing to do at + this time of the year; neither had I seen him before in the dress I + have described during that day. I had seen him in uniform in the + morning at parade, but not afterwards at all until 3 + o'clock--having been engaged in my room writing letters, and upon + other business. My eyesight being very good, and the colonel's + figure and general appearance somewhat remarkable, it is morally + impossible that I could have mistaken any other person in the world + for him. That I _did_ see him I shall continue to believe until the + last day of my existence. + +WILLIAM MATTHEW BIGGE, +Major, 70th Regiment. + + [On July 17th, 1885, after Colonel Bigge had described the + occurrence but before the account was taken from the envelope and + read, he dictated the following remarks to Gurney:--] + + When Colonel R. got off the car about a couple of hours afterwards, + Colonel Goldie and other officers said to me, "Why, that's the very + dress you described." They had not known where he was or how he was + engaged. The month, February, was a most unlikely one to be fishing + in. Colonel Reed was much alarmed when told what I had seen. + + The quartermaster, sitting at the window, would have been bound to + see a real figure; he denied having seen anything. + + I have never had the slightest hallucination of the senses on any + other occasion. + + [It will be seen that these recent remarks exhibit two slips of + memory. It is quite unimportant whether Colonel Reed was seen + walking in at the gate or getting off a car. But in making the + interval between the vision and the return two hours instead of ten + minutes, the later account unduly diminishes the force of the case. + If there is any justification at all for the provisional hypothesis + that the sense of impending arrival is a condition favourable for + the emission of a telepathic influence, it is of importance that, + at the time when the phantasmal form was seen, Colonel Reed was not + busy with his fishing, but was rapidly approaching his destination; + for thus the incident, at any rate, gets the benefit of analogy + with other cases.] + + +VI. B. From the _Journal_ S.P.R., vol. vi. p. 129. The case is recorded +by the Misses H. M. and L. Bourne. + +Additional evidence of the hallucinatory character of the figure seen is +afforded by the details having been more clearly discernible than those +of a real figure at the same distance would have been, and also by the +second appearance, where the percipient had the impression of being +transported to a different scene. + +Miss L. Bourne writes:-- + + On February 5th, 1887, my father, sister, and I went out hunting. + About the middle of the day my sister and I decided to return home + with the coachman, while my father went on. Somebody came and spoke + to us, and delayed us for a few moments. As we were turning to go + home, we distinctly saw my father, waving his hat to us and signing + us to follow him. He was on the side of a small hill, and there was + a dip between him and us. My sister, the coachman, and myself all + recognised my father, and also the horse. The horse looked so dirty + and shaken that the coachman remarked he thought there had been a + nasty accident. As my father waved his hat I clearly saw the + Lincoln and Bennett mark inside, though from the distance we were + apart it ought to have been utterly impossible for me to have seen + it. At the time I mentioned seeing the mark in the hat, though the + strangeness of seeing it did not strike me till afterwards. + + Fearing an accident, we hurried down the hill. From the nature of + the ground we had to lose sight of my father, but it took us very + few seconds to reach the place where we had seen him. When we got + there, there was no sign of him anywhere, nor could we see anyone + in sight at all. We rode about for some time looking for him, but + could not see or hear anything of him. We all reached home within a + quarter of an hour of each other. My father then told us he had + never been in the field, nor near the field, in which we thought we + saw him, the whole of that day. He had never waved to us, and had + met with no accident. + + My father was riding the only white horse that was out that day. + +LOUISA BOURNE. +H. M. Bourne. + +The second signature was added later, with the words: "This was written +by my sister and me together." + +Miss H. M. Bourne enclosed the above in the following letter to Mrs. +Dent, to whom we are indebted for the case:-- + + +WESTON SUBEDGE, BROADWAY, WORCESTERSHIRE, _May 21st, 1891_. + + MY DEAR MRS. DENT,--Louisa has asked me send you the enclosed + account of the impression she, the coachman, and I had of seeing + papa on Paddy in the hunting-field. It was on the 5th February 1887 + it happened, and in March the same year, when I was out walking + alone, I thought I saw papa and Paddy stop at a little plantation + of his close to, and look at the wall, which had fallen in [in] one + part. He then appeared to ride a few yards towards me, but + afterwards turned round and went back past the plantation and out + of sight. When I went in I asked him if he had not seen me, and why + he turned back, when it transpired he had not been past that + plantation all day, but had ridden home another way. He said it + must have been some one else on a white horse, and asked where I + was when I saw him, and then, not before, it dawned on me that it + was utterly impossible to see either plantation or wall from where + I was. Since then I have often been along the same road, and stood, + and looked, and wondered how it was I so distinctly saw the broken + wall and papa on the white horse; a turn in the road makes my + having really done so quite impossible. I am sorry I cannot give + you the exact date of this: I know it was in March 1887, but cannot + remember the day, except that it was _not_ on the 5th. The other + "experience" is, I always think, far more interesting, as having + been seen by three, and also from the fact that Paddy was the only + white or grey horse in the hunting-field that day; so that + unbelievers could not say it was some one else on a white horse + that we had mistaken.... + +NINA M. BOURNE. + +Mrs. Sidgwick writes:-- + + +_February 25th, 1892._ + + I saw Miss H. Bourne and her father this afternoon. Miss Bourne + told me the stories of her seeing her father, first with her + sister, and later by herself, and signed the account which she and + her sister had, she says, made out together about it. The groom who + saw the figure at the same time has since been dismissed, and + cannot be asked for his evidence. Canon Bourne remembers hearing of + the matter the day it happened. The groom rode up to the ladies as + they were looking, and said: "The Canon is beckoning, Miss, and I + think you had better go to him; his horse looks as if he had had a + fall" (that is, muddy). The figure was beckoning to them with their + father's usual (and peculiar) gesture. He is a heavy man, and his + white horse, adapted to carry weight, was quite unlike any other + horse in the neighbourhood. Every one agrees as to the + impossibility of mistaking the horse. The horses of the + neighbourhood were well known to the neighbourhood in general and + to the Miss Bournes in particular, as they were at that time + constantly out with the hounds. The incident seems quite + unaccountable. + + +VI. C. From _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. i. p. 214. We received the +first account of this case--the percipient's evidence--through the +kindness of Mrs. Martin, of Ham Court, Upton-on-Severn, Worcester. + + +ANTONY, TORPOINT, _December 14th, 1882_. + + Helen Alexander (maid to Lady Waldegrave) was lying here very ill + with typhoid fever, and was attended by me. I was standing at the + table by her bedside, pouring out her medicine, at about 4 o'clock + in the morning of the 4th October 1880. I heard the call-bell ring + (this had been heard twice before during the night in that same + week), and was attracted by the door of the room opening, and by + seeing a person entering the room whom I instantly felt to be the + mother of the sick woman. She had a brass candlestick in her hand, + a red shawl over her shoulders, and a flannel petticoat on which + had a hole in the front. I looked at her as much as to say, "I am + glad you have come," but the woman looked at me sternly, as much as + to say, "Why wasn't I sent for before?" I gave the medicine to + Helen Alexander, and then turned round to speak to the vision, but + no one was there. She had gone. She was a short, dark person, and + very stout. At about 6 o'clock that morning Helen Alexander died. + Two days after her parents and a sister came to Antony, and arrived + between 1 and 2 o'clock in the morning; I and another maid let them + in, and it gave me a great turn when I saw the living likeness of + the vision I had seen two nights before. I told the sister about + the vision, and she said that the description of the dress exactly + answered to her mother's, and that they had brass candlesticks at + home exactly like the one described. There was not the slightest + resemblance between the mother and daughter. + +FRANCES REDDELL. + +This at first sight might be taken for a mere delusion of an excitable +or over-tired servant, modified and exaggerated by the subsequent sight +of the real mother. If such a case is to have evidential force, we must +ascertain beyond doubt that the description of the experience was given +in detail before any knowledge of the reality can have affected the +percipient's memory or imagination. This necessary corroboration has +been kindly supplied by Mrs. Pole-Carew, of Antony, Torpoint, Devonport. + + +_December 31st, 1883._ + + In October, 1880, Lord and Lady Waldegrave came with their Scotch + maid, Helen Alexander, to stay with us. [The account then describes + how Helen was discovered to have caught typhoid fever.] She did not + seem to be very ill in spite of it, and as there seemed no fear of + danger, and Lord and Lady Waldegrave had to go a long journey the + following day (Thursday), they decided to leave her, as they were + advised to do, under their friend's care. + + The illness ran its usual course, and she seemed to be going on + perfectly well till the Sunday week following, when the doctor told + me that the fever had left her, but the state of weakness which had + supervened was such as to make him extremely anxious. I immediately + engaged a regular nurse, greatly against the wish of Reddell, my + maid, who had been her chief nurse all through the illness, and who + was quite devoted to her. However, as the nurse could not + conveniently come till the following day, I allowed Reddell to sit + up with Helen again that night, to give her the medicine and food, + which were to be taken constantly. + + At about 4.30 that night, or rather Monday morning, Reddell looked + at her watch, poured out the medicine, and was bending over the bed + to give it to Helen, when the call-bell in the passage rang. She + said to herself, "There's that tiresome bell with the wire caught + again." (It seems it did occasionally ring of itself in this + manner.) At that moment, however, she heard the door open and, + looking round, saw a very stout old woman walk in. She was dressed + in a night-gown and red flannel petticoat, and carried an + old-fashioned brass candlestick in her hand. The petticoat had a + hole rubbed in it. She walked into the room, and appeared to be + going towards the dressing-table to put her candle down. She was a + perfect stranger to Reddell, who, however, merely thought, "This is + her mother come to see after her," and she felt quite glad it was + so, accepting the idea without reasoning upon it, as one would in a + dream. She thought the mother looked annoyed, possibly at not + having been sent for before. She then gave Helen the medicine, and + turning round, found that the apparition had disappeared, and that + the door was shut. A great change, meanwhile, had taken place in + Helen, and Reddell fetched me, who sent off for the doctor, and + meanwhile applied hot poultices, etc., but Helen died a little + before the doctor came. She was quite conscious up to about half an + hour before she died, when she seemed to be going to sleep. + + During the early days of her illness, Helen had written to a + sister, mentioning her being unwell, but making nothing of it, and + as she never mentioned any one but this sister, it was supposed by + the household, to whom she was a perfect stranger, that she had no + other relation alive. Reddell was always offering to write for her, + but she always declined, saying there was no need, she would write + herself in a day or two. No one at home, therefore, knew anything + of her being so ill, and it is, therefore, remarkable, that her + mother, a far from nervous person, should have said that evening + going up to bed, "I am sure Helen is very ill." + + Reddell told me and my daughter of the apparition, about an hour + after Helen's death, prefacing with, "I am not superstitious, or + nervous, and I wasn't the least frightened, but her mother came + last night," and she then told the story, giving a careful + description of the figure she had seen. The relations were asked to + come to the funeral, and the father, mother, and sister came, and + in the mother Reddell recognised the apparition, as I did also, for + Reddell's description had been most accurate, even to the + expression, which she had ascribed to annoyance, but which was due + to deafness. It was judged best not to speak about it to the + mother, but Reddell told the sister, who said the description of + the figure corresponded exactly with the probable appearance of her + mother if roused in the night; that they had exactly such a + candlestick at home, and that there was a hole in her mother's + petticoat produced by the way she always wore it. It seems curious + that neither Helen nor her mother appeared to be aware of the + visit. Neither of them, at any rate, ever spoke of having seen the + other, nor even of having dreamt of having done so. + +F. A. POLE-CAREW. + + [Frances Reddell states that she has never had any hallucination, + or any odd experience of any kind, except on this one occasion. The + Hon. Mrs. Lyttelton, formerly of Selwyn College, Cambridge, who + knows her, tells us that "she appears to be a most matter-of-fact + person, and was apparently most impressed by the fact that she saw + a hole in the mother's flannel petticoat, made by the busk of her + stays, reproduced in the apparition."] + +Now what I imagine to have happened here is this. The mother, anxious +about her daughter, paid her a psychical visit during the sleep of both. +In so doing she actually modified a certain portion of space, not +materially nor optically, but in such a manner that persons perceptive +in a certain fashion would discern in that part of space an image +approximately corresponding to the conception of her own aspect latent +in the invading mother's mind. A person thus susceptible happened to be +in the room, and thus, as a bystander, witnessed a psychical invasion +whose memory the invader apparently did not retain, while the invaded +person--the due percipient--may or may not have perceived it in a dream, +but died and left no sign of having done so. + + +VI. D. From the "Report on the Census of Hallucinations," _Proceedings_ +S.P.R., vol. x. p. 332. The account is given by Mrs. McAlpine. + + +GARSCADDEN, BEARDSDEN, GLASGOW, _April 20th, 1892_. + + I remember in the June of 1889, I drove to Castleblaney, a little + town in the county Monaghan, to meet my sister, who was coming by + train from Longford. I expected her at three o'clock, but as she + did not come with that train, I got the horse put up, and went for + a walk in the demesne. The day was very warm and bright, and I + wandered on under the shade of the trees to the side of a lake, + which is in the demesne. Being at length tired, I sat down to rest + upon a rock, at the edge of the water. My attention was quite taken + up with the extreme beauty of the scene before me. There was not a + sound or movement, except the soft ripple of the water on the sand + at my feet. Presently I felt a cold chill creep through me, and a + curious stiffness of my limbs, as if I _could_ not move, though + wishing to do so. I felt frightened, yet chained to the spot, and + as if impelled to stare at the water straight in front of me. + Gradually a black cloud seemed to rise, and in the midst of it I + saw a tall man, in a suit of tweed, jump into the water and sink. + + In a moment the darkness was gone, and I again became sensible of + the heat and sunshine, but I was awed and felt "eerie"--it was then + about four o'clock or so--I cannot remember either the exact time + or date. On my sister's arrival I told her of the occurrence; she + was surprised, but inclined to laugh at it. When we got home I told + my brother; he treated the subject much in the same manner. + However, about a week afterwards, Mr. Espie, a bank clerk (unknown + to me), committed suicide by drowning in that very spot. He left a + letter for his wife, indicating that he had for some time + contemplated his death. My sister's memory of the event is the only + evidence I can give. I did not see the account of the inquest at + the time, and did not mention my strange experience to any one, + saving my sister and brother. + +F. C. MCALPINE. + +Mrs. McAlpine's sister writes:-- + + +ROXBORO', _February 15th, 1892_. + + I remember perfectly you meeting me in Castleblaney, on my way home + from Longford, and telling me of the strange thing which happened + in the demesne. You know you were always hearing or seeing + something and I paid little attention; but I remember it + distinctly--your troubled expression more than the story. You said + a tall gentleman, dressed in tweed, walked past you, and went into + a little inlet or creek. I think, but am not sure, that you said he + had a beard. You were troubled about it, or looked so; and I talked + of other things. You told me while we were driving home. I think, + but I am not sure, that it was about the 25th or 27th of June 1889 + that I left Longford. I am sure of that being the day, but cannot + remember the date. _It was in June_, and on the 3rd of July, 1889, + a Mr. Espie, a bank clerk, drowned himself in the lake in the + demesne in 'Blaney. I have no doubt that the day I came home you + saw Mr. Espie's "fetch." + +The following account is taken from a local paper, the _Northern +Standard_, Saturday, July 6th, 1889:-- + + _Sad Case of Suicide._--The town of Castleblaney was put into a + fearful state of excitement when it became known on Wednesday last + that Mr. Espy had committed suicide by drowning himself in the lake + in the demesne. Latterly, he was noticed to be rather dull and low + in spirits, but no serious notice was taken of his conduct, nor had + any one the most remote idea that he contemplated suicide. On + Wednesday morning he seemed in his usual health, and, as was + customary with him, walked down to get his newspaper on the arrival + of the 9.45 train from Dublin. He met Mr. Fox (in whose office he + has been for years) at the station, and having procured his paper + walked up to the office, wrote a note in which he stated what he + was going to do, and indicating where his body would be found. This + seemed to concern him a good deal, for he seemed very anxious that + his body should be recovered without any delay. He had + fishing-tackle in his pocket, and having tied one end of a + pike-line to a tree, and the other end round one of his legs, he + threw himself into about three feet deep of water, where he was + found shortly afterwards quite dead, and before the note that he + had left in the office had been opened. + +It would be possible, no doubt, to explain this appearance as simply +precognitive--as a picture from the future impressed in some unknown way +upon the percipient's inner vision. There are certain cases which +strongly suggest this extreme hypothesis. But it seems here simpler to +assume that the unhappy man was already imagining his plunge into the +lake when Mrs. McAlpine visited the shore, and that his intense thought +effected a self-projection, conscious or unconscious, of some element of +his being. + + +VI. E. From _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. ii. p. 239. Mrs. Elgee, of +18 Woburn Road, Bedford, gave the following account:-- + + +_March 1st, 1885._ + + In the month of November 1864, being detained in Cairo, on my way + out to India, the following curious circumstance occurred to me:-- + + Owing to an unusual influx of travellers, I, with the young lady + under my charge (whom we will call D.) and some other passengers of + the outward-bound mail to India, had to take up our abode in a + somewhat unfrequented hotel. The room shared by Miss D. and myself + was large, lofty, and gloomy; the furniture of the scantiest, + consisting of two small beds, placed nearly in the middle of the + room and not touching the walls at all, two or three rush-bottomed + chairs, a very small washing stand, and a large old-fashioned sofa + of the settee sort, which was placed against one half of the large + folding doors which gave entrance to the room. This settee was far + too heavy to be removed, unless by two or three people. The other + half of the door was used for entrance, and faced the two beds. + Feeling rather desolate and strange, and Miss D. being a nervous + person, I locked the door, and, taking out the key, put it under my + pillow; but on Miss D. remarking that there might be a duplicate + which could open the door from outside, I put a chair against the + door, with my travelling bag on it, so arranged that, on any + pressure outside, one or both must fall on the bare floor, and make + noise enough to rouse me. We then proceeded to retire to bed, the + one I had chosen being near the only window in the room, which + opened with two glazed doors, almost to the floor. These doors, on + account of the heat, I left open, first assuring myself that no + communication from the outside could be obtained. The window led on + to a small balcony, which was isolated, and was three stories above + the ground. + + I suddenly woke from a sound sleep with the impression that + somebody had called me, and, sitting up in bed, to my unbounded + astonishment, by the clear light of early dawn coming in through + the large window before mentioned, I beheld the figure of an old + and very valued friend whom I knew to be in England. He appeared as + if most eager to speak to me, and I addressed him with, "Good + gracious! how did you come here?" So clear was the figure, that I + noted every detail of his dress, even to three onyx shirt-studs + which he always wore. He seemed to come a step nearer to me, when + he suddenly pointed across the room, and on my looking round, I saw + Miss D. sitting up in her bed, gazing at the figure with every + expression of terror. On looking back, my friend seemed to shake + his head, and retreated step by step, slowly, till he seemed to + sink through that portion of the door where the settee stood. I + never knew what happened to me after this; but my next remembrance + is of bright sunshine pouring through the window. Gradually the + remembrance of what had happened came back to me, and the question + arose in my mind, had I been dreaming, or had I seen a visitant + from another world?--the bodily presence of my friend being utterly + impossible. Remembering that Miss D. had seemed aware of the figure + as well as myself, I determined to allow the test of my dream or + vision to be whatever she said to me upon the subject, I intending + to say nothing to her unless she spoke to me. As she seemed still + asleep, I got out of bed, examined the door carefully, and found + the chair and my bag untouched, and the key under my pillow; the + settee had not been touched nor had that portion of the door + against which it was placed any appearance of being opened for + years. + + Presently, on Miss D. waking up, she looked about the room, and, + noticing the chair and bag, made some remark as to their not having + been much use. I said, "What do you mean?" and then she said, "Why, + that man who was in the room this morning must have got in + somehow." She then proceeded to describe to me exactly what I + myself had seen. Without giving any satisfactory answer as to what + I had seen, I made her rather angry by affecting to treat the + matter as a fancy on her part, and showed her the key still under + my pillow, and the chair and bag untouched. I then asked her, if + she was so sure that she had seen somebody in the room, did not she + know who it was? "No," said she, "I have never seen him before, nor + any one like him." I said, "Have you ever seen a photograph of + him?" She said, "No." This lady never was told what I saw, and yet + described exactly to a third person what we both had seen. + + Of course, I was under the impression my friend was dead. Such, + however, was not the case; and I met him some four years later, + when, without telling him anything of my experience in Cairo, I + asked him, in a joking way, could he remember what he was doing on + a certain night in November 1864. "Well," he said, "you require me + to have a good memory;" but after a little reflection he replied, + "Why, that was the time I was so harassed with trying to decide for + or against the appointment which was offered me, and I so much + wished you could have been with me to talk the matter over. I sat + over the fire quite late, trying to think what you would have + advised me to do." A little cross-questioning and comparing of + dates brought out the curious fact that, allowing for the + difference of time between England and Cairo, his meditations over + the fire and my experience were simultaneous. Having told him the + circumstances above narrated, I asked him had he been aware of any + peculiar or unusual sensation. He said none, only that he had + wanted to see me very much. + +E. H. ELGEE. + +In answer to inquiries, Mrs. Elgee says:-- + + I fear it is quite impossible to get any information from Miss D. + She married soon after we reached India, and I never met her since, + nor do I know where she is, if alive. I quite understand the value + of her corroboration; and at the time she told the whole + circumstance to a fellow-traveller, who repeated it to me, and her + story and mine agreed in every particular, save that to her the + visitant was a complete stranger; and her tale was quite unbiassed + by mine, as I always treated hers as a fancy, and _never_ + acknowledged I had been aware of anything unusual having taken + place in our room at Cairo. I never have seen, or fancied I saw, + any one before or since. + + My visitant, also, is dead, or he would, I know, have added his + testimony, small as it was, to mine. He was a very calm, quiet, + clever, scientific man, not given to vain fancies on any subject, + and certainly was not aware of any desire of appearing to me. + +The publication of _Phantasms of the Living_ led fortunately to our +obtaining the testimony of the second percipient, now Mrs. Ramsay, of +Clevelands, Bassett, Southampton, whose account follows:-- + + +_July 1891._ + + I have been asked by a leading member of the Psychical Society to + write down what I can remember of a strange experience that + occurred no less than twenty-seven years ago. I now do so as simply + as I can, and to the best of my recollection. + + In October 1864, I was travelling to India, going to rejoin my + parents, from whom I had been separated twelve years, a kind + friend--a Mrs. E.--having undertaken to chaperon me as far as + Calcutta. She was going out to join her husband, Major E., of the + 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers. We started by a P. & O steamer--the + _Ceylon_--from Southampton, and travelled by the overland route, + _via_ Alexandria and Cairo, to Suez. + + We landed at Alexandria, and went by rail across the desert to + Cairo. There all passengers had to sleep the night before + proceeding on to Suez. Shepherd's Hotel was the best hotel then, + and there was consequently a great rush to try and get rooms in it; + but Mrs. E. and I, finding we could get no corner, decided, with + two or three other passengers, to get accommodation in the Hôtel de + l'Europe. We felt somewhat nervous at the swarthy visages of the + Arabs all round us, and for this reason selected our quarters on + the very highest storey, thinking we should be more out of reach of + robbers and thieves than if we were on the ground floor. This is an + important point to remember, as no one could have effected an + entrance into our room from outside. It was a bright moonlight + night when we went to bed, and I can recollect as if it were + yesterday this fact, that the shadow of a "pepul" tree was + reflected on the wall opposite our beds--the leaves of the tree + were trembling and shaking, as the leaves of a "pepul" always do, + making the shadows dance about the wall. + + Before we finally retired to rest we made the grandest arrangements + for personal security! The window looking out on to the street + below was much too high up to be at all unsafe. So we left that + open (I think) but we closed our door very firmly indeed! It was a + large folding door, and opened _inwards_. We locked it carefully, + leaving the key in the lock; pushed an arm-chair against the middle + of the door; and, to crown all, we balanced a hand-bag on one of + the arms, with a bunch of keys in the lock thereof! so that if any + intruder should venture to open that door, we should _know_ of it + at any rate!! (But no one did venture, and we found everything in + the morning exactly as we had left it.) I remember that Mrs. E. was + very careful about tucking her mosquito curtains all round, but I + disliked the feeling of suffocation they gave, and put mine up; not + realising, of course, in my inexperience, what the consequences + would be for myself; for these small plagues of Egypt (!) soon + descended upon me, nearly eating me up, and absolutely prevented + sleep. This is another important fact to remember, for had I slept + I might have dreamed, but, as it happened, I was wide awake. I was + looking at the shadows of the tree shaking on the wall when + gradually they seemed to merge into a form, which form took the + shape of a man, not of an Arab, but of an English gentleman. Then + this form glided into the room, advancing towards my chaperon, + stretching out his hands as if in blessing, turned round, looked at + me, sadly and sorrowfully (so I thought), and then vanished again + into the shadows as it came. I do not remember feeling terrified, + only awed--the face was so kind and human, only the moonlight made + it look very white. I did not wake Mrs. E., as she appeared to me + to be asleep. I felt sure I had seen a vision, and something that + had to do with her. + + The next morning, while we were dressing, she remarked how odd I + looked, and quite apart from the mosquito bites, I know I did. We + had a good laugh over my comical appearance, for I had not scrupled + to scratch the bites, until my forehead and face resembled a plum + bun! I believe I then told her it was not strange that I should + look odd, for I "had seen a ghost." She started violently, and + asked me to tell her what I saw. I described it as best I could, + and _she said she had seen "it" too_, and that she knew it to be + the form and face of a valued friend. She was much disturbed about + it--as, indeed, so was I, for I had never indulged in + "hallucinations" and was not given to seeing visions. + + We proceeded next day to join our ship at Suez, and when on board, + it was a great relief to us to be able to tell it to a kind + fellow-passenger. He was an absolute sceptic in all matters + relating to the invisible world, but he was obliged to admit that + it was the most extraordinary thing he had ever heard.... I should + like to add that I have never, before or since, had any kind of + vision. + + Our experience at Cairo had this sequel, that Mrs. E.'s + spirit-friend happened to be, at that very time, in great + perplexity of mind--most anxious about some very important event in + his life. He was sitting in his room one night in the month of + October 1864, and a most intense yearning came over him for her + advice and assistance--so great was it, that he felt as if an + invisible power had drawn him into some spirit-state, in which he + could and did see her.[224] + +For a somewhat similar case, that of the apparition of General Frémont +(too lengthy to quote here), I may refer the reader to the _Journal_ +S.P.R., vol. v. p. 54. The crisis there is the removal of long and +wearing anxiety; the self-projection into the home-scene which now at +last the General felt assured of being able to reach alive. + + +VI. F. From _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. i. pp. 104-109. The +following case was especially remarkable in that there were two +percipients. The narrative was copied by Gurney from a MS. book of Mr. +S. H. B.'s, to which he transferred it from an almanac diary, since +lost. + + On a certain Sunday evening in November 1881, having been reading + of the great power which the human will is capable of exercising, I + determined with the whole force of my being, that I would be + present in spirit in the front bed-room on the second floor of a + house situated at 22 Hogarth Road, Kensington, in which room slept + two ladies of my acquaintance, viz., Miss L. S. V. and Miss E. C. + V., aged respectively 25 and 11 years. I was living at this time at + 23 Kildare Gardens, a distance of about three miles from Hogarth + Road, and I had not mentioned in any way my intention of trying + this experiment to either of the above ladies, for the simple + reason that it was only on retiring to rest upon this Sunday night + that I made up my mind to do so. The time at which I determined I + would be there was 1 o'clock in the morning, and I also had a + strong intention of making my presence perceptible. + + On the following Thursday I went to see the ladies in question, and + in the course of conversation (without any allusion to the subject + on my part) the elder one told me, that on the previous Sunday + night she had been much terrified by perceiving me standing by her + bedside, and that she screamed when the apparition advanced towards + her, and awoke her little sister, who saw me also. + + I asked her if she was awake at the time, and she replied most + decidedly in the affirmative, and upon my inquiring the time of the + occurrence, she replied, about 1 o'clock in the morning. + + This lady, at my request, wrote down a statement of the event and + signed it. + + This was the first occasion upon which I tried an experiment of + this kind, and its complete success startled me very much. + + Besides exercising my power of volition very strongly, I put forth + an effort which I cannot find words to describe. I was conscious of + a mysterious influence of some sort permeating in my body, and had + a distinct impression that I was exercising some force with which I + had been hitherto unacquainted, but which I can now at certain + times set in motion at will. + +S. H. B. + +Of the original entry in the almanac diary, Mr. B. says: "I recollect +having made it within a week or so of the occurrence of the experiment, +and whilst it was perfectly fresh in my memory." + + * * * * * + +Miss Verity's account is as follows:-- + + +_January 18th, 1883._ + + On a certain Sunday evening, about twelve months since, at our + house in Hogarth Road, Kensington, I distinctly saw Mr. B. in my + room, about 1 o'clock. I was perfectly awake and was much + terrified. I awoke my sister by screaming, and she saw the + apparition herself. Three days after, when I saw Mr. B., I told him + what had happened, but it was some time before I could recover from + the shock I had received; and the remembrance is too vivid to be + ever erased from my memory. + +L. S. VERITY. + +In answer to inquiries, Miss Verity adds: "I had never had any +hallucination of the senses of any sort whatever." + + * * * * * + +Miss E. C. Verity says:-- + + I remember the occurrence of the event described by my sister in + the annexed paragraph, and her description is quite correct. I saw + the apparition which she saw, at the same time and under the same + circumstances. + +E. C. VERITY. + +Miss A. S. Verity says:-- + + I remember quite clearly the evening my eldest sister awoke me by + calling to me from an adjoining room; and upon my going to her + bedside, where she slept with my youngest sister, they both told me + they had seen S. H. B. standing in the room. The time was about 1 + o'clock. S. H. B. was in evening dress, they told me. + +A. S. VERITY. + +Mr. B. does not remember how he was dressed on the night of the +occurrence. + +Miss E. C. Verity was asleep when her sister caught sight of the figure, +and was awoke by her sister's exclaiming, "There is S." The name had +therefore met her ear before she herself saw the figure; and the +hallucination on her part might thus be attributed to suggestion. But it +is against this view that she has never had any other hallucination, and +cannot therefore be considered as predisposed to such experiences. The +sisters are both equally certain that the figure was in evening dress, +and that it stood in one particular spot in the room. The gas was +burning low, and the phantasmal figure was seen with far more clearness +than a real figure would have been. + +"The witnesses" (says Gurney) "have been very carefully cross-examined +by the present writer. There is not the slightest doubt that their +mention of the occurrence to S. H. B. was spontaneous. They had not at +first intended to mention it; but when they saw him, their sense of its +oddness overcame their resolution. Miss Verity is a perfectly +sober-minded and sensible witness, with no love of marvels, and with a +considerable dread and dislike of this particular form of marvel." + +[I omit here for want of space the next case, in which Mr. S. H. B. +attempted to appear in Miss Verity's house at two different hours on the +same evening, and was seen there, at both the times fixed, by a married +sister who was visiting in the house.] + +Gurney requested Mr. B. to send him a note on the night that he intended +to make his next experiment of the kind, and received the following note +by the first post on Monday, March 24th, 1884. + + +_March 22nd, 1884._ + + DEAR MR. GURNEY,--I am going to try the experiment to-night of + making my presence perceptible at 44 Norland Square, at 12 P.M. I + will let you know the result in a few days.--Yours very sincerely, + +S. H. B. + +The next letter was received in the course of the following week:-- + + +_April 3rd, 1884._ + + DEAR MR. GURNEY,--I have a strange statement to show you, + respecting my experiment, which was tried at your suggestion, and + under the test conditions which you imposed. + + Having quite forgotten which night it was on which I attempted the + projection, I cannot say whether the result is a brilliant success, + or only a slight one, until I see the letter which I posted you on + the evening of the experiment. + + Having sent you that letter, I did not deem it necessary to make a + note in my diary, and consequently have let the exact date slip my + memory. + + If the dates correspond, the success is complete in every detail, + and I have an account signed and witnessed to show you. + + I saw the lady (who was the subject) for the first time last night, + since the experiment, and she made a voluntary statement to me, + which I wrote down at her dictation, and to which she has attached + her signature. The date and time of the apparition are specified in + this statement, and it will be for you to decide whether they are + identical with those given in my letter to you. I have completely + forgotten, but yet I fancy that they are the same. + +S. H. B. + +This is the statement:-- + + +44 NORLAND SQUARE, W. + + On Saturday night, March 22nd, 1884, at about midnight, I had a + distinct impression that Mr. S. H. B. was present in my room, and I + distinctly saw him whilst I was quite widely awake. He came towards + me, and stroked my hair. I _voluntarily_ gave him this information, + when he called to see me on Wednesday, April 2nd, telling him the + time and the circumstances of the apparition, without any + suggestion on his part. The appearance in my room was most vivid, + and quite unmistakable. + +L. S. VERITY. + +Miss A. S. Verity corroborates as follows:-- + + I remember my sister telling me that she had seen S. H. B., and + that he had touched her hair, _before_ he came to see us on April + 2nd. + +A. S. V. + +Mr. B.'s own account is as follows:-- + + On Saturday, March 22nd, I determined to make my presence + perceptible to Miss V., at 44 Norland Square, Notting Hill, at 12 + midnight, and as I had previously arranged with Mr. Gurney that I + should post him a letter on the evening on which I tried my next + experiment (stating the time and other particulars), I sent a note + to acquaint him with the above facts. + + About ten days afterwards I called upon Miss V., and she + voluntarily told me, that on March 22nd, at 12 o'clock midnight, + she had seen me so vividly in her room (whilst widely awake) that + her nerves had been much shaken, and she had been obliged to send + for a doctor in the morning. + +S. H. B. + +Unfortunately Mr. B.'s intention to produce the impression of touching +the percipient's hair is not included in his written account. On August +21st, 1885, he wrote to Gurney, "I remember that I had this intention"; +and Gurney remembered that, very soon after the occurrence, he mentioned +this as one of the points which made the success "complete in every +detail"; and that he recommended him in any future trial to endeavour +instead to produce the impression of some spoken phrase. + +On this case, Gurney observes:-- + + It will be observed that in all these instances the conditions were + the same--the agent concentrating his thoughts on the object in + view before going to sleep. Mr. B. has never succeeded in producing + a similar effect when he has been awake. And this restriction as to + time has made it difficult to devise a plan by which the phenomenon + could be tested by independent observers, one of whom might arrange + to be in the company of the agent at a given time, and the other in + that of the percipient. Nor is it easy to press for repetitions of + the experiment, which is not an agreeable one to the percipient, + and is followed by a considerable amount of nervous prostration. + Moreover, if trials were frequently made with the same percipient, + the value of success would diminish; for any latent expectation on + the percipient's part might be argued to be itself productive of + the delusion, and the coincidence with the agent's resolve might be + explained as accidental. We have, of course, requested Mr. B. to + try to produce the effect on ourselves; but though he has more than + once made the attempt, it has not succeeded. + + + + +APPENDICES + +TO + +CHAPTER VII + + +VII. A. The account of this case, given by Mr. E. Mamtchitch, is taken +from the "Report on the Census of Hallucinations" in the _Proceedings_ +S.P.R., vol. x. pp. 387-91. + + +ST. PETERSBURG, _April 29th, 1891_. + + Comme il s'agira des apparitions de Palladia, je dois dire + auparavant quelques mots sur sa personne. Elle était la fille d'un + riche propriétaire russe, mort un mois avant sa naissance. Sa mère, + dans son désespoir, voua son enfant futur au couvent. De là son + nom, usité parmi les religieuses. Deux ans après, sa mère mourut, + et l'orpheline, jusqu'à l'âge de 14 ans, fut élevée dans un couvent + de Moscou par sa tante, qui en était la supérieure. + + En 1870, étant encore étudiant à l'université de Moscou, je fis la + connaissance du frère de Palladia, étudiant comme moi, et il fut + souvent question entre nous de rendre à la société la nonne malgré + soi; mais ce plan ne fut réalisé qu'en 1872. J'étais venu en été à + Moscou, pour voir l'exposition, et j'y rencontrai par hasard le + frère de Palladia. J'appris qu'il était en train de l'envoyer en + Crimée pour cause de santé, et je le secondai de mon mieux. C'est + alors que je vis Palladia pour la première fois; elle avait 14 ans; + quoique haute de taille, elle était fort chétive et déjà + poitrinaire. A la prière de son frère, j'accompagnai Palladia et sa + sœur, Mme. P. S., en Crimée, où elles restèrent pour passer + l'hiver et moi, deux semaines après, je revins à Kieff. + + En été 1873 je rencontrai par hasard Palladia et sa sœur à + Odessa, où elles étaient venues pour consulter les médecins, + quoique Palladia avait l'air de se porter assez bien. Le 27 Août, + pendant que je faisais la lecture aux deux dames, Palladia mourut + subitement d'un anévrisme, à l'âge de 15 ans. + + Deux ans après la mort de Palladia, en 1875, me trouvant à Kieff, + il m'arriva, par une soirée du mois de Décembre, d'assister pour la + première fois à une séance spiritique; j'entendis des coups dans la + table; cela ne m'étonna nullement, car j'était sûr que c'était une + plaisanterie. De retour chez moi, je voulus voir si les mêmes coups + se produiraient chez moi; je me mis dans la même pose, les mains + sur la table. Bientôt des coups se firent entendre. Imitant le + procédé dont j'avais été le témoin, je commençai à réciter + l'alphabet; le nom de Palladia me fut indiqué. Je fus étonné, + presque effrayé; ne pouvant me tranquilliser, je me mis de nouveau + à la table, et je demandai à Palladia, qu'avait-elle à me dire? La + réponse fut: "_Replacer l'ange, il tombe._" Je ne compris pas de + suite de quoi il s'agissait. Le fait est qu'elle est enterrée à + Kieff, et j'avais entendu dire qu'on voulait mettre un monument sur + sa tombe, mais je n'y avais jamais été, et je ne savais pas de quel + genre était le monument. Après cette réponse, je ne me couchai + plus, et dès que le jour parut je me rendis au cimetière. Non sans + peine, avec l'aide du gardien, je découvris enfin la tombe enfouie + sous la neige. Je m'arrêtai stupéfié: la statue en marbre de l'ange + avec une croix était tout à fait de côté. + + Depuis ce moment, il me fut prouvé à l'évidence qu'il y a un autre + monde avec lequel, je ne sais comment, nous pouvons entrer en + rapport, et dont les habitants peuvent nous donner de telles + preuves de leur existence qu'elles désarment le scepticisme le plus + tenace. + + En Octobre, 1876, je me trouvais à Kieff, et j'étais en train de + m'installer dans un nouveau logement (rue Prorésnaya) avec mon + camarade de service au Ministère de la Justice, M. Potolof. On + venait de m'apporter un pianino. Il fut placé dans la salle, et je + me mis à jouer; il était à peu près 8 h. du soir; la salle où je + jouais était éclairée par une lampe pendue au mur. A côté se + trouvait mon cabinet de travail, éclairé aussi par une lampe. Je me + rappelle très bien que j'étais de fort bonne humeur. Mon camarade, + M. Potolof, était occupé à sa table, à l'autre bout du logis. + Toutes les portes étaient ouvertes, et de sa place il pouvait voir + très bien le cabinet et la salle où je jouais.[225] Jetant un + regard vers la porte de mon cabinet de travail, je vis tout à coup + Palladia. Elle se tenait au milieu de la porte, un peu de côté, + avec le visage tourné vers moi. Elle me regardait tranquillement. + Elle avait la même robe foncée qu'elle portait lorsqu'elle mourut + en ma présence. Sa main droite pendait librement. Je voyais + distinctement ses épaules et sa taille, mais ne me rappelle pas du + bas de son habit, et avais-je vu les pieds?--peut-être, parce que + tout le temps je lui regardais dans les yeux. En la voyant, j'avais + tout à fait oublié que je voyais devant moi non une personne + vivante, mais morte, tellement je la voyais distinctement; elle + était éclairée de deux côtés; et d'autant plus j'ai la vue très + bonne. Ma première sensation fut un frisson dans le dos. Je fus + comme pétrifié et ma respiration fut suspendue; mais ce n'était pas + un effet causé par le frayeur ou l'excitation,--c'était quelque + chose d'autre. Je puis comparer cela à la sensation que j'éprouve + quand je regarde en bas d'une grande hauteur; je sens alors une + terrible anxiété et en même temps je ne puis me retenir de + regarder, quelque chose m'attire invinciblement. Combien de temps + Palladia resta devant moi, je ne saurais le dire, mais je me + rappelle qu'elle fit un mouvement à droite et disparut derrière la + porte du cabinet du travail. Je me précipitai vers elle, mais dans + la porte je m'arrêtai, car alors seulement je me rappelai qu'elle + était déjà morte, et je craignai d'entrer, étant sûr de la revoir. + Dans ce moment mon camarade vint à moi et me demanda qu'est-ce que + j'avais? Je lui dis ce qui venait de se passer; alors nous entrâmes + au cabinet où nous ne trouvâmes personne. Mon camarade, ayant + entendu la brusque interruption de mon jeu, avait levé la tête et, + tant que je me rappelle, disait avoir vu aussi quelqu'un passer + devant la porte de mon cabinet; mais, voyant mon excitation, il me + dit, pour me tranquilliser, que probablement c'était Nikita, mon + domestique, qui était venu arranger la lampe. Nous allâmes + immédiatement dans sa chambre, il n'y était pas; il était en bas, + dans la cuisine, oú il préparait le samovar. Voilà comment je vis + Palladia pour la première fois, trois ans après sa mort. + + Après la première apparition de Palladia, en Octobre, 1876, et + jusqu'à présent, je la vois souvent. Il arrive que je la vois trois + fois par semaine, ou deux fois le même jour, ou bien un mois se + passe sans la voir. En résumé, voilà les traits principaux de ces + apparitions. + + (1) Palladia apparait toujours d'une façon inattendue, me prenant + comme par surprise, juste au moment quand j'y pense le moins. + + (2) Quand je veux la voir moi-même, j'ai beau y penser ou le + vouloir--elle n'apparait pas. + + (3) A de rares exceptions, son apparition n'a aucun rapport avec le + courant de ma vie, comme présage ou avertissement de + quelqu'événement insolite. + + (4) Jamais je ne la vois en songe. + + (5) Je la vois également quand je suis seul, ou en grande + compagnie. + + (6) Elle m'apparait toujours avec la même expression sereine des + yeux; quelque fois avec un faible sourire. Elle ne m'a jamais + parlé, à l'exception de deux fois, que je vais raconter plus loin. + + (7) Je la vois toujours dans la robe foncée qu'elle portait + lorsqu'elle mourut sous mes yeux. Je vois distinctement son visage, + sa tête, les épaules et les bras, mais je ne vois pas ses pieds, ou + plutôt je n'ai pas le temps de les examiner. + + (8) Chaque fois, en voyant Palladia inopinément, je perds la + parole, je sens du froid dans le dos, je pâlis, je m'écrie + faiblement, et ma respiration s'arrête (c'est ce que me disent ceux + qui par hasard m'ont observé pendant ce moment). + + (9) L'apparition de Palladia se prolonge une, deux, trois minutes, + puis graduellement elle s'efface et se dissout dans l'espace. + + A présent je vais décrire trois cas d'apparitions de Palladia dont + je me souviens bien. + + (1) En 1879, à la fin de Novembre, à Kieff, j'étais assis à mon + bureau à écrire un acte d'accusation; il était 8-1/4 du soir, la + montre était devant moi sur la table. Je me hâtais de finir mon + travail, car à 9 h. je devais me rendre à une soirée. Tout à coup, + en face de moi, assise sur un fauteuil, je vis Palladia; elle avait + le coude du bras droit sur la table et la tête appuyée sur la main. + M'étant remis de mon saisissement, je regardai la montre et je + suivis le mouvement de l'aiguille à seconde, puis je relevai les + yeux sur Palladia; je vis qu'elle n'avait pas changé de pose et son + coude se dessinait clairement sur la table. Ses yeux me regardaient + avec joie et sérénité; alors pour la première fois je me décidai de + lui parler: "Que sentez-vous à présent?" lui demandai-je. Son + visage resta impassible, ses lèvres, tant que je me rappelle, + restèrent immobiles, mais j'entendis distinctement sa voix + prononcer le mot "Quiétude." "Je comprends," lui répondis-je, et + effectivement, en ce moment, je comprenais toute la signification + qu'elle avait mise dans ce mot. Encore une fois, pour être sûr que + je ne rêvai pas, je regardai de nouveau la montre et je suivis les + mouvements de l'aiguille à seconde; je voyais clairement comme elle + se mouvait. Ayant rapporté mon regard sur Palladia, je remarquai + qu'elle commençait déjà à s'effacer et disparaître. Si je m'étais + avisé de noter immédiatement la signification du mot "Quiétude," ma + mémoire aurait retenu tout ce qu'il y avait de nouveau et + d'étrange. Mais à peine avais-je quitté la table pour monter en + haut, chez mon camarade Apouktine, avec lequel nous devions aller + ensemble, que je ne pus lui dire autre chose que ce que je viens + d'écrire. + + (2) En 1885, je demeurais chez mes parents, à une campagne du + gouvernement de Poltava. Une dame de notre connaissance était venue + passer chez nous quelques jours avec ses deux demoiselles. Quelque + temps après leur arrivée, m'étant réveillé à l'aube du jour, je vis + Palladia (je dormais dans une aile séparée où j'étais tout seul). + Elle se tenait devant moi, à cinq pas à peu près, et me regardait + avec un sourire joyeux. S'étant approchée de moi, elle me dit deux + mots: "J'ai été, j'ai vu," et tout en souriant disparut. Que + voulaient dire ces mots, je ne pus le comprendre. Dans ma chambre + dormait avec moi mon setter. Dès que j'aperçus Palladia, le chien + hérissa le poil et avec glapissement sauta sur mon lit; se pressant + vers moi, il regardait dans la direction où je voyais Palladia. Le + chien n'aboyait pas, tandis que, ordinairement, il ne laissait + personne entrer dans la chambre sans aboyer et grogner. Et toutes + les fois, quand mon chien voyait Palladia, il se pressait auprès de + moi, comme cherchant un refuge. Quand Palladia disparut et je vins + dans la maison, je ne dis rien à personne de cette incident. Le + soir de même jour, la fille aînée de la dame qui se trouvait chez + nous me raconta qu'une chose étrange lui était arrivée ce matin: + "M'étant réveillée de grand matin," me dit-elle, "j'ai senti comme + si quelqu'un se tenait au chevet de mon lit, et j'entendis + distinctement une voix me disant: 'Ne me crains pas, je suis bonne + et aimante.' Je tournai la tête, mais je ne vis rien; ma mère et ma + sœur dormaient tranquillement; cela m'a fort étonnée, car jamais + rien de pareil ne m'est arrivé." Sur quoi je répondis que bien des + choses inexplicables nous arrivent; mais je ne lui dit rien de ce + que j'avais vu le matin. Seulement un an plus tard, quand j'étais + déjà son fiancé, je lui fis part de l'apparition et des paroles de + Palladia le même jour. N'était-ce pas elle qui était venue la voir + aussi? Je dois ajouter que j'avais vu alors cette demoiselle pour + la première fois et que je ne pensais pas du tout que j'allais + l'épouser. + + (3) En Octobre, 1890, je me trouvais avec ma femme et mon fils, âgé + de deux ans, chez mes anciens amis, les Strijewsky, à leur + campagne du gouvernement de Woronèje. Un jour, vers les 7 h. du + soir, rentrant de la chasse, je passai dans l'aile que nous + habitons pour changer de toilette; j'étais assis dans une chambre + éclairée par une grande lampe. La porte s'ouvrit et mon fils Olég + accourut; il se tenait auprès de mon fauteuil, quand Palladia + apparut tout à coup devant moi. Jetant sur lui un coup d'œil, je + remarquai qu'il ne détachait pas les yeux de Palladia; se tournant + vers moi et montrant Palladia du doigt, il prononça: "La tante." Je + le pris sur les genoux et jetai un regard sur Palladia, mais elle + n'était plus. Le visage d'Olég était tout à fait tranquil et + joyeux; il commençait seulement à parler, ce qui explique la + dénomination qu'il donna à Palladia. + +EUGÈNE MAMTCHITCH. + +Mrs. Mamtchitch writes:-- + + +_5 Mai, 1891._ + + Je me rappelle très bien que le 10 Juillet 1885, lorsque nous + étions en visite chez les parents de M. E. Mamtchitch, je m'étais + réveillée à l'aube du jour, car il avait été convenu entre moi et + ma sœur que nous irions faire une promenade matinale. M'étant + soulevée sur le lit, je vis que maman et ma sœur dormaient, et + en ce moment je sentis comme si quelqu'un se tenait à mon chevet. + M'étant tournée à demi--car je craignais de bien regarder--je ne + vis personne; m'étant recouchée, j'entendis immédiatement, derrière + et au dessus de ma tête, une voix de femme me disant doucement, + mais distinctement: "Ne me crains pas, je suis bonne et aimante," + et encore toute une phrase que j'oubliai à l'instant même. + Immédiatement après je m'habillai et j'allai me promener. C'est + étrange que ces paroles ne m'effrayèrent pas du tout. De retour, je + n'en dis rien ni à ma mère, ni à ma sœur, car elles n'aimaient + pas de telles choses et n'y croyaient pas; mais le soir du même + jour, comme la conversation tourna sur le spiritisme, je racontai à + M. M. ce qui venait de m'arriver le matin; il ne me répondit rien + de particulier. + + Je n'ai jamais eu aucune hallucination, ni avant, ni après cet + incident, à l'exception d'un cas tout récent, quand je me suis vue + moi-même, de quoi je parlerai une autre fois. + +SOPHIE MAMTCHITCH. + +Mr. Potolof writes to Mr. Aksakoff, through whom the case was sent:-- + + +RUE SCHPALERNAYA, 26. S. PÉTERSBOURG, _le 10 Mai, 1891_. + + MONSIEUR,--En réponse à votre lettre du 8 Mai et les questions que + vous me posez relativement à l'incident avec M. E. Mamtchitch, + lorsque dans les années 1876-77 nous habitions ensemble Kieff, rue + Proresnaya, maison Barsky, je puis vous communiquer ce qui suit. + Effectivement, je fus alors témoin comme M. M., pendant qu'il + jouait un soir du piano quelque air mélancolique, s'interrompait + brusquement (comme si après avoir fortement attaqué le clavier, ses + mains s'étaient subitement affaissées), et lorsque je vins lui + demander ce qui lui était arrivé, il me répondit qu'il venait de + voir apparaître le fantôme de Palladia, se tenant derrière la + draperie de la porte de la chambre contigue à celle où se trouvait + le piano. Je dois ajouter que notre appartement commun formait une + enfilade de trois chambres, sans compter celle de l'entrée, qui + occupait le milieu; je travaillais dans ma chambre, qui était à + droite de celle de l'entrée, et je pouvais voir toute l'enfilade + bien éclairée. Ce qui me regarde personnellement, je ne vis en ce + moment aucune figure humaine passer par les chambres de M. M., mais + je ne nie pas que pour le tranquilliser j'essayai d'expliquer cet + incident par l'entrée de notre domestique Nikita; il se peut aussi + que, ne l'ayant pas trouvé dans nos appartements, nous allâmes le + chercher en bas, dans la cuisine. Voilà tout ce que je puis vous + dire relativement à cet incident. + +W. POTOLOF. + +Note by Mr. Aksakoff:-- + + +S. PÉTERSBOURG, _Le 16|28 Mai, 1891_. + + Traduit des manuscrits russes de M. et Madame Mamtchitch, et de M. + Potolof. La première partie du manuscrit de M. Mamtchitch, jusqu'à + la première apparition de Palladia, est abrégé. + + J'avais rencontré M. Mamtchitch plusieurs fois, mais je n'avais + aucune idée de ces apparitions constantes de Palladia. M. + Mamtchitch a vu aussi d'autres figures que celle de Palladia, mais + je n'ai pas eu le temps d'en faire un mémorandum circonstantiel. + +A. AKSAKOFF. + + +VII. B. The account, which I quote from _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. vi. +p. 17, was sent in 1887 to the American Society for Psychical Research +by Mr. F. G., of Boston. Professor Royce and Dr. Hodgson vouch for the +high character and good position of the informants; and it will be seen +that, besides the percipient himself, his father and brother are +first-hand witnesses as regards the most important point,--the effect +produced by a certain symbolic item in the phantom's aspect. Mr. G. +writes:-- + + +_January 11th, 1888._ + + SIR,--Replying to the recently published request of your Society + for actual occurrences of psychical phenomena, I respectfully + submit the following remarkable occurrence to the consideration of + your distinguished Society, with the assurance that the event made + a more powerful impression on my mind than the combined incidents + of my whole life. I have never mentioned it outside of my family + and a few intimate friends, knowing well that few would believe it, + or else ascribe it to some disordered state of my mind at the time; + but I well know I never was in better health or possessed a clearer + head and mind than at the time it occurred. + + In 1867 my only sister, a young lady of eighteen years, died + suddenly of cholera in St. Louis, Mo. My attachment for her was + very strong, and the blow a severe one to me. A year or so after + her death the writer became a commercial traveller, and it was in + 1876, while on one of my Western trips, that the event occurred. + + I had "drummed" the city of St. Joseph, Mo., and had gone to my + room at the Pacific House to send in my orders, which were + unusually large ones, so that I was in a very happy frame of mind + indeed. My thoughts, of course, were about these orders, knowing + how pleased my house would be at my success. I had not been + thinking of my late sister, or in any manner reflecting on the + past. The hour was high noon, and the sun was shining cheerfully + into my room. While busily smoking a cigar and writing out my + orders, I suddenly became conscious that some one was sitting on my + left, with one arm resting on the table. Quick as a flash I turned + and distinctly saw the form of my dead sister, and for a brief + second or so looked her squarely in the face; and so sure was I + that it was she, that I sprang forward in delight, calling her by + name, and, as I did so, the apparition instantly vanished. + Naturally I was startled and dumbfounded, almost doubting my + senses; but the cigar in my mouth, and pen in hand, with the ink + still moist on my letter, I satisfied myself I had not been + dreaming and was wide awake. I was near enough to touch her, had it + been a physical possibility, and noted her features, expression, + and details of dress, etc. She appeared as if alive. Her eyes + looked kindly and perfectly natural into mine. Her skin was so + life-like that I could see the glow or moisture on its surface, + and, on the whole, there was no change in her appearance, otherwise + than when alive. + + Now comes the most remarkable _confirmation_ of my statement, which + cannot be doubted by those who know what I state actually occurred. + This visitation, or whatever you may call it, so impressed me that + I took the next train home, and in the presence of my parents and + others I related what had occurred. My father, a man of rare good + sense and very practical, was inclined to ridicule me, as he saw + how earnestly I believed what I stated; but he, too, was amazed + when later on I told them of a bright red line or _scratch_ on the + right-hand side of my sister's face, which I distinctly had seen. + When I mentioned this my mother rose trembling to her feet and + nearly fainted away, and as soon as she sufficiently recovered her + self-possession, with tears streaming down her face, she exclaimed + that I had indeed seen my sister, as no living mortal but herself + was aware of that scratch, which she had accidentally made while + doing some little act of kindness after my sister's death. She said + she well remembered how pained she was to think she should have, + unintentionally, marred the features of her dead daughter, and + that, unknown to all, how she had carefully obliterated all traces + of the slight scratch with the aid of powder, etc., and that she + had never mentioned it to a human being from that day to this. In + proof, neither my father nor any of our family had detected it, and + positively were unaware of the incident, yet _I saw the scratch as + bright as if just made_. So strangely impressed was my mother, that + even after she had retired to rest she got up and dressed, came to + me and told me _she knew_ at least that I had seen my sister. A few + weeks later my mother died, happy in her belief she would rejoin + her favourite daughter in a better world. + +In a further letter Mr. F. G. adds:-- + + There was nothing of a spiritual or ghostly nature in either the + form or dress of my sister, she appearing perfectly natural, and + dressed in clothing that she usually wore in life, and which was + familiar to me. From her position at the table, I could only see + her _from the waist up_, and her appearance and everything she wore + is indelibly photographed in my mind. I even had time to notice the + collar and little breastpin she wore, as well as the comb in her + hair, after the style then worn by young ladies. The dress had no + particular association for me or my mother, no more so than others + she was in the habit of wearing; but _to-day, while I have + forgotten all her other dresses, pins, and combs_, I could go to + her trunk (which we have just as she left it) and pick out the very + dress and ornaments she wore when she appeared to me, so well do I + remember it. + + You are correct in understanding that I returned home earlier than + I had intended, as it had such an effect on me that I could hardly + think of any other matter; in fact, I abandoned a trip that I had + barely commenced, and, ordinarily, would have remained on the road + a month longer. + +Mr. F. G. again writes to Dr. Hodgson, January 23rd, 1888:-- + + As per your request, I enclose a letter from my father which is + indorsed by my brother, confirming the statement I made to them of + the apparition I had seen. I will add that my father is one of the + oldest and most respected citizens of St. Louis, Mo., a retired + merchant, whose winter residence is at----, Ills., a few miles out + by rail. He is now seventy years of age, but a remarkably + well-preserved gentleman in body and mind, and a very learned man + as well. As I informed you, he is slow to believe things that + reason cannot explain. My brother, who indorses the statement, has + resided in Boston for twelve years, doing business on---- Street, + as per letter-head above, and the last man in the world to take + stock in statements without good proof. The others who were present + (including my mother) are now dead, or were then so young as to now + have but a dim remembrance of the matter. + + You will note that my father refers to the "scratch," and it was + this that puzzled all, even himself, and which we have never been + able to account for, further than that in some mysterious way I had + actually seen my sister _nine years after death_, and had + particularly noticed and described to my parents and family this + bright red scratch, and which, beyond all doubt in our minds, was + unknown to a soul save my mother, who had accidentally caused it. + + When I made my statement, all, of course, listened and were + interested; but the matter would probably have passed with comments + that it was a freak of memory had not I asked about the scratch, + and the instant I mentioned it my mother was aroused as if she had + received an electric shock, as she had kept it secret from all, and + _she alone_ was able to explain it. My mother was a sincere + Christian lady, who was for twenty-five years superintendent of a + large infant class in her church, the Southern Methodist, and a + directress in many charitable institutions, and was highly + educated. No lady at the time stood higher in the city of St. + Louis, and she was, besides, a woman of rare good sense. + + I mention these points to give you an insight into the character + and standing of those whose testimony, in such a case, is + necessary. + +(Signed) F. G. + +From Mr. H. G.:-- + + +-----, ILLS., _January 20th, 1888_. + + DEAR F.,--Yours of 16th inst. is received. In reply to your + questions relating to your having seen our Annie, while at St. + Joseph, Mo., I will state that I well remember the statement you + made to family on your return home. I remember your stating how she + looked in ordinary home dress, and particularly about the scratch + (or red spot) on her face, which you could not account for, but + which was fully explained by your mother. The spot was made while + adjusting something about her head while in the casket, and covered + with powder. All who heard you relate the phenomenal sight thought + it was true. You well know how sceptical I am about things which + reason cannot explain. + +(Signed) H. G. (father). + + I was present at the time and indorse the above. + +(Signed) K. G. (brother). + +The apparent _redness_ of the scratch on the face of the apparition goes +naturally enough with the look of life in the face. The phantom did not +appear as a corpse, but as a blooming girl, and the scratch showed as it +would have shown if made during life. + +Dr. Hodgson visited Mr. F. G. later, and sent us the following notes of +his interview:-- + + +ST. LOUIS, MO., _April 16th, 1890_. + + In conversation with Mr. F. G., now forty-three years of age, he + says that there was a very special sympathy between his mother, + sister, and himself. + + When he saw the apparition he was seated at a small table, about + two feet in diameter, and had his left elbow on the table. The + scratch which he saw was on the right side of his sister's nose, + about three fourths of an inch long, and was a somewhat ragged + mark. His home at the time of the incident was in St. Louis. His + mother died within two weeks after the incident. His sister's face + was hardly a foot away from his own. The sun was shining upon it + through the open window. The figure disappeared like an + instantaneous evaporation. + + Mr. G. has had another experience, but of a somewhat different + character. Last fall the impression persisted for some time of a + lady friend of his, and he could not rid himself for some time of + thoughts of her. He found afterwards that she died at the time of + the curious persistence of his impression. + + Mr. G. appears to be a first-class witness. + +R. HODGSON. + +I have ranked this case _primâ facie_ as a perception by the spirit of +her mother's approaching death. That coincidence is too marked to be +explained away: the son is brought home in time to see his mother once +more by perhaps the only means which would have succeeded; and the +mother herself is sustained by the knowledge that her daughter loves and +awaits her. Mr. Podmore[226] has suggested, on the other hand, that the +daughter's figure was a mere projection from the mother's mind: a +conception which has scarcely any analogy to support it; for the one +ancient case of Wesermann's projection of a female figure to a distance +(_Journal_ S.P.R., vol. iv. p. 217) remains, I think, the sole instance +where an agent has generated a hallucinatory figure or group of figures +which did not, at any rate, _include_ his own. I mean that he may +spontaneously project a picture of himself as he is or dreams himself to +be situated, perhaps with other figures round him, but not, so far as +our evidence goes, the single figure of some one other than himself. +Whilst not assuming that this rule can have no exceptions, I see no +reason for supposing that it has been transgressed in the present case. +Nay, I think that the very fact that the figure was not that of the +corpse with the dull mark on which the mother's regretful thoughts might +dwell, but was that of the girl in health and happiness, with the +symbolic _red_ mark worn simply as a test of identity, goes far to show +that it was not the _mother's_ mind from whence that image came. As to +the spirit's own knowledge of the fate of the body after death, there +are other cases which show, I think, that this specific form of +_post-mortem_ perception is not unusual. + + +VII. C. From _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. x. pp. 380-82. + +From Miss L. Dodson:-- + + +_September 14th, 1891._ + + On June 5th, 1887, a Sunday evening,[227] between eleven and twelve + at night, being awake, my name was called three times. I answered + twice, thinking it was my uncle, "Come in, Uncle George, I am + awake," but the third time I recognised the voice as that of my + mother, who had been dead sixteen years. I said, "Mamma!" She then + came round a screen near my bedside with two children in her arms, + and placed them in my arms and put the bedclothes over them and + said, "Lucy, promise me to take care of them, for their mother is + just dead." I said, "Yes, mamma." She repeated, "_Promise_ me to + take care of them." I replied, "Yes, I promise you"; and I added, + "Oh, mamma, stay and speak to me, I am so wretched." She replied, + "Not yet, my child," then she seemed to go round the screen again, + and I remained, feeling the children to be still in my arms, and + fell asleep. When I awoke there was nothing. Tuesday morning, June + 7th, I received the news of my sister-in-law's death. She had given + birth to a child three weeks before, which I did not know till + after her death. + + I was in bed, but not asleep, and the room was lighted by a + gaslight in the street outside. I was out of health, and in anxiety + about family troubles. My age was forty-two. I was quite alone. I + mentioned the circumstance to my uncle the next morning. He thought + I was sickening for brain fever. [I have had other experiences, + but] only to the extent of having felt a hand laid on my head, and + sometimes on my hands, at times of great trouble. + +LUCY DODSON. + +Mr. C. H. Cope, who sent the case, wrote in answer to our questions:-- + + +BRUSSELS, _October 17th, 1891_. + + I have received replies from Miss Dodson to your inquiries. + + (1) "Yes [I was] perfectly awake [at the time]." + + (2) "Was she in anxiety about her sister-in-law?" "None whatever; I + did not know a second baby had been born; in fact, had not the + remotest idea of my sister-in-law's illness." + + (3) "Did she think at the time that the words about the children's + mother having just died referred to her sister-in-law? Had she two + children?" "No, I was at a total loss to imagine whose children + they were." + + (4) "I was living in Albany Street, Regent's Park, at the time. My + sister-in-law, as I heard afterwards, was confined at St. André + (near Bruges), and removed to Bruges three days prior to her death. + (_N.B._--She had two children including the new-born baby.)" + + (5) "My late uncle only saw business connections, and having no + relations or personal friends in London, save myself, would not + have been likely to mention the occurrence to any one." + +Mr. Cope also sent us a copy of the printed announcement of the death, +which Miss Dodson had received. It was dated, "Bruges, June 7th, 1887," +and gave the date of death as June 5th. He quotes from Miss Dodson's +letter to him, enclosing it, as follows: "[My friend], Mrs. Grange, +tells me she saw [my sister-in-law] a couple of hours prior to her +death, which took place about nine o'clock on the evening of June 5th, +and it was between eleven and twelve o'clock the same night my mother +brought me the two little children." + +Professor Sidgwick writes:-- + + +_November 23rd, 1892._ + + I have just had an interesting conversation with Miss Dodson and + her friend, Mrs. Grange. + + Miss Dodson told me that she was not thinking of her brother or his + wife at this time, as her mind was absorbed by certain other + matters. But the brother was an object of special concern to her, + as her mother on her deathbed, in 1871, had specially charged + her--and she had promised--to take care of the other children, + especially this brother, who was then five years old. He had + married in April, 1885, and she had not seen him since, though she + had heard of the birth of his first child, a little girl, in + January, 1886; and she had never seen his wife nor heard of the + birth of the second child. + + She is as sure as she can be that she was awake at the time of the + experience. She knew the time by a clock in the room and also a + clock outside. She heard this latter strike twelve afterwards, and + the apparition must have occurred after eleven, because lights were + out in front of the public-house. The children seemed to be with + her a long time; indeed, they seemed to be still with her when the + clock struck twelve. The room was usually light enough to see + things in--_e.g._ to get a glass of water, etc.--owing to the lamp + in the street, but the distinctness with which the vision was seen + is not explicable by the real light. The children were of ages + corresponding to those of her sister-in-law's children, _i.e._ they + seemed to be a little girl and a baby newly born; the sex was not + distinguished. She was not at all alarmed. + + She heard from Mrs. Grange by letter, and afterwards orally from + her brother, that her sister-in-law died between eight and nine the + same night. + + She never had any experience of the kind, or any hallucination at + all before: but _since_ she has occasionally felt a hand on her + head in trouble. + + Mrs. Grange told me that she was with the sister-in-law about an + hour and a half before her death. She left her about seven o'clock, + without any particular alarm about her; though she was suffering + from inflammation after childbirth, and Mrs. Grange did not quite + like her look; still her state was not considered alarming by those + who were attending on her. Then about 8.30 news came to Mrs. Grange + in her own house that something had happened at the + sister-in-law's. As it was only in the next street, Mrs. Grange put + on her bonnet and went round to the house, and found she was dead. + She then wrote and told Miss Dodson. + + +VII. D. From _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. viii. pp. 200-205.[228] + +The first report of the case appeared in _The Herald_ (Dubuque, Iowa), +February 11th, 1891, as follows:-- + + It will be remembered that on February 2nd, Michael Conley, a + farmer living near Ionia, Chickasaw County, was found dead in an + outhouse at the Jefferson house. He was carried to Coroner + Hoffmann's morgue, where, after the inquest, his body was prepared + for shipment to his late home. The old clothes which he wore were + covered with filth from the place where he was found, and they were + thrown outside the morgue on the ground. + + His son came from Ionia, and took the corpse home. When he reached + there, and one of the daughters was told that her father was dead, + she fell into a swoon, in which she remained for several hours. + When at last she was brought from the swoon, she said, "Where are + father's old clothes? He has just appeared to me dressed in a white + shirt, black clothes, and felt [mis-reported for _satin_] + slippers, and told me that after leaving home he sewed a large roll + of bills inside his grey shirt with a piece of my red dress, and + the money is still there." In a short time she fell into another + swoon, and when out of it demanded that somebody go to Dubuque and + get the clothes. She was deathly sick, and is so yet. + + The entire family considered it only a hallucination, but the + physician advised them to get the clothes, as it might set her mind + at rest. The son telephoned Coroner Hoffmann, asking if the clothes + were still in his possession. He looked and found them in the + backyard, although he had supposed they were thrown in the vault, + as he had intended. He answered that he still had them, and on + being told that the son would come to get them, they were wrapped + in a bundle. + + The young man arrived last Monday afternoon, and told Coroner + Hoffmann what his sister had said. Mr. Hoffmann admitted that the + lady had described the identical burial garb in which her father + was clad, even to the slippers, although she never saw him after + death, and none of the family had seen more than his face through + the coffin lid. Curiosity being fully aroused, they took the grey + shirt from the bundle, and within the bosom found a large roll of + bills sewed with a piece of red cloth. The young man said his + sister had a red dress exactly like it. The stitches were large and + irregular, and looked to be those of a man. The son wrapped up the + garments and took them home with him yesterday morning, filled with + wonder at the supernatural revelation made to his sister, who is at + present lingering between life and death. + +Dr. Hodgson communicated with the proprietors of _The Herald_, and both +they and their reporter who had written the account stated that it was +strictly accurate. The coroner, Mr. Hoffmann, wrote to Dr. Hodgson on +March 18th, 1891, as follows:-- + + In regard to the statements in the Dubuque _Herald_, about February + 19th, about the Conley matter is more than true by my + investigation. I laughed and did not believe in the matter when I + first heard of it, until I satisfied myself by investigating and + seeing what I did. + +M. M. HOFFMANN, _County Coroner_. + +Further evidence was obtained through Mr. Amos Crum, pastor of a church +at Dubuque. The following statement was made by Mr. Brown, whom Mr. Crum +described as "an intelligent and reliable farmer, residing about one +mile from the Conleys." + + +IONIA, _July 20th, 1891_. + + Elizabeth Conley, the subject of so much comment in the various + papers, was born in Chickasaw township, Chickasaw County, Iowa, in + March, 1863. Her mother died the same year. Is of Irish parentage; + brought up, and is, a Roman Catholic; has been keeping house for + her father for ten years. + + On the 1st day of February, 1891, her father went to Dubuque, Iowa, + for medical treatment, and died on the 3rd of the same month very + suddenly. His son was notified by telegraph the same day, and he + and I started the next morning after the remains, which we found in + charge of Coroner Hoffmann. + + He had 9 dollars 75 cents, which he had taken from his pocket-book. + I think it was about two days after our return she had the dream or + vision. She claimed her father had appeared to her, and told her + there was a sum of money in an inside pocket of his undershirt. Her + brother started for Dubuque a few days afterwards, and found the + clothes as we had left them, and in the pocket referred to found 30 + dollars in currency. These are the facts of the matter as near as I + can give them. + +GEORGE BROWN. + +Mr. Crum wrote later:-- + + +DUBUQUE, IOWA, _August 15th, 1891_. + + DEAR MR. HODGSON,--I send you in another cover a detailed account + of interview with the Conleys. I could not get the doctor. + + I have had a long talk with Mr. Hoffmann about the Conley incident, + and think you have all the facts--and they are _facts_. + + The girl Lizzie Conley swooned. She saw her dead father; she heard + from him of the money left in his old shirt; she returned to bodily + consciousness; she described her father's burial dress, robe, + shirt, and slippers exactly, though she had never seen them. She + described the pocket in the shirt that had been left for days in + the shed at the undertaker's. It was a ragged-edged piece of red + cloth clumsily sewn, and in this pocket was found a roll of + bill--35 dollars in amount--as taken out by Mr. Hoffmann in + presence of Pat Conley, son of the deceased, and brother of the + Lizzie Conley whose remarkable dream or vision is the subject of + inquiry. + +AMOS CRUM, _Past. Univ. Ch._ + +...I herewith transcribe my questions addressed to Miss Elizabeth + Conley, and her replies to the same concerning her alleged dream or + vision.... + + On July 17th, about noon, I called at the Conley home near Ionia, + Chickasaw County, Iowa, and inquired for Elizabeth Conley. She was + present, and engaged in her domestic labours. When I stated the + object of my call, she seemed quite reluctant for a moment to + engage in conversation. Then she directed a lad who was present to + leave the room. She said she would converse with me upon the matter + pertaining to her father. + + Q. What is your age? A. Twenty-eight. + + Q. What is the state of your health? A. Not good since my father's + death. + + Q. What was the state of your health previous to his death? A. It + was good. I was a healthy girl. + + Q. Did you have dreams, visions, or swoons previous to your + father's death? A. Why, I had _dreams_. Everybody has dreams. + + Q. Have you ever made discoveries or received other information + during your dreams or visions previous to your father's death? A. + No. + + Q. Had there been anything unusual in your dreams or visions + previous to your father's death? A. No, not that I know of. + + Q. Was your father in the habit of carrying considerable sums of + money about his person? A. Not that I knew of. + + Q. Did you know _before his death_ of the pocket in the breast of + the shirt worn by him to Dubuque? A. No. + + Q. Did you wash or prepare that shirt for him to wear on his trip + to Dubuque? A. No. It was a heavy woollen undershirt, and the + pocket was stitched inside of the breast of it. + + Q. Will you recite the circumstances connected with the recovery of + money from clothing worn by your father at the time of his death? + A. (after some hesitation) When they told me that father was dead I + felt very sick and bad; I did not know anything. Then father came + to me. He had on a white shirt and black clothes and slippers. When + I came to, I told Pat [her brother] I had seen father. I asked him + (Pat) if he had brought back father's old clothes. He said, "No," + and asked me why I wanted them. I told him father said to me he had + sewed a roll of bills inside of his grey shirt, in a pocket made of + a piece of my old red dress. I went to sleep, and father came to me + again. When I awoke I told Pat he must go and get the clothes. + + Q. While in these swoons did you hear the ordinary conversations or + noises in the house about you? A. No. + + Q. Did you see your father's body after it was placed in its + coffin? A. No; I did not see him after he left the house to go to + Dubuque. + + Q. Have you an education? A. No. + + Q. Can you read and write? A. Oh yes, I can read and write; but + I've not been to school much. + + Q. Are you willing to write out what you have told me of this + strange affair? A. Why, I've told you all I know about it. + + She was averse to writing or to signing a written statement. During + the conversation she was quite emotional, and manifested much + effort to suppress her feelings. She is a little more than medium + size, of Irish parentage, of Catholic faith, and shows by her + conversation that her education is limited. + + Her brother, Pat Conley, corroborates all that she has recited. He + is a sincere and substantial man, and has no theory upon which to + account for the strange facts that have come to his knowledge. In + his presence Coroner Hoffmann, in Dubuque, found the shirt with its + pocket of red cloth stitched on the inside with long, straggling, + and awkward stitches, just as a dim-sighted old man or an awkward + boy might sew it there. The pocket was about 7 [seven] inches deep, + and in the pocket of that dirty old shirt that had lain in + Hoffmann's back room was a roll of bills amounting to 35 dollars. + When the shirt was found with the pocket, as described by his + sister after her swoon, and the money as told her by the old man + _after his death_, Pat Conley seemed dazed and overcome by the + mystery. Hoffmann says the girl, after her swoon, described + exactly the burial suit, shirt, coat or robe, and satin slippers + in which the body was prepared for burial. She even described + minutely the slippers, which were of a new pattern that had not + been in the market here, and which the girl could never have seen a + sample of; and she had not seen, and never saw, the body of her + father after it was placed in the coffin, and if she had seen it + she could not have seen his feet "in the nice black satin slippers" + which she described.... + +AMOS CRUM, _Pastor Univ. Church_. + +If we may accept the details of this narrative, which seems to have been +carefully and promptly investigated, we find that the phantasm +communicates two sets of facts: one of them known only to strangers (the +dress in which he was buried), and one of them known only to himself +(the existence of the inside pocket and the money therein). In +discussing from what mind these images originate it is, of course, +important to note whether any living minds, known or unknown to the +percipient, were aware of the facts thus conveyed. + +There are few cases where the communication between the percipient and +the deceased seems to have been more direct than here. The hard, prosaic +reality of the details of the message need not, of course, surprise us. +On the contrary, the father's sudden death in the midst of earthly +business would at once retain his attention on money matters and +facilitate his impressing them on the daughter's mind. One wishes that +more could be learned of the daughter's condition when receiving the +message. It seems to have resembled trance rather than dream.[229] + +One other case in this group I must quote at length. It illustrates the +fact that the cases of deepest interest are often the hardest for the +inquirer to get hold of. + +From the _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. x. pp. 385-86. + +The account of the percipient, Baron B. von Driesen, was written in +November, 1890, and has been translated from the Russian by Mr. M. +Petrovo-Solovovo, who sent us the case. + + [Baron von Driesen begins by saying that he has never believed and + does not believe in the supernatural, and that he is more inclined + to attribute the apparition he saw to his "excited fancy" than to + anything else. After these preliminary remarks he proceeds as + follows:--] + + I must tell you that my father-in-law, M. N. J. Ponomareff, died in + the country. This did not happen at once, but after a long and + painful illness, whose sharp phases had obliged my wife and myself + to join him long before his death. I had not been on good terms + with M. Ponomareff. Different circumstances, which are out of place + in this narrative, had estranged us from each other, and these + relations did not change until his death. He died very quietly, + after having given his blessing to all his family, including + myself. A liturgy for the rest of his soul was to be celebrated on + the ninth day. I remember very well how I went to bed between one + and two o'clock on the eve of that day, and how I read the Gospel + before falling asleep. My wife was sleeping in the same room. It + was perfectly quiet. I had just put out the candle when footsteps + were heard in the adjacent room--a sound of slippers shuffling, I + might say--which ceased before the door of our bedroom. I called + out, "Who is there?" No answer. I struck one match, then another, + and when after the stifling smell of the sulphur the fire had + lighted up the room, I saw M. Ponomareff standing before the closed + door. Yes, it was he, in his blue dressing-gown, lined with + squirrel furs and only half-buttoned, so that I could see his white + waistcoat and his black trousers. It was he undoubtedly. I was not + frightened. They say that, as a rule, one is _not_ frightened when + seeing a ghost, as ghosts possess the quality of paralysing fear. + + "What do you want?" I asked my father-in-law. M. Ponomareff made + two steps forward, stopped before my bed, and said, "Basil + Feodorovitch, I have acted wrongly towards you. Forgive me! Without + this I do not feel at rest there." He was pointing to the ceiling + with his left hand, whilst holding out his right to me. I seized + this hand, which was long and cold, shook it, and answered, + "Nicholas Ivanovitch, God is my witness that I have never had + anything against you." + + [The ghost of] my father-in-law bowed [or bent down], moved away, + and went through the opposite door into the billiard-room, where he + disappeared. I looked after him for a moment, crossed myself, put + out the candle, and fell asleep with the sense of joy which a man + who has done his duty must feel. The morning came. My wife's + brothers, as well as our neighbours and the peasants, assembled, + and the liturgy was celebrated by our confessor, the Rev. Father + Basil. But when all was over, the same Father Basil led me aside, + and said to me mysteriously, "Basil Feodorovitch, I have got + something to say to you in private." My wife having come near us at + this moment, the clergyman repeated his wish. I answered, "Father + Basil, I have no secrets from my wife; please tell us what you + wished to tell me alone." + + Then Father Basil, who is living till now in the Koi parish of the + district of Kashin [Gov. of Tver], said to me in a rather solemn + voice, "This night at three o'clock Nicholas Ivanovitch + [Ponomareff] appeared to me and begged of me to reconcile him to + you." + +(Signed) BARON BASIL DRIESEN. + +Mr. Solovovo adds:-- + + The Baroness von Driesen is now dead, so that her evidence cannot + be obtained.... + + I also saw Baron Basil von Driesen himself, and spoke with him + about M. Ponomareff's ghost. He stated to me that if he were going + to die to-morrow, he should still be ready to swear to the fact of + his having seen the apparition, or something to this effect. I + asked him to obtain for me the clergyman's account, to whom I had + already written before seeing Baron von Driesen (though not knowing + him), but without receiving an answer--which is but natural, after + all. Baron von Driesen kindly promised to procure for me the + account in question, as it was then his intention to visit + different estates in Central Russia, including the one that had + belonged to M. Ponomareff. + + Baron Nicholas von Driesen--Baron Basil's son--called on me a few + days ago. He stated, with regard to the case in question, that it + was necessary to see the clergyman in order to induce him to write + an account of what had happened to him. + +Baron N. von Driesen afterwards sent a note to Mr. Solovovo, stating +that his grandfather (M. Ponomareff) died on November 21st, 1860; and +the testimony of the priest was obtained later. Mr. Solovovo, who had +already ascertained independently that the Rev. Basil Bajenoff had been +a priest at Koi in the year 1861, and was there still, writes:-- + + * * * * * + +The following is the translation of the Rev. Basil Bajenoff's +statement:-- + + +"KOI, _July 23rd [August 4th], 1891_. + + "To the account I heard from Baron B. F. Driesen in the presence of + his wife's brothers, MM. N. N., A. N., and I. N. Ponomareff, as to + how M. Nicholas I. Ponomareff appeared to him in the night of + November 29-30th, 1860, having died nine days before, and begged of + the Baron to be reconciled to him, I may add that to me also did he + appear _at the same time_ and with the same request, which fact, + before hearing the Baron's narrative, I communicated to all those + present at the liturgy for the rest of the soul of the late M. N. + I. Ponomareff. + +"(Signed) BASIL BAJENOFF, +"Priest of Trinity Church, at Koi, District of Kashin, +Government of Tver." + + +VII. E. The following is quoted from the "Report on the Census of +Hallucinations" in _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. x. p. 284. + +From Countess Eugénie Kapnist:-- + + +_June 24th, 1891._ + + A Talta, en Février, 1889, nous fîmes la connaissance de M. P. et + de sa femme, passant la soirée chez des amis communs qui avaient + tenu à nous réunir. A cette époque, M. P. souffrait déjà d'une + phthisie assez avancée; il venait de perdre, à Pétersbourg, son + frère, atteint de la même maladie. On pria ma sœur de faire un + peu de musique, et elle choisit au hasard le Prélude de + Mendelssohn. A mon étonnement je vis M. P. que nous ne connaissions + que de ce soir, aller, très émotionné, prendre place auprès du + piano, et suivre avec une espèce d'anxiété le jeu de ma sœur. + Lorsqu'elle eut fini, il dit que pour quelques instants elle venait + de faire ressusciter son frère, exécutant absolument de la même + manière ce morceau, qu'il jouait fréquemment. Depuis, en voyant ma + sœur, il aimait particulièrement à causer avec elle. Je puis + certifier ainsi qu'elle une conversation que nous eûmes à une + soirée, au mois de Mars. Nous parlions de la mort, chose fréquente + à Talta, toujours peuplée de malades:--"Savez-vous," disait-il à ma + sœur, "il me semble toujours que mon esprit est très proche du + vôtre; j'ai la certitude de vous avoir déjà connue; nous avons dans + la réalité une preuve que ce n'est pas en ce monde--ce sera que je + vous aurais vue durant quelqu'autre vie précédente" (il était un + peu spirite). "Ainsi donc, si je meurs avant vous, ce qui est bien + probable, vu ma maladie, je reviendrai vers vous, si cela m'est + possible, et je vous apparaîtrai de façon à ne pas vous effrayer + désagréablement." Ma sœur lui répondit, prenant la chose très au + sérieux, qu'elle lui rendrait la pareille si elle mourait la + première, et j'étais témoin de cette promesse mutuelle. + + Néanmoins nous fîmes à peine connaissance de maison; nous nous + rencontrions parfois chez des amis communs, et nous le voyions + souvent se promener sur le quai dans un paletot couleur noisette + qui excitait notre hilarité et qui nous resta dans la mémoire je ne + sais plus pourquoi. Au mois de Mai, nous partions de Talta, et + depuis nous eûmes tant d'impressions diverses, nous vîmes tant de + monde, que jusqu'à l'hiver suivant nous oubliâmes complétement M. + P. et sa femme, qui représentaient pour nous des connaissances + comme on en a par centaines dans la vie. + + Nous étions à Pétersbourg. Le 11 Mars, c'était un lundi de Carême + en 1890, nous allâmes au théâtre voir une représentation de la + troupe des Meiningner. Je crois qu'on donnait _Le Marchand de + Venise_. Mlle. B. était avec nous, venue de Tsarskoé à cette + occasion. La pièce terminée, nous n'eûmes que le temps de rentrer à + la maison changer de toilette, après quoi nous accompagnâmes Mlle. + B. à la gare. Elle partait avec le dernier train, qui quitte pour + Tsarskoé Sélo à 1 heure de la nuit. Nous l'installâmes en wagon, et + ne l'y laissâmes qu'après la seconde cloche de départ. + + Notre domestique allait bien en avant de nous, afin de retrouver + notre voiture, de manière que, gagnant le perron, nous la trouvâmes + avancée qui nous attendait. Ma sœur s'assit la première; moi je + la fis attendre, descendant plus doucement les marches de + l'escalier; le domestique tenait la portière du landau ouverte. Je + montai à demi, sur le marchepied, et soudain je m'arrêtai dans + cette pose, tellement surprise que je ne compris plus ce qui + m'arrivait. Il faisait sombre dans la voiture, et pourtant en face + de ma sœur, la regardant, je vis dans un petit jour gris qu'on + eût dit factice, s'éclaircissant vers le point qui attachait le + plus mes yeux, une figure à la silhouette émoussée, diaphane, + plutôt qu'indécise. Cette vision dura un instant, pendant lequel, + pourtant, mes yeux prirent connaissance des moindres détails de ce + visage, qui me sembla connu: des traits assez pointus, une raie un + peu de côté, un nez prononcé, un menton très maigre à barbe rare et + d'un blond foncé. Ce qui me frappe, lorsque j'y pense à présent, + c'est d'avoir vu les différentes couleurs, malgré que la lueur + grisâtre, qui éclairait à peine l'inconnu, eût été insuffisante + pour les distinguer dans un cas normal. Il était sans chapeau, et + en même temps dans un paletot comme on en porte au sud--de couleur + plutôt claire--noisette. Toute sa personne avait un cachet de + grande fatigue et de maigreur. + + Le domestique, très étonné de ne pas me voir monter, arrêtée ainsi + sur le marchepied, crut que j'avais marché dans ma robe et m'aida à + m'asseoir, pendant que je demandais à ma sœur, en prenant place + à côté d'elle, si c'était bien notre voiture? A tel point j'avais + perdu la tête, ayant senti un vrai engourdissement de cerveau en + voyant cet étranger installé en face d'elle, je ne m'étais pas + rendu compte que, dans le cas d'une présence réelle d'un semblable + vis-à-vis, ni ma sœur, ni le valet de pied ne resteraient si + calmement à l'envisager. Lorsque je fus assise, je ne vis plus + rien, et je demandais à ma sœur:--"N'as-tu rien vu en face de + toi?" "Rien du tout, et quelle idée as-tu eue de demander, en + entrant dans la voiture, si c'était bien la nôtre?" répondit-elle + en riant. Alors, je lui racontais tout ce qui précéde, décrivant + minutieusement ma vision. "Quelle figure connue," disait-elle, "et + à paletot noisette, cette raie de côté, où donc l'avons nous vue? + Pourtant nul ne ressemble ici à ta description"; et nous nous + creusions la tête sans rien trouver. Rentrées à la maison, nous + racontâmes ce fait à notre mère; ma description la fit aussi + souvenir vaguement d'un visage analogue. Le lendemain soir (12 + Mars) un jeune homme de notre connaissance, M. M. S., vint nous + voir. Je lui répétais aussi l'incident qui nous était arrivé. Nous + en parlâmes beaucoup, mais inutilement; je ne pouvais toujours pas + appliquer le nom voulu à la personnalité de ma vision, tout en me + souvenant fort bien avoir vu un visage tout pareil parmi mes + nombreuses connaissances; mais où et à quelle époque? Je ne me + souvenais de rien, avec ma mauvaise mémoire qui me fait souvent + défaut, à ce sujet. Quelques jours plus tard, nous étions chez la + grandmère de M. M. S.:--"Savez-vous," nous dit-elle, "quelle triste + nouvelle je viens de recevoir de Talta? M. P. vient de mourir, mais + on ne me donne pas de détails." Ma sœur et moi, nous nous + regardâmes. A ce nom, la figure pointue et le paletot noisette + retrouvèrent leur possesseur. Ma sœur reconnut en même temps que + moi, grâce à ma description précise. Lorsque M. M. S. entra, je le + priai de chercher dans les vieux journaux la date exacte de cette + mort. Le décès était marqué au 14 du mois de Mars, donc, deux jours + _après_ la vision que j'avais eue. J'écrivis à Talta pour avoir des + renseignements. On me répondit qu'il gardait le lit depuis le 24 + Novembre et qu'il avait été depuis dans un état de faiblesse + extrême, mais le sommeil ne l'avait point quitté; il dormait si + longtemps et si profondément, même durant les dernières nuits de + son existence, que cela faisait espérer une amélioration. Nous nous + étonnions de ce que j'aie vu M. P., malgré sa promesse de se + montrer à ma sœur. Mais je dois ajouter ici qu'avant le fait + décrit ci-dessus, j'avais été voyante un certain nombre de fois, + mais cette vision est bien celle que j'ai distinguée le plus + nettement, avec des détails minutieux, et avec les teintes diverses + du visage humain, et même du vêtement. + +COMTESSE EUGÉNIE KAPNIST. +COMTESSE INA KAPNIST. + +The second signature is that of the sister who was present at the time. + +Mr. Michael Petrovo-Solovovo, who sent us the case, writes:-- + + I have much pleasure in certifying that the fact of Countess + Kapnist's vision was mentioned, among others, to myself before the + news of Mr. P.'s death came to Petersburg. I well remember seeing + an announcement of his demise in the papers. + + +VII. F. From _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. i. p. 522, footnote. The +account was written down, a few months after the occurrence, from the +dictation of the percipient--Sister Bertha, Superior of the House of +Mercy at Bovey Tracy, Newton Abbot--who read it through on December +29th, 1885, pronounced it correct, and signed it. + + On the night of the 10th of November, 1861 (I do not know the exact + hour), I was up in my bed watching, because there was a person not + quite well in the next room. I heard a voice, which I recognised at + once as familiar to me, and at first thought of my sister. It said, + in the brightest and most cheerful tone, "I am here with you." I + answered, looking and seeing nothing, "Who are you?" The voice + said, "You mustn't know yet." I heard nothing more, and saw + nothing, and am certain that the door was not opened or shut. I was + not in the least frightened, and felt convinced that it was Lucy's + [Miss Lucy Gambier Parry's] voice. I have never doubted it from + that moment. I had not heard of her being worse; the last account + had been good, and I was expecting to hear that she was at Torquay. + In the course of the next day (the 11th), mother told me that she + had died on the morning of the 10th, rather more than twelve hours + before I heard her voice. + +The narrator informs us that she has never in her life experienced any +other hallucination of the senses. Mrs. Gambier Parry, of Highnam Court, +Gloucester, step-mother and cousin of the "Lucy" of the narrative, +writes:-- + + Sister Bertha (her name is Bertha Foertsch) had been living for + many years as German governess to Lucy Anna Gambier Parry, and was + her dearest friend. She came to us at once on hearing of Lucy's + death, and told me of the mysterious occurrence of the night + before. + + +VII. G. The following case is in some respects one of the most +remarkable and best authenticated instances of "haunting" on record, +although, as will be seen, the evidence for the identity of the +apparition is inconclusive. The case was fully described in a paper +entitled "Record of a Haunted House," by Miss R. C. Morton, in +_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. viii. pp. 311-332. Besides the account of the +principal percipient, Miss R. C. Morton, the paper contains independent +first-hand statements from six other witnesses,--a friend, Miss +Campbell, a sister and brother of Miss Morton's who lived in the house, +a married sister who visited there, and two former servants; also plans +of the whole house. For the full details I must refer the reader to the +original paper; I have space here only for abbreviated extracts from +Miss Morton's account. + +An account of the case first came into my hands in December, 1884, and +this with Miss Morton's letters to her friend, Miss Campbell, are the +earliest written records. On May 1st, 1886, I called upon Captain Morton +at the "haunted house," and afterwards visited him at intervals, and +took notes of what he told me. I also saw Miss Morton and Miss E. +Morton, and the two former servants whose accounts are given in Miss +Morton's paper. The phenomena as seen or heard by all the witnesses were +very uniform in character, even in the numerous instances where there +had been no previous communication between the percipients. Miss Morton +is a lady of scientific training, and was at the time her account was +written (in April, 1892) preparing to be a physician. The name "Morton" +is substituted for the real family name. With that exception the names +and initials are the true ones. + +After describing the house and garden, Miss Morton proceeds:-- + + It was built about the year 1860; the first occupant was Mr. S., an + Anglo-Indian, who lived in it for about sixteen years. During this + time, in the month of August, year uncertain, he lost his wife, to + whom he was passionately attached, and to drown his grief took to + drinking. About two years later, Mr. S. married again. His second + wife, a Miss I. H., was in hopes of curing him of his intemperate + habits, but instead she also took to drinking, and their married + life was embittered by constant quarrels, frequently resulting in + violent scenes. The chief subjects of dispute were the management + of the children (two girls, and either one or two boys, all quite + young) of the first Mrs. S., and the possession of her jewellery, + to preserve which for her children, Mr. S. had some of the boards + in the small front sitting-room taken up by a local carpenter and + the jewels inserted in the receptacle so formed. Finally, a few + months before Mr. S.'s death, on July 14th, 1876, his wife + separated from him and went to live in Clifton. She was not present + at the time of his death, nor, as far as is known, was she ever at + the house afterwards. She died on September 23rd, 1878. + + After Mr. S.'s death the house was bought by Mr. L., an elderly + gentleman, who died rather suddenly within six months of going into + it. The house then remained empty for some years--probably four. + + During this time there is no direct evidence of haunting, but when + inquiry was made later on much hearsay evidence was brought + forward. In April 1882, the house was let by the representatives of + the late Mr. L. to Captain Morton, and it is during his tenancy + (not yet terminated) that the appearances recorded have taken + place. + + The family consists of Captain M. himself; his wife, who is a great + invalid; neither of whom saw anything; a married daughter, Mrs. K., + then about twenty-six, who was only a visitor from time to time, + sometimes with, but more often without, her husband; four unmarried + daughters, myself, then aged nineteen, who was the chief percipient + and now give the chief account of the apparition; E. Morton, then + aged eighteen; L. and M. Morton, then fifteen and thirteen; two + sons, one of sixteen, who was absent during the greater part of the + time when the apparition was seen; the other, then six years old. + + My father took the house in March 1882, none of us having then + heard of anything unusual about the house. We moved in towards the + end of April, and it was not until the following June that I first + saw the apparition. + + I had gone up to my room, but was not yet in bed, when I heard some + one at the door, and went to it, thinking it might be my mother. On + opening the door, I saw no one; but on going a few steps along the + passage, I saw the figure of a tall lady, dressed in black, + standing at the head of the stairs. After a few moments she + descended the stairs, and I followed for a short distance, feeling + curious what it could be. I had only a small piece of candle, and + it suddenly burnt itself out; and being unable to see more, I went + back to my room. + + The figure was that of a tall lady, dressed in black of a soft + woollen material, judging from the slight sound in moving. The face + was hidden in a handkerchief held in the right hand. This is all I + noticed then; but on further occasions, when I was able to observe + her more closely, I saw the upper part of the left side of the + forehead, and a little of the hair above. Her left hand was nearly + hidden by her sleeve and a fold of her dress. As she held it down a + portion of a widow's cuff was visible on both wrists, so that the + whole impression was that of a lady in widow's weeds. There was no + cap on the head but a general effect of blackness suggests a + bonnet, with a long veil or a hood. + + During the next two years--from 1882 to 1884--I saw the figure + about half-a-dozen times; at first at long intervals, and + afterwards at shorter, but I only mentioned these appearances to + one friend, who did not speak of them to any one. During this + period, as far as we know, there were only three appearances to any + one else. + + 1. In the summer of 1882 to my sister, Mrs. K., when the figure was + thought to be that of a Sister of Mercy who had called at the + house, and no further curiosity was aroused. She was coming down + the stairs rather late for dinner at 6.30, it being then quite + light, when she saw the figure cross the hall in front of her, and + pass into the drawing-room. She then asked the rest of us, already + seated at dinner, "Who was that Sister of Mercy whom I have just + seen going into the drawing-room?" She was told there was no such + person, and a servant was sent to look; but the drawing-room was + empty, and she was sure no one had come in. Mrs. K. persisted that + she had seen a tall figure in black, with some white about it; but + nothing further was thought of the matter. + + 2. In the autumn of 1883 it was seen by the housemaid about 10 + P.M., she declaring that some one had got into the house, her + description agreeing fairly with what I had seen; but as on + searching no one was found, her story received no credit. + + 3. On or about December 18th, 1883, it was seen in the drawing-room + by my brother and another little boy. They were playing outside on + the terrace when they saw the figure in the drawing-room close to + the window, and ran in to see who it could be that was crying so + bitterly. They found no one in the drawing-room, and the + parlour-maid told them that no one had come into the house. + + After the first time, I followed the figure several times + downstairs into the drawing-room, where she remained a variable + time, generally standing to the right hand side of the bow window. + From the drawing-room she went along the passage towards the garden + door, where she always disappeared. + + The first time I spoke to her was on January 29th, 1884. "I opened + the drawing-room door softly and went in, standing just by it. She + came in past me and walked to the sofa and stood still there, so I + went up to her and asked her if I could help her. She moved, and I + thought she was going to speak, but she only gave a slight gasp and + moved towards the door. Just by the door I spoke to her again, but + she seemed as if she were quite unable to speak. She walked into + the hall, then by the side door she seemed to disappear as before." + (Quoted from a letter written on January 31st.) In May and June, + 1884, I tried some experiments, fastening strings with marine glue + across the stairs at different heights from the ground--of which I + give a more detailed account later on. + + I also attempted to touch her, but she always eluded me. It was not + that there was nothing there to touch, but that she always seemed + to be _beyond_ me, and if followed into a corner, simply + disappeared. + + During these two years the only _noises_ I heard were those of + slight pushes against my bedroom door, accompanied by footsteps; + and if I looked out on hearing these sounds, I invariably saw the + figure. "Her footstep is very light, you can hardly hear it, except + on the linoleum, and then only like a person walking softly with + thin boots on." (Letter on January 31st, 1884.) The appearances + during the next two months--July and August, 1884--became much more + frequent; indeed they were then at their maximum, from which time + they seem gradually to have decreased, until now they seem to have + ceased. + + Of these two months I have a short record in a set of journal + letters written at the time to a friend. On July 21st I find the + following account. "I went into the drawing-room, where my father + and sisters were sitting about nine in the evening, and sat down on + a couch close to the bow window. A few minutes after, as I sat + reading, I saw the figure come in at the open door, cross the room + and take up a position close behind the couch where I was. I was + astonished that no one else in the room saw her, as she was so very + distinct to me. My youngest brother, who had before seen her, was + not in the room. She stood behind the couch for about half-an-hour, + and then as usual walked to the door. I went after her, on the + excuse of getting a book, and saw her pass along the hall, until + she came to the garden door, where she disappeared. I spoke to her + as she passed the foot of the stairs, but she did not answer, + although as before she stopped and seemed as though _about_ to + speak." On July 31st, some time after I had gone up to bed, my + second sister E., who had remained downstairs talking in another + sister's room, came to me saying that some one had passed her on + the stairs. I tried then to persuade her that it was one of the + servants, but next morning found it could not have been so, as none + of them had been out of their rooms at that hour, and E.'s more + detailed description tallied with what I had already seen. + + On the night of August 1st, I again saw the figure. I heard the + footsteps outside on the landing about 2 A.M. I got up at once, and + went outside. She was then at the end of the landing at the top of + the stairs, with her side view towards me. She stood there some + minutes, then went downstairs, stopping again when she reached the + hall below. I opened the drawing-room door and she went in, walked + across the room to the couch in the bow window, stayed there a + little, then came out of the room, went along the passage, and + disappeared by the garden door. I spoke to her again, but she did + not answer. + + On the night of August 2nd the footsteps were heard by my three + sisters and by the cook, all of whom slept on the top landing--also + by my married sister, Mrs. K., who was sleeping on the floor below. + They all said the next morning that they had heard them very + plainly pass and repass their doors. The cook was a middle-aged and + very sensible person; on my asking her the following morning if any + of the servants had been out of their rooms the night before, after + coming up to bed, she told me that she had heard these footsteps + before, and that she had seen the figure on the stairs one night + when going down to the kitchen to fetch hot water after the + servants had come up to bed. She described it as a lady in widow's + dress, tall and slight, with her face hidden in a handkerchief held + in her right hand. Unfortunately we have since lost sight of this + servant; she left us about a year afterwards on her mother's death, + and we cannot now trace her. She also saw the figure outside the + kitchen windows on the terrace-walk, she herself being in the + kitchen; it was then about eleven in the morning, but having no + note of the occurrence, I cannot now remember whether this + appearance was subsequent to the one above mentioned. + + These footsteps are very characteristic, and are not at all like + those of any of the people in the house; they are soft and rather + slow, though decided and even. My sisters would not go out on the + landing after hearing them pass, nor would the servants, but each + time when I have gone out after hearing them, I have seen the + figure there. + + On August 5th I told my father about her and what we had seen and + heard. He was much astonished, not having seen or heard anything + himself at that time--neither then had my mother, but she is + slightly deaf, and is an invalid. He made inquiries of the landlord + (who then lived close by) as to whether he knew of anything unusual + about the house, as he had himself lived in it for a short time, + but he replied that he had only been there for three months, and + had never seen anything unusual.... + + On the evening of August 11th we were sitting in the drawing-room + with the gas lit but the shutters not shut, the light outside + getting dusk, my brothers and a friend having just given up tennis, + finding it too dark; my eldest sister, Mrs. K., and myself both saw + the figure on the balcony outside, looking in at the window. She + stood there some minutes, then walked to the end and back again, + after which she seemed to disappear. She soon after came into the + drawing-room, when I saw her, but my sister did not. The same + evening my sister E. saw her on the stairs as she came out of a + room on the upper landing. + + The following evening, August 12th, while coming up the garden, I + walked towards the orchard, when I saw the figure cross the + orchard, go along the carriage drive in front of the house, and in + at the open side door, across the hall and into the drawing-room, I + following. She crossed the drawing-room and took up her usual + position behind the couch in the bow window. My father came in soon + after, and I told him she was there. He could not see the figure, + but went up to where I showed him she was. She then went swiftly + round behind him, across the room, out of the door, and along the + hall, disappearing as usual near the garden door, we both following + her. We looked out into the garden, having first to unlock the + garden door, which my father had locked as he came through, but saw + nothing of her. + + On August 12th, about 8 P.M., and still quite light, my sister E. + was singing in the back drawing-room. I heard her stop abruptly, + come out into the hall, and call me. She said she had seen the + figure in the drawing-room close behind her as she sat at the + piano. I went back into the room with her and saw the figure in the + bow window in her usual place. I spoke to her several times, but + had no answer. She stood there for about ten minutes or a quarter + of an hour; then went across the room to the door, and along the + passage, disappearing in the same place by the garden door. + + My sister M. then came in from the garden, saying she had seen her + coming up the kitchen steps outside. We all three then went out + into the garden, when Mrs. K. called out from a window on the first + storey that she had just seen her pass across the lawn in front and + along the carriage drive towards the orchard. This evening, then, + altogether four people saw her. My father was then away, and my + youngest brother was out. + + On the morning of August 14th the parlour-maid saw her in the + dining-room, about 8.30 A.M., having gone into the room to open the + shutters. The room is very sunny, and even with all the shutters + closed it is quite light, the shutters not fitting well, and + letting sunlight through the cracks. She had opened one shutter, + when, on turning round, she saw the figure cross the room. We were + all on the look-out for her that evening, but saw nothing; in fact, + whenever we had made arrangements to watch, and were especially + expecting her, we never saw anything. This servant, who afterwards + married, was interviewed by Mr Myers at her own house.... + + On August 19th we all went to the seaside, and were away a month, + leaving three servants in the house. + + When we came back they said that they had heard footsteps and + noises frequently, but as the stair-carpets were up part of the + time and the house was empty, many of these noises were doubtless + due to natural causes, though by them attributed to the figure. + + The cook also spoke of seeing the figure in the garden, standing by + a stone vase on the lawn behind the house. + + During the rest of that year and the following, 1885, the + apparition was frequently seen through each year, especially during + July, August, and September. In these months the three deaths took + place, viz.:--Mr. S., on July 14th, 1876; the first Mrs. S. in + August, and the second Mrs. S. on September 23rd. + + The apparitions were of exactly the same type, seen in the same + places and by the same people, at varying intervals. + + The footsteps continued, and were heard by several visitors and new + servants who had taken the places of those who had left, as well as + by myself, four sisters and brother; in all by about twenty people, + many of them not having previously heard of the apparitions or + sounds. + + Other sounds were also heard in addition which seemed gradually to + increase in intensity. They consisted of walking up and down on the + second-floor landing, of bumps against the doors of the bedrooms, + and of the handles of the doors turning.... + + During this year, at Mr. Myers's suggestion, I kept a photographic + camera constantly ready to try to photograph the figure, but on the + few occasions I was able to do so, I got no result; at night, + usually only by candle-light, a long exposure would be necessary + for so dark a figure, and this I could not obtain. I also tried to + communicate with the figure, constantly speaking to it and asking + it to make signs, if not able to speak, but with no result. I also + tried especially to _touch_ her, but did not succeed. On cornering + her, as I did once or twice, she disappeared. + + Some time in the summer of this year (1886), Mrs. Twining, our + regular charwoman, saw the figure, while waiting in the hall at the + door leading to the kitchen stairs, for her payment. Until it + suddenly vanished from her sight, as no real figure could have + done, she thought it was a lady visitor who had mistaken her way. + Mr. Myers interviewed her on December 29th, 1889, and has her + separate account. + + On one night in July 1886 (my father and I being away from home), + my mother and her maid heard a loud noise in an unoccupied room + over their heads. They went up, but seeing nothing and the noise + ceasing, they went back to my mother's room on the first storey. + They then heard loud noises from the morning-room on the ground + floor. They then went half-way downstairs, when they saw a bright + light in the hall beneath. Being alarmed, they went up to my sister + E., who then came down, and they all three examined the doors, + windows, etc., and found them all fastened as usual. My mother and + her maid then went to bed. My sister E. went up to her room on the + second storey, but as she passed the room where my two sisters L. + and M. were sleeping, they opened their door to say that they had + heard noises, and also seen what they described as the _flame_ of a + candle, without candle or hand visible, cross the room diagonally + from corner to door. Two of the maids opened the doors of their two + bedrooms, and said that they had also heard noises; they all five + stood at their doors with their lighted candles for some little + time. They all heard steps walking up and down the landing between + them; as they passed they felt a sensation which they described as + "a cold wind," though their candles were not blown about. They + _saw_ nothing. The steps then descended the stairs, re-ascended, + again descended, and did not return. + + In the course of the following autumn we heard traditions of + earlier haunting, though, unfortunately, in no case were we able to + get a first-hand account.... + + We also now heard from a carpenter who had done jobs in the house + in Mrs. S.'s time, that Mrs. S. had wished to possess herself of + the first Mrs. S.'s jewels. Her husband had called him in to make a + receptacle under the boards in the morning-room on the + ground-floor, in which receptacle he placed the jewels, and then + had it nailed down and the carpet replaced. The carpenter showed us + the place. My father made him take up the boards; the receptacle + was there, but empty.... + + During the next two years, 1887 to 1889, the figure was very seldom + seen, though footsteps were heard; the louder noises had gradually + ceased. From 1889 to the present, 1892, so far as I know, the + figure has not been seen at all; the lighter footsteps lasted a + little longer, but even they have now ceased. The figure became + much less substantial on its later appearances. Up to about 1886 it + was so solid and life-like that it was often mistaken for a real + person. It gradually became less distinct. At all times it + intercepted the light; we have not been able to ascertain if it + cast a shadow. + + _Proofs of Immateriality._ + + 1. I have several times fastened fine strings across the stairs at + various heights before going to bed, but after all others have gone + up to their rooms. These were fastened in the following way: I made + small pellets of marine glue, into which I inserted the ends of the + cord, then stuck one pellet lightly against the wall and the other + to the banister, the string being thus stretched across the stairs. + They were knocked down by a very slight touch, and yet would not be + felt by any one passing up or down the stairs, and by candle-light + could not be seen from below. They were put at various heights from + the ground from six inches to the height of the banisters, about + three feet. I have twice at least seen the figure pass through the + cords, leaving them intact. + + 2. The sudden and complete disappearance of the figure, while still + in full view. + + 3. The impossibility of touching the figure. I have repeatedly + followed it into a corner, when it disappeared, and have tried to + suddenly pounce upon it, but have never succeeded in touching it or + getting my hand up to it, the figure eluding my touch. + + 4. It has appeared in a room with the doors shut. + + On the other hand, the figure was not called up by a desire to see + it, for on every occasion when we had made special arrangements to + watch for it, we never saw it. On several occasions we have sat up + at night hoping to see it, but in vain,--my father, with my + brother-in-law, myself with a friend three or four times, an aunt + and myself twice, and my sisters with friends more than once; but + on none of these occasions was anything seen. Nor have the + appearances been seen after we have been talking or thinking much + of the figure. + + The figure has been connected with the second Mrs. S.; the grounds + for which are:-- + + 1. The complete history of the house is known, and if we are to + connect the figure with any of the previous occupants, she is the + only person who in any way resembled the figure. + + 2. The widow's garb excludes the first Mrs. S. + + 3. Although none of us had ever seen the second Mrs. S., several + people who _had_ known her identified her from our description. On + being shown a photo-album containing a number of portraits, I + picked out one of her sister as being most like that of the figure, + and was afterwards told that the sisters were much alike. + + 4. Her step-daughter and others told us that she especially used + the front drawing-room in which she continually appeared, and that + her habitual seat was on a couch placed in similar position to + ours. + + 5. The figure is undoubtedly connected with the house, none of the + percipients having seen it anywhere else, nor had any other + hallucination. + + In writing the above account, my memory of the occurrences has been + largely assisted by reference to a set of journal letters written + [to Miss Campbell] at the time, and by notes of interviews held by + Mr. Myers with my father and various members of our family. + +R. C. MORTON. + +Of the accounts given by the other witnesses, I quote only part of Miss +Campbell's statement, as follows:-- + + +77 CHESTERTON ROAD, NORTH KENSINGTON, W., _March 31st, 1892_. + +...On the night on which Miss Morton first spoke to the figure, as + stated in her account, I myself saw her telepathically. I was in my + room (I was then residing in the North of England, quite one + hundred miles away from Miss Morton's home), preparing for bed, + between twelve and half-past, when I seemed suddenly to be standing + close by the door of the housemaid's cupboard, so facing the short + flight of stairs leading to the top landing. Coming down these + stairs, I saw the figure, exactly as described, and about two steps + behind Miss Morton herself, with a dressing-gown thrown loosely + round her, and carrying a candle in her hand. A loud noise in the + room overhead recalled me to my surroundings, and although I tried + for some time I could not resume the impression. The black dress, + dark head-gear, widow's cuffs and handkerchief were plainly + visible, though the details of them were not given me by Miss + Morton till afterwards, when I asked her whether she had not seen + the apparition on that night. + +(Signed) CATHERINE M. CAMPBELL. + +To this account Miss Morton adds:-- + + Miss Campbell was the friend to whom I first spoke of the + apparition. She suggested to me that when next I saw her I should + speak; but of course she had no idea when this would be. She wrote + an account to me the next day of what she had seen, and asked me if + I had not seen the figure that night; but naturally did not know + that I _had_ done so, until she received my reply. Miss Campbell + asks me to say that this is the only vision she has had, veridical + or otherwise. + + + + +APPENDICES + +TO + +CHAPTER VIII + + +VIII. A. Some early experiments in thought-transference through +table-tilting were published by Professor Richet in the _Revue +Philosophique_ for December 1884. A critical discussion of these by +Gurney appeared in the _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. ii. pp. 239-64, and a +briefer report in _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. i. pp. 72-81. I quote +from the latter a description of the method used:-- + + The place of a planchette was taken by a table, and M. Richet + prefaces his account by a succinct statement of the orthodox view + as to "table-turning." Rejecting altogether the three theories + which attribute the phenomena to wholesale fraud, to spirits, and + to an unknown force, he regards the gyrations and oscillations of + séance-tables as due wholly to the unconscious muscular + contractions of the sitters. It thus occurred to him to employ a + table as an indicator of the movements that might be produced by + "mental suggestion." The plan of the experiments was as follows. + Three persons (C, D, and E) took their seats in a semi-circle, at a + little table on which their hands rested. One of these three was + always a "medium"--a term used by M. Richet to denote a person + liable to exhibit intelligent movements in which consciousness and + will apparently take no part. Attached to the table was a simple + electrical apparatus, the effect of which was to ring a bell + whenever the current was broken by the tilting of the table. Behind + the backs of the sitters at the table was another table, on which + was a large alphabet, completely screened from the view of C, D, + and E, even had they turned round and endeavoured to see it. In + front of this alphabet sat A, whose duty was to follow the letters + slowly and steadily with a pen, returning at once to the beginning + as soon as he arrived at the end. At A's side sat B, with a + note-book; his duty was to write down the letter at which A's pen + happened to be pointing whenever the bell rang. This happened + whenever one of the sitters at the table made the simple movement + necessary to tilt it. Under these conditions, A and B are + apparently mere automata. C, D, and E are little more, being + unconscious of tilting the table, which appears to them to tilt + itself; but even if they tilted it consciously, and with a + conscious desire to dictate words, they have no means of + ascertaining at what letter A's pen is pointing at any particular + moment; and they might tilt for ever without producing more than + an endless series of incoherent letters. Things being arranged + thus, a sixth operator, F, stationed himself apart both from the + tilting table and from the alphabet, and concentrated his thought + on some word of his own choosing, which he had not communicated to + the others. The three sitters at the first table engaged in + conversation, sang, or told stories; but at intervals the table + tilted, the bell rang, and B wrote down the letter which A's pen + was opposite to at that moment. Now, to the astonishment of all + concerned, these letters, when arranged in a series, turned out to + produce a more or less close approximation to the word of which F + was thinking. + + +VIII. B. The correspondent, Mr. G. E. Long, was known to Dr. Hodgson. + +From _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. ix. p. 65. + + +JERSEY CITY, N. J., _October 22nd, 1888_. + +...I think I wrote you once that about two years ago I had received + what was said to be a most convincing test of spirit-return, + convincing to all except myself. A young lady, a Spiritualist and + medium, though not a professional, nor one that ever received one + cent in pay, by means of a lettered board and toy chair, she + holding one leg of the chair and I another, while a third leg of + the chair served as a pointer, gave the following by means of the + chair:-- + + First the chair spelt out my name and showed a disposition to get + in my lap; then it spelled out "CARY," and when I asked for the + name of the "spirit" it spelt out "George (my name), you ought to + know me as I am Jim." But I didn't, and said so. Then, without my + looking at the board, it spelt out "Long Island, Jim Rowe," and + "Don't you remember I used to carry you when you were a little + fellow," or words to that effect. I had to acknowledge the truth of + it and also to say that as he was an ignorant man he possibly + intended "Cary" for carry. I must own I was puzzled for the moment. + To make sure of his power I asked that he count the pickets in the + fence outside of the house and I would go out and confirm his + statement. Somehow he couldn't agree to this, and even the medium + objected. As a last resort I asked how long he had been in the + spirit land and the answer came, between thirteen and fourteen + years. + + Now to the sequel. First it occurred to me a day or two after, that + while all the incidents given were correct, the name should have + been given as ROE instead of ROWE. Second, I was upon Long Island + this summer, and the matter coming to my mind I inquired how long + Jim Roe had been dead, and was informed he died last winter; so + when I received this test so convincing to the believers _the man + was not dead_. + + Yours truly, + +GEO. E. LONG. + +On October 26th, 1888, Mr. Long adds:-- + + I do not think that the medium was fraudulent. Her family consists + of Mr. S. and three daughters, she being the youngest. I have found + all to be hypnotic subjects, with the exception of the eldest + daughter. They are all believers in Spiritualism, the youngest + having been the medium. They do not sit now, as it is claimed that + the sittings, while rich in spiritualistic satisfaction, were + productive of a state of poor health in the medium. + + As I myself have obtained information supposed to have been + impossible for me to have reached, I cannot say for certainty that + she had not obtained information about Jim, but I don't believe she + had. As the name Rowe was being spelled I sat with my eyes turned + from the board and had in mind the name Scudder, and mentally + followed the taps of the chair to S C U D--when the medium said, + "The name Rowe is given," etc. This would seem to leave out any + involuntary muscular action. Why Rowe should have been given + instead of Roe is still another phase. I wonder whether, if any + question of the Roe family had arisen, I would have had in mind the + name of Rowe? If so, then she produced that which I had long while + before been conscious of, but was at the time unconscious of, and + had it coupled with an error in spelling that I might have been + guilty of had I myself been called upon at that moment to spell it. + Had she been fraudulent the probability is she would have spelt it + correctly. + + It seems to me that the basis of Spiritualism rests mainly upon + this phenomenon which men and women in a supernormal condition + produce, without understanding it, and credit it to spiritual + agencies. + + [A general corroboration of Mr. Long's memory of the incident is + added from a lady present at the time, who does not now recall the + details.] + + +VIII. C. The following case, received from Dr. Liébeault, is quoted from +_Phantasms of the Living_, vol. i. p. 293:-- + + +NANCY, _September 4th, 1885_. + + I hasten to write to you as to that case of thought-transference of + which I spoke to you when you were present at my hypnotic séances + at Nancy. The incident occurred in a French family from New + Orleans, who had come to stay for some time at Nancy for business + reasons. I had become acquainted with this family from the fact + that M. G., its head, had brought to me his niece, Mlle. B., to be + treated by hypnotism. She suffered from slight anæmia and from a + nervous cough, contracted at Coblentz, in a High School where she + was a teacher. I easily induced somnambulism, and she was cured in + two sittings. The production of this hypnotic state suggested to + the G. family (Mrs. G. was a spirit medium) and to Mlle. B. herself + that she might easily become a medium. She set herself to the + evocation of spirits (in which she firmly believed) by the aid of + her pen, and at the end of two months she had become a remarkable + writing medium. I have myself seen her rapidly writing page after + page of what she called "messages,"--all in well-chosen language + and with no erasures,--while at the same time she maintained + conversation with the people near her. An odd thing was that she + had no knowledge whatever of what she was writing. "It must be a + spirit," she would say, "which guides my hand; it is certainly not + I." + + One day,--it was, I think, February 7th, 1868, about 8 A.M., when + just about to seat herself at table for breakfast, she felt a kind + of need, an impulse which prompted her to write;--it was what she + called a _trance_,--and she rushed off at once to her large + note-book, where she wrote in pencil, with feverish haste, certain + undecipherable words. She wrote the same words again and again on + the pages which followed, and at last, as her agitation diminished, + it was possible to read that a person called Marguérite was thus + announcing her death. The family at once assumed that a young lady + of that name, a friend of Mlle. B.'s and her companion and + colleague in the Coblentz High School, must have just expired. They + all came immediately to me, Mlle. B. among them, and we decided to + verify the announcement of death that very day. Mlle. B. wrote to a + young English lady who was also a teacher in that same school. She + gave some other reason for writing;--taking care not to reveal the + true motive of the letter. By return of post we received an answer + in English, of which they copied for me the essential part. I found + this answer in a portfolio hardly a fortnight ago, and have mislaid + it again. It expressed the surprise of the English lady at the + receipt of Mlle. B.'s unexpected and apparently motiveless letter. + But at the same time the English correspondent made haste to + announce to Mlle. B. that their common friend, Marguérite, had died + on February 7th, at about 8 A.M. Moreover, the letter contained a + little square piece of printed paper;--the announcement of death + sent round to friends. + + I need not say that I examined the envelope, and that the letter + appeared to me to have veritably come from Coblentz. Yet I have + since felt a certain regret. In the interests of science I ought to + have asked the G. family to allow me to go with them to the + telegraph office to inquire whether they had received a telegram + early on February 7th. Science should feel no shame; truth does not + dread exposure. My proof of the fact is ultimately a moral one: the + honour of the G. family,--which has always appeared to me to be + absolutely above suspicion. + +A. A. LIÉBEAULT. + +Upon these last sentences Gurney remarks that, apart from the +improbability that the whole family would join in a conspiracy to +deceive their friend, the nature of the answer received from Coblentz +shows that the writer of it cannot have been aware that any telegraphic +announcement had been sent. And it is in itself unlikely that the +authorities of the school would have felt it necessary instantly to +communicate the news to Mdlle. B. + + +VIII. D. From _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. vi. pp. 349-53. The narrative +is a translation from an article in _Psychische Studien_, December 1889, +pp. 572-77, by the Editor, the Hon. Alexander Aksakoff. + + The case belongs not to the category of _facts which are known only + to the deceased_, but to the category of those which _could only be + imparted by the deceased_, for it relates to a political secret + concerning a living person, which was revealed by an intimate + friend of that living person for the purpose of saving him. I + shall set forth this case in all possible detail, because I + consider it a most convincing one in support of the Spiritualistic + hypothesis. I will even express myself still more strongly. I + consider that it affords as absolute a proof of identity as it is + possible for evidence of this kind to present. + + My readers are already acquainted with my sister-in-law, Mrs. A. + von Wiesler, from the part she took in the family séances held with + me in the years 1880-1883, after the decease of my wife. She has an + only daughter, Sophie, who at the time of those séances was + completing her studies. She had taken no part, either at our + séances or at any others, and she had not read anything about + Spiritualism. Her mother also had not joined in any séances except + our own. One evening in October 1884, during the visit of a distant + relative, the conversation turned upon Spiritualism, and in order + to please him a trial with the table was arranged. This séance, + however, gave no satisfactory result. It only showed that the two + ladies were able to get something. On Tuesday evening, January 1st, + 1885, Mrs. von Wiesler being alone with her daughter, in order to + divert her mind from some matters which made her anxious, proposed + to hold a little séance. An alphabet was written out on a sheet of + paper, a saucer with a black line as pointer served as a + planchette, and, behold, the name Andreas was indicated. This was + quite natural, for Andreas was the name of Sophie's father, the + deceased husband of Mrs. von Wiesler. The communication presented + nothing remarkable, but it was nevertheless resolved to continue + the séances once a week, on every Tuesday. For three weeks the + character of the communications remained unchanged. The name + Andreas was continually repeated. + + But on the fourth Tuesday--January 22nd--in place of the customary + name, Andreas, the name "Schura" was spelt out, to the great + astonishment of both sitters. Then, by quick and precise movements + of the pointer, these words were added:-- + + "It is given to thee to save Nikolaus." + + "What does this mean?" asked the astonished ladies. + + "He is compromised as Michael was, and will like him go to ruin. A + band of good-for-nothing fellows are leading him astray." + + "What can be done to counteract it?" + + "Thou must go to the Technological Institute before three o'clock, + let Nikolaus be called out, and make an appointment with him at his + house." + + This being all addressed to the young lady, Sophie, she replied + that it would be difficult for her to carry out these directions on + account of the slight acquaintanceship which existed between her + and Nikolaus's family. + + "Absurd ideas of propriety!" was "Schura's" indignant reply. + + "But in what way shall I be able to influence him?" asked Sophie. + + "Thou wilt speak to him in my name." + + "Then your convictions no longer remain the same?" + + "Revolting error!" was the reply. + + I must now explain the meaning of this mysterious communication. + "Schura" is the Russian pet name for Alexandrine. Nikolaus and + Michael were her cousins. Michael, quite a young man, had + unfortunately allowed himself to become entangled by the + revolutionary ideas of our Anarchists or Socialists. He was + arrested, tried, and condemned to imprisonment at a distance from + St. Petersburg, where he lost his life in an attempt to escape. + "Schura" loved him dearly, and fully sympathised with his political + convictions, making no secret of it. After his death, which + occurred in September 1884, she was discouraged in her + revolutionary aspirations, and ended her life by poison, at the age + of seventeen, on the 15th of January 1885, just one week before the + séance above described. Nikolaus, Michael's brother, was then a + student at the Technological Institute. + + Mrs. von Wiesler and her daughter were aware of these + circumstances, for they had long been acquainted with "Schura's" + parents, and with those of her cousins, who belong to the best + society of St. Petersburg. It will be obvious that I cannot publish + the names of these families. I have also changed those of the young + people. The acquaintanceship was, however, far from being ultimate. + They saw each other occasionally, but nothing more. Later I will + give further details. We will now continue our narrative. + + Naturally, neither Mrs. von Wiesler nor her daughter knew anything + as to the views or secret conduct of Nikolaus. The communication + was just as unexpected as it was important. It involved a great + responsibility. Sophie's position was a very difficult one. The + literal carrying out of "Schura's" demands was, for a young lady, + simply impossible, merely from considerations of social propriety. + What right could she have, on the ground of simple + acquaintanceship, to interfere in family affairs of so delicate a + character? Besides, it might not be true; or, quite simply and most + probably, Nikolaus might deny it. What position would she then find + herself in? Mrs. von Wiesler knew only too well, from the séances + she had taken part in with me, how little dependence can be placed + on Spiritualistic communications. She counselled her daughter, in + the first place, to convince herself of "Schura's" identity. This + advice was followed without any hesitation as one way out of the + difficulty. + + On the following Tuesday "Schura" manifested at once, and Sophie + asked for a proof of her identity, to which "Schura" forthwith + replied:-- + + "Invite Nikolaus, arrange a séance, and I will come." + + It will be seen from this reply that "Schura," who during her life + had learnt to despise the conventionalities of society, as is the + custom among the Socialists, remained true to her character, and + again demanded what was an impossibility. Nikolaus had never been + in Mrs. von Wiesler's house. Sophie then asked for another proof of + her identity, without Nikolaus being brought in at all, and + requested that it might be a convincing one. + + "I will appear to thee," was the reply. + + "How?" + + "Thou wilt see." + + A few days later Sophie was returning home from a soirée; it was + nearly 4 A.M. She was just retiring, and was at the door between + her bedroom and the dining-room, there being no lights in the + latter, when she saw on the wall of the dining-room, in sight of + the door at which she stood, a luminous round spot, with, as it + were, shoulders. This lasted for two or three seconds, and + disappeared, ascending towards the ceiling. Sophie immediately + assured herself that it was not the reflection of any light coming + from the street. + + At the séance on the following Tuesday, an explanation of this + appearance being asked for, "Schura" replied:-- + + "It was the outline of a head with shoulders. I cannot appear more + distinctly. I am still weak." + + Many other details, which I have passed over, tended to convince + Sophie of the reality of "Schura's" identity, yet she could not + bring herself to carry out that which "Schura" desired her to do. + She therefore proposed as a suitable compromise that she should + acquaint Nikolaus's parents with what had occurred. + + This proposal aroused "Schura's" strongest displeasure, expressed + by violent movements of the saucer, and by the sentence:-- + + "That will lead to nothing";--after which disparaging epithets + followed, impossible to repeat here, especially applicable to + persons of weak and irresolute character, with whom the energetic + and decisive "Schura" had no patience--epithets which are not found + in dictionaries, but which were expressions used by "Schura" in her + lifetime, and characteristic of her. This was confirmed in the + sequel. + + Nevertheless Sophie continued to hesitate, and at each successive + séance "Schura" insisted more and more imperatively that Sophie + must act at once. This is very important to notice, as we shall see + later. This want of resolution on the part of Sophie was ascribed + by "Schura" to the influence of Mrs. von Wiesler. From the + beginning "Schura" had seemed to bear a grudge against Mrs. von + Wiesler. From the first séance she addressed Sophie only. She never + permitted Mrs. von Wiesler to ask a question. Whenever she + attempted to do so, she met with a--"Be silent--be silent!" Whereas + in addressing Sophie she overwhelmed her with the tenderest + expressions. + + How great was the astonishment and consternation of the ladies, + when at the séance on the 26th of February the first words were:-- + + "It is too late. Thou wilt repent it bitterly. The pangs of remorse + will follow thee. Expect his arrest!" + + These were "Schura's" last words. From this time she was silent. A + séance was attempted on the following Tuesday, but there was no + result. The séances of Mrs. von Wiesler and her daughter were from + that time entirely given up. + + While these séances were being held, Mrs. von Wiesler naturally + kept me informed of what transpired, and consulted with me as to + what was to be done in view of the extraordinary character of + "Schura's" requests. Some time after they had ceased, Mrs. von + Wiesler, to satisfy her own conscience and to comfort her daughter, + resolved to communicate the whole episode to the parents of + Nikolaus. They paid no attention to it. Nothing was elicited that + any fault could be found with. The family were quite satisfied in + regard to Nikolaus's conduct. But it is important to bear in mind + the fact that these Spiritualistic communications were made known + to the parents before the final issue. When during the remainder of + the year everything went on happily, Sophie became fully convinced + that all the communications were only lies, and formed a resolution + that she would never again occupy herself with Spiritualistic + séances. + + Another year passed without any special event. But on the 9th of + March, 1887, the secret police suddenly searched Nikolaus's rooms. + He was arrested in his own house, and within twenty-four hours was + exiled from St. Petersburg. It came out later that his crime was + taking part in anarchical assemblies--assemblies which were held in + the months of January and February 1885, exactly corresponding with + the time when "Schura" was insisting that steps should _then_ be + taken to dissuade Nikolaus from taking part in such meetings. Only + now were the communications of "Schura" estimated at their true + value. The notes which Mrs. von Wiesler had made were read again + and again by the families both of "Schura" and of Nikolaus. + "Schura's" identity in all those manifestations was recognised as + incontestably demonstrated, in the first place, by the main fact in + relation to Nikolaus, by other intimate particulars, and also by + the totality of the features which characterised her personality. + This mournful occurrence fell like a fresh thunderclap on + Nikolaus's family, and they had only to thank God that the errors + of the young man were not followed by more fatal results. + + In order to estimate this incident aright, it is of great + importance to establish the relations which existed between the two + young ladies. I have requested Madame and Mdlle. von Wiesler to + give me on this, as on the previous points, a written memorandum in + full detail; and from that memorandum I extract what follows + [somewhat abridged here]:-- + + In December 1880 Madame von Wiesler and her daughter paid a + Christmas visit to "Schura's" grandfather, Senator N., where Sophie + saw "Schura" for the first time. Sophie was then about thirteen + years old, and "Schura" even younger. Sophie was astonished to see + "Schura's" writing-table covered with books [and had a talk with + her about favourite authors]. The two girls often saw each other at + a distance in the recreation-room of their school during the + winter, but "Schura" was soon transferred to another school. [They + met once at a country-house without exchanging a word, and saw each + other once across a theatre. Sophie, in fact, had had one childish + talk with "Schura"; Madame von Wiesler had never had any real talk + with her.] Hence it is clear that the relations of these ladies + with "Schura" were of the most distant kind, and that they could + not know anything of her political secrets. + + +VIII. E. From _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. viii. pp. 248-51.[230] + +The following letters were received from the principal witness, Mrs. +Finney:-- + + +ROCKLAND, MASS., _April 19th, 1891_. + + MR. HODGSON,--DEAR SIR,--Some weeks ago I received from you a few + lines asking me to give you an account of the communication + received from Cousin Benja in spirit-life, some twenty-five years + ago. + + For weeks and months before my brother left the form we conversed + freely on the subject of spirit communion and such matters, and one + morning he requested me to bring him a small piece of brick, also + pen and ink; he then made two marks on one side, and one on the + other with the ink, then breaking the brick in two, gave me one + piece, telling me at the time to take care of it, and some day he + would hide the other piece away where no one but himself would + know, and after leaving the form, if possible, would return in some + way and tell me where it was. I could then compare them together, + and it would be a test that he could return and communicate, and + _my mind_ could not have any influence over it, as I did not know + where he put it. + + After he left the form our anxiety was _very great_ to hear and + learn all we could of communicating with spirits, and for months we + got nothing satisfactory. + + We then commenced sitting at the table at home (mother and myself), + which we did for some little time; at last it commenced tipping, + and by calling the alphabet spelled out where we could find the + piece of brick that he put away,--that was the way we got the test. + To us that was truth that spirits can and do communicate with us, + and nothing but the influence and power of Benja could tell us that + test.--Truly yours, + +MRS. WM. A. FINNEY. + +ROCKLAND, _May 3rd, 1891_. + + MR. R. HODGSON,--DEAR SIR,--Yours of April 21st received, and I + will add a few more lines as to statement of brother Benja's + communication. + + By calling the alphabet we spelled out:-- + + "You will find that piece of brick in the cabinet under the + tomahawk.--BENJA." + + I went to that room and took the key, unlocked the cabinet, which + had not been touched by any one after he locked it and put away the + key. There I found that piece of brick just as it had spelled out, + and it corresponded with the piece I had retained, fitting on + exactly where he broke it off the piece I had. It was wrapped in a + bit of paper and tucked into a shell, and placed in the bottom of + the cabinet _exactly under_ the tomahawk, as was spelled out by the + alphabet. + + This is truth, and no power but Benja's could tell that. + + Mother is not living; I am the only one of the family that is + living.--Yours respectfully, + +MRS. WM. A. FINNEY. + +ROCKLAND, _May 11th, 1891_. + + MR. R. HODGSON,--DEAR SIR,--Yours of 6th received. I will continue + to say, in answer to your questions, that the piece of brick was + entirely concealed in the shell, so that it could not be seen from + outside of cabinet. It was wrapped in a piece of paper stuck + together with mucilage and tucked into the end of the shell, then a + piece of paper gummed over that, so that nothing was visible from + the shell. The shell was on the lower shelf of the cabinet, and + only the top of the shell was visible outside the cabinet. + + One more little incident I will mention, for to me it is as + valuable as the other. He wrote me a letter (about the time he gave + me the piece of brick) and sealed it, saying at the time it was not + to be answered, but the contents of the letter to be told. I got + that in the same way I did the other, by calling the alphabet and + the table tipping. It was these words:-- + + "Julia! do right and be happy.--BENJA." + + That was correct. Just the contents of my letter. I have no + particular objection as to giving my name, for I have stated + nothing but the truth. + + At my home in Kingston I have that little shell with the piece of + brick, and if you would like them I will send them to you. Will + place the brick into the shell as it was when I found it. Of + course, the paper that was around it then is worn out years ago. + The cabinet is disposed of. + +JULIA A. FINNEY. + +Mrs. Finney further writes:-- + + +ROCKLAND, _June 26th, 1891_. + + I send you by express a box containing the letter and shell with + the piece of brick. I have placed one piece in the shell just as it + was when I found it, so you can see how nicely it was concealed in + the shell. The papers that were around it then are worn out. You + can retain them if you like, as I do not care for them now. + + To me it is a positive truth that he did communicate to us, and our + minds could have nothing to do with it. + +J. A. FINNEY. + +ROCKLAND, _July 19th, 1891_. + +...The shell was placed on the same shelf with the tomahawk, and no + other shells on that shelf. It was placed with the open side down, + and the tomahawk stood directly over it. I cannot say why he did + not tell us to look inside of the shell. We started to look as soon + as he told us. It was in the cabinet under the tomahawk. We did not + wait for any more to be said. + + I am not intimately acquainted with many public people. As to my + integrity, will refer you to Rev. C. Y. de Normandie, of Kingston. + +J. A. FINNEY. + +Dr. Hodgson writes:-- + + The shell is a large Triton, about ten inches long. The piece of + brick was wrapped in folds of soft paper and tucked deeply into the + recess. Another piece of paper was then gummed around the sides of + the shell in the interior, so as absolutely to prevent the piece of + brick from falling out. When I received the shell from Mrs. Finney + and looked into the interior and shook the shell violently, there + was nothing to indicate that the shell contained anything but the + piece of gummed paper. + + The piece of brick in the shell weighs one and a half ounces, and + the piece of brick retained by Mrs. Finney weighs about two and a + quarter ounces. The shell with the piece of brick and paper + wrapping weighs about eleven and a half ounces. + + Mrs. Finney also forwarded me the letter written by her brother. + The shell and the pieces of brick and the letter are now all in my + possession. + +R. HODGSON. + + We have a letter (in original) from the Rev. C. Y. de Normandie, of + Kingston, Canada, to Mrs. Finney. "I expressed then," he says, + speaking of a former note to Dr. Hodgson, which accidentally went + astray, "that to the best knowledge I had of you and to my firm + belief your word could be implicitly relied on. I felt confident + that you would state a matter as you understood it, as you regarded + it, without reference to the consequences; and that you would not + be any more likely to be misled and deceived about a matter of that + kind than others similarly situated." + + + + +APPENDICES + +TO + +CHAPTER IX + +SCHEME OF VITAL FACULTY. + + +IX. A. The following scheme[231] is not put forth as expressing +deliberate convictions, supported by adequate evidence. Its speculative +character has, in fact, excluded it from my text, yet I hope that it may +not be without its use. For many men the difficulty of belief is not so +much in defect of trustworthy evidence as in the unintelligibility, the +_incoherence_ of the phenomena described, which prevents them from being +retained in the mind or assimilated with previous knowledge. + +I have felt myself the full force of this objection, and I believe that +some effort to meet it has become absolutely needful. Undoubtedly a +record of facts without theories is the first essential. But the facts +individually are like "stones that fall down from Jupiter,"--isolated +marvels, each of which seems incredible until we have made shift to +colligate them all. + +Let us begin, then, by taking the most generalised view possible of all +these phenomena. They appear, at any rate, to depend upon the presence +of living human beings; and they are therefore in some sense phenomena +of _life_. If, then, they are phenomena of life, they must be in some +way derived from, or must bear some analogy to, the vital phenomena, the +faculties and functions with which we are familiar in the experience of +every day. Yet to say this brings us little nearer to our aim. Spirits +may have ruled Mr. Moses' mind and body just as truly as our own +conscious will rules our mind and body.[232] But the results which they +produced were so different from any results which we can produce that it +is hard to know where to begin the comparison. Is there not some middle +term, some intermediate series, with which both these extreme series may +have points of resemblance? + +It is here that we ought to feel the advantage of previous discussions +on man's own supernormal faculties,--on the powers of the Self below the +threshold of ordinary consciousness. We have traced these powers in +detail; we have noted the extension of the normal spectrum of +consciousness beyond both red and violet ends, in response to subliminal +control. Perhaps the profounder conception of the Self thus gained may +help us to bridge over that gulf between the performances of the +ordinary man and those of the so-called medium which heretofore has +involved so difficult a leap. We may find that the spirit's power over +the organism which it controls or "possesses,"--while possibly going +much further than any subliminal power in the organism itself, as known +to us,--may yet advance along similar lines, and receive explanation +from hypnotic or telepathic phenomena. I will endeavour, then, to set +side by side, in tabular form, the main heads of vital process or +faculty as exercised (1) under normal or supraliminal control; (2) under +subliminal and telepathic control; (3) under what is claimed as +disembodied or spiritual control. + +In arranging this scheme my first object is to bring all such phenomena +as we actually have before us into intelligible connection; introducing +by the way a few of the explanations given to Mr. Moses by his guides. +Those explanations, however, are for the most part slight and vague, and +our experimental knowledge of the phenomena is, of course, merely +nascent and fragmentary. My scheme, therefore, cannot aim at complete +logical arrangement. It must involve both repetitions and lacunæ; nor +can it be such as the physiologist would care to sanction. But it will, +at least, be a first attempt at a connected schedule or rational index +of phenomena apparently so disparate that the very possibility of their +interdependence b even now constantly denied. + + +SYNOPSIS OF VITAL FACULTY + +I. + +FIRST SERIES:--PHENOMENA SUPRALIMINALLY CONTROLLED, OR OCCURRING IN +ORDINARY LIFE. + + 1. Supraliminal or empirical consciousness; aware only of the + material world through sensory impressions. + + 2. Physical nutrition, including respiration. + + (_a_) Physiological and pathological processes and products. + + 3. Physical expenditure; action on material and etherial + environment. + + (_a_) Mechanical work done at the expense of food assimilated. + + (_b_) Production of heat, odour, sound, chemical changes, as the + result of protoplasmic metabolism. + + (_c_) Production of etherial disturbances; as emission of light and + generation of electrical energy. + + 4. Action on the incarnation of life on the planet. + + (_a_) Reproduction, as physiological division. + + 5. Mental nutrition; sensory receptivity. + + (_a_) Ordinary sense-perception. + + (_b_) Memory. + + 6. Mental expenditure; response to stimuli. + + (_a_) Intra-cerebral response; ideation. + + (_b_) Emotion; will; voluntary innervation. + + 7. Modifications of supraliminal personality. + + (_a_) Birth; as physiological individuation. + + (_b_) Sleep; with dreams, as oscillations of the conscious + threshold. + + (_c_) Metamorphoses; as of insects and amphibians; and + polymorphism, as of hydrozoa; multiplex personality. + + (_d_) Death; as physiological dissolution. + + +II. + +SECOND SERIES:--PHENOMENA SUBLIMINALLY CONTROLLED. + + 1. Subliminal consciousness; obscurely aware of the transcendental + world, through telepathic and telæsthetic impressions. + + 2. Physical nutrition modified by subliminal control. + + (_a_) Suggestion, self-suggestion, psycho-therapeutics. + + (_b_) Stigmatisation. + + 3. Physical expenditure modified by subliminal control. + + (_a_) Mechanical work modified by psychical integration or + disintegration; hysteria. + + (_b_) Production of heat, and other specific effects upon matter, + subliminally modified. + + (_c_) Emission of light, and generation of electrical energy + modified. + + 4. Action on the incarnation of life on the planet. + + (_a_) Prenatal suggestion through intermediate organism of parent. + + 5. Mental nutrition (sensory and supersensory receptivity) + subliminally controlled. + + (_a_) Hyperæsthesia; anæsthesia; analgesia. + + (_b_) Hypermnesia, manifested in dreams or automatisms. + + (_c_) Telepathy; veridical hallucinations; sensory automatism. + + (_d_) Telæsthesia or clairvoyance; perception of distant scenes; + retrocognition; precognition. + + 6. Mental expenditure; response to stimuli modified by subliminal + control. + + (_a_) Subliminal ideation; the inspirations of genius. + + (_b_) Motor automatism; concurrent consciousness; hyperboulia. + + (_c_) Extradition of will-power beyond the organism; telergy; + self-projection. + + 7. Modifications of subliminal personality. + + (_a_) Birth; as spiritual individuation. + + (_b_) Sleep and trance; self-suggested or telepathically suggested; + with clairvoyant visions. + + (_c_) Ecstasy. + + (_d_) Death; as irrevocable self-projection of the spirit. + + +III. + +THIRD SERIES:--PHENOMENA CLAIMED AS SPIRITUALLY CONTROLLED. + + 1. Subliminal consciousness, discerning and influenced by + disembodied spirits in a spiritual world, who co-operate in + producing objective phenomena. + + 2. Physical nutrition modified by spirit-control. + + (_a_) Spirit-suggestion; psycho-therapeutics. + + (_b_) Stigmatisation. + + (_c_) Novel and purposive metastasis of secretion. + + 3. Physical expenditure modified by spirit-control. + + (_a_) Mechanical efficiency increased and fulcrum displaced. + + (_b_) Control over individual material molecules; resulting in + abrogation of ordinary thermal laws, and in aggregation and + disaggregation of matter. + + (_c_) Control over etherial manifestations; with possible effects + in the domains of light, electricity, gravitation, and cohesion. + + 4. Action on the incarnation of life on the planet. + + (_a_) Pre-conceptual suggestion or self-suggestion. + + (_b_) Ectoplasy or Materialisation; temporary extradition or + concentration of vital energy. + + 5. Mental nutrition modified by spirit-control. + + (_a_) Ordinary sensory perception spiritually controlled. + + (_b_) Memory controlled; retrocognition spiritually given. + + (_c_) Sensory automatism spiritually controlled; phantasms of the + dead, etc. + + (_d_) Telæsthesia developed into perception of spiritual + environment; precognition. + + 6. Response to stimuli spiritually controlled. + + (_a_) Ideation inspired by spirits. + + (_b_) Motor automatism spiritually controlled; possession. + + (_c_) Extension of will-power into the spiritual world; prayer. + + 7. Modifications of personality from spiritual standpoint. + + (_a_) Birth; as descent into generation. + + (_b_) Sleep and trance induced, and visions inspired, by spirits. + + (_c_) Precursory emergence into completer personality; ecstasy with + perception of spiritual world. + + (_d_) Death; as birth into completer personality. + + (_e_) Vital faculty fully exercised in spiritual world. + +IX. B. (1) The following case is quoted from the _Journal_ S.P.R., vol. +v. p. 253. Professor Luther writes:-- + + +HARTFORD, CONN., _March 2nd, 1892_. + +...Miss C. is often in my study and consults my books freely, so + that her dream was not remarkable. The dream of Mrs. L. (my wife) + was also ordinary in character. The coincidence in time of the + dreams may have been merely a coincidence. But that after these + occurrences Mrs. L. should suddenly, without the least + premeditation and without hesitation, take the right book and open + it at the right page with the certainty of a somnambulist, seems to + me strange.... + + These events took place yesterday, last night, and this morning. + +F. S. LUTHER +(Prof. Math., Trinity College). + +Mrs. L. and Miss C. live at the same hotel and meet daily. Miss C. is +engaged in writing an essay upon Emerson, and expresses to Mrs. L. her +wish to obtain some particulars as to Emerson's private life. Mrs. L. +regrets that she has no book treating of the subject. During the night +following this conversation Mrs. L. dreams of handing Miss C. a book +containing an article such as is desired, and Miss C. dreams of telling +Mrs. L. that she had procured just the information which she had been +looking for. Each lady relates to the other her dream when they meet at +breakfast the next morning. Mrs. L. returns to her room, and, while +certainly not consciously thinking of Emerson, suddenly finds in her +mind the thought, "There is the book which Miss C. needs." She goes +directly to a bookcase, takes down vol. xvii. of the _Century Magazine_, +and opens _immediately_ at the article, "The Homes and Haunts of +Emerson." Mrs. L. had undoubtedly read this article in 1879, but she had +never studied Emerson or his works, nor had she made any special effort +to assist Miss C. in her search, though feeling a friend's interest in +the proposed essay. + + After receiving the book and hearing how it was selected, Miss C. + relates her dream more fully, it appearing that she had seemed to + be standing in front of Mrs. L.'s shelves with a large, illustrated + book in her hands, and that in the book was something about + Emerson. + + Still later it is found that Miss C. had actually noticed the + article in question while actually in the position reproduced in + her dream. This, however, had happened about a month previous to + the events just narrated, and before she had thought of looking up + authorities as to Emerson, so that she had entirely forgotten the + occurrence and the article. Neither did she, at that time, call + Mrs. L.'s attention to the article, or mention Emerson. + + According to the best information attainable, Miss C. was not + thinking of her essay at the time when Mrs. L. felt the sudden + impulse to take down a certain book. And perhaps it should be added + that the volume is one of a complete set of the _Century_ variously + disposed upon Mrs. L.'s shelves. + + [This account is signed by Professor Luther, Mrs. L., and Miss C.] + +Of special interest are a few cases where the actual mechanism of some +brief communication from the spiritual world seems to suggest and lead +up to the mechanism which we shall afterwards describe either as ecstasy +or as possession. + +(2) I give here a case which suggests such knowledge as may be learnt in +ecstasy;--as though a message had been communicated to a sleeper during +some brief excursion into the spiritual world,--which message was +remembered for a few moments, in symbolic form, and then rapidly +forgotten, as the sleeper returned fully into the normal waking state. +What is to be noted is that the personality of sleep, to which I +attribute the spiritual excursion, seems at first to have been +"controlling" the awakened organism. In other words, Professor Thoulet +was partially entranced or _possessed_ by his own spirit or subliminal +self. + +I quote from _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xi. pp. 503-5, a translation of +the original account of the case in the _Annales des Sciences +Psychiques_ (September-October, 1891). + +Professor Thoulet writes to Professor Richet as follows:-- + + +_April 17th, 1891._ + +...During the summer of 1867, I was officially the assistant, but + in reality the friend, in spite of difference in age, of M. F., a + former officer in the navy, who had gone into business. We were + trying to set on foot again the exploitation of an old sulphur mine + at Rivanazzaro, near Voghera, in Piedmont, which had been long + abandoned on account of a falling in. + + We occupied the same rooms, and our relations were those of father + and son, or of elder and younger brother.... + + I knew that Madame F., who lived at Toulon, and with whom I was + slightly acquainted, would soon be confined. I cannot say I was + indifferent about this fact, for it concerned M. F.; but it + certainly caused me no profound emotion; it was a second child, all + was going well, and M. F. was not anxious. I myself was well and + calm. It is true that a few days before, in Burgundy, my mother had + fallen out of a carriage; but the fall had no bad consequences, and + the letter which informed me of it also told me there was no harm + done. + + M. F. and I slept in adjoining rooms, and as it was hot we left the + door between them open. One morning I sprang suddenly out of bed, + crossed my room, entered that of M. F., and awakened him by crying + out, "You have just got a little girl; the telegram says ..." Upon + this I began to read the telegram. M. F. sat up and listened; but + all at once I understood that I had been asleep, and that + consequently my telegram was only a dream, not to be believed; and + then, at the same time, this telegram, which was somehow in my hand + and of which I had read about three lines aloud, word for word, + seemed to withdraw from my eyes as if some one were carrying it off + open; the words disappeared, though their image still remained; + those which I had _pronounced_ remained in my memory, while the + rest of the telegram was only a _form_. + + I stammered something; M. F. got up and led me into the + dining-room, and made me write down the words I had pronounced; + when I came to the lines which, though they had disappeared from my + memory, still remained pictured in my eye, I replaced them by dots, + making a sort of drawing of them. Remark that the telegram was not + written in common terms; there were about six lines of it, and I + had read more than two of them. Then, becoming aware of our rather + incorrect costume, M. F. and I began to laugh, and went back to our + beds. + + Two or three days after I left for Torée; I tried in vain to + remember the rest of the telegram; I went on to Turin, and eight or + ten days after my dream I received the following telegram from M. + F., "Come directly, you were right." + + I returned to Rivanazzaro and M. F. showed me a telegram which he + had received the evening before; I recognised it as the one I had + seen in my dream; the beginning was exactly what I had written, and + the end, which was exactly like my drawing, enabled me to read + _again_ the words which I saw _again_. Please remark that the + confinement had taken place the evening before, and therefore the + fact was not that I, being in Italy, had seen a telegram which + already existed in France--this I might with some difficulty have + understood--but that I had seen it ten days before it existed or + could have existed; since the event it announced had not yet taken + place. I have turned this phenomenon over in my memory and reasoned + about it many times, trying to explain it, to connect it with + something, with a previous conversation, with some mental tension, + with an analogy, a wish,--and all in vain. M. F. is dead, and the + paper I wrote has disappeared. If I were called before a court of + justice about it, I could not furnish the shadow of a material + proof, and again the two personalities which exist in me, the + animal and the _savant_, have disputed on this subject so often + that sometimes I doubt it myself. However, the animal, obstinate + as an animal usually is, repeats incessantly that I have seen, and + I have read, and it is useless for me to tell myself that if any + one else told me such a story I should not believe it. I am obliged + to admit that it happened. + +J. THOULET, +_Professor at the Faculté des Sciences at Nancy_. + +Professor Richet adds:-- + + M. Thoulet has lately confirmed all the details contained in his + letter. He has no longer any written trace of this old story, but + the recollection of it is perfectly clear. He assured me that he + had _seen_ and _read_ the telegram like a real object.... + +(3) And now I quote a case where a kind of conversation is indicated +between the sleeper and some communicating spirit;--recalling the scraps +of conversation sometimes overheard (as it were) between Mrs. Piper and +some "control" when she is in the act of awaking from trance. These +moments "between two worlds" are often, as will be seen, of high +significance. In the case here cited we seem to see Mr. Goodall at first +misapprehending a message, and himself automatically uttering the +misapprehension, and then receiving the needed correction from his +invisible interlocutor. + +From _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. v. pp. 453-5. The following narrative +was communicated by Mr. Edward A. Goodall, of the Royal Society of +Painters in Water Colours, London:-- + + +_May 1888._ + + At Midsummer, 1869, I left London for Naples. The heat being + excessive, people were leaving for Ischia, and I thought it best to + go there myself. + + Crossing by steamer, I slept one night at Casamicciola, on the + coast, and walked next morning into the town of Ischia. + + Liking the hotel there better than my quarters of the previous + night, I fetched my small amount of luggage by help of a man, who + returned with me on foot beside an animal which I rode--one of the + fine, sure-footed, big donkeys of the country. Arrived at the + hotel, and while sitting perfectly still in my saddle talking to + the landlady, the donkey went down upon his knees as if he had been + shot or struck by lightning, throwing me over his head upon the + lava pavement. In endeavouring to save myself my right hand was + badly injured. It soon became much swollen and very painful. A + Neapolitan doctor on the spot said no bones were broken, but + perfect rest would be needful, with my arm in a sling. Sketching, + of course, was impossible, and with neither books, newspapers, nor + letters I felt my inactivity keenly. + + It must have been on my third or fourth night, and about the middle + of it, when I awoke, as it seemed at the sound of my own voice, + saying, "I know I have lost my dearest little May." Another voice, + which I in no way recognised, answered, "_No_, not May, but your + _youngest boy_." + + The distinctness and solemnity of the voice made such a distressing + impression upon me that I slept no more. I got up at daybreak, and + went out, noticing for the first time telegraph-poles and wires. + + Without delay I communicated with the postmaster at Naples, and by + next boat received two letters from home. I opened them according + to dates outside. The first told me that my youngest boy was taken + suddenly ill; the second, that he was dead. + + Neither on his account nor on that of any of my family had I any + cause for uneasiness. All were quite well on my taking leave of + them so lately. My impression ever since has been that the time of + the death coincided as nearly as we could judge with the time of my + accident.[233] + + In writing to Mrs. Goodall, I called the incident of the voice a + dream, as less likely perhaps to disturb her than the details which + I gave on reaching home, and which I have now repeated. + + My letters happen to have been preserved. + + I have never had any hallucination of any kind, nor am I in the + habit of talking in my sleep. I do remember once waking with some + words of mere nonsense upon my lips, but the experience of the + voice speaking to me was absolutely unique. + +EDWARD A. GOODALL. + +Extracts from letters to Mrs. E. A. Goodall from Ischia:-- + + +_Wednesday, August 11th, 1869._ + + The postman brought me two letters containing sad news indeed. Poor + little Percy. I dreamt some nights since the poor little fellow was + taken from us.... + +_August 14th._ + + I did not tell you, dear, the particulars of my dream about poor + little Percy. + + I had been for several days very fidgety and wretched at getting no + letters from home, and had gone to bed in worse spirits than usual, + and in my dream I fancied I said: "I have lost my dearest little + May." A strange voice seemed to say: "No, _not_ May but your + youngest boy," not mentioning his name.... + +Mr. Goodall gave me verbally a concordant account of the affair, and +several members of his family, who were present at our interview, +recollected the strong impression made on him and them at the time. + +(4) The next case is precisely a miniature case of possession. + +From the _Journal_ S.P.R., vol. viii. pp. 278-280. + +"The following account" (writes Dr. Hodgson) "was sent to me by Mr. John +E. Wilkie at the suggestion of one of our American members who is well +known to me, and who speaks in the highest terms of Mr. Wilkie as a +witness:"-- + + +WASHINGTON, D. C., _April 11th, 1898_. + + In October 1895, while living in London, England, I was attacked by + bronchitis in rather a severe form, and on the advice of my + physician, Dr. Oscar C. De Wolf, went to his residence in 6 + Grenville Place, Cromwell Road, where I could be under his + immediate care. For two days I was confined to my bed, and about + five o'clock in the afternoon of the third day, feeling somewhat + better, I partially dressed myself, slipped on a heavy bath robe, + and went down to the sitting-room on the main floor, where my + friend, the doctor, usually spent a part of the afternoon in + reading. A steamer chair was placed before the fire by one of the + servants, and I was made comfortable with pillows. The doctor was + present, and sat immediately behind me reading. I dropped off into + a light doze, and slept for perhaps thirty minutes. Suddenly I + became conscious of the fact that I was about to awaken; I was in a + condition where I was neither awake nor asleep. I realised fully + that I had been asleep, and I was equally conscious of the fact + that I was not wide awake. While in this peculiar mental condition + I suddenly said to myself: "Wait a minute. Here is a message for + the doctor." At the moment I fancied that I had upon my lap a pad + of paper, and I thought I wrote upon this pad with a pencil the + following words:-- + + "DEAR DOCTOR,--Do you remember Katy McGuire, who used to live with + you in Chester? She died in 1872. She hopes you are having a good + time in London." + + Instantly thereafter I found myself wide awake, felt no surprise at + not finding the pad of paper on my knees, bcause I then realised + that that was but the hallucination of a dream, but impressed with + that feature of my thought which related to the message, I partly + turned my head, and, speaking over my shoulder to the doctor, said: + "Doctor, I have a message for you." + + The doctor looked up from the _British Medical Journal_ which he + was reading, and said: "What's that?" + + "I have a message for you," I repeated. "It is this: 'Dear Doctor: + Do you remember Katy McGuire, who used to live with you in Chester? + She died in 1872. She hopes you are having a good time in London.'" + + The doctor looked at me with amazement written all over his face, + and said: "Why,---- what the devil do you mean?" + + "I don't know anything about it except that just before I woke up I + was impelled to receive this message which I have just delivered to + you." + + "Did you ever hear of Katy McGuire?" asked the doctor. + + "Never in my life." + + "Well," said the doctor, "that's one of the most remarkable things + I ever heard of. My father for a great many years lived at Chester, + Mass. There was a neighbouring family named McGuire, and Katy + McGuire, a daughter of this neighbour, frequently came over to our + house, as the younger people in a country village will visit their + neighbours, and used to assist my mother in the lighter duties + about the house. I was absent from Chester from about 1869 to about + 1873. I had known Katy, however, as a daughter of our neighbour and + knew that she used to visit the house. She died some time during + the absence I speak of, but as to the exact date of her death I am + not informed." + + That closed the incident, and although the doctor told me that he + would write to his old home to ascertain the exact date of Katy's + death, I have never heard from him further in the matter. I + questioned him at the time as to whether he had recently thought of + Katy McGuire, and he told me that her name had not occurred to him + for twenty years, and that he might never have recalled it had it + not been for the rather curious incident which had occurred. In my + own mind I could only explain the occurrence as a rather unusual + coincidence. I was personally aware of the fact that the doctor's + old home had been Chester, Mass., and had frequently talked with + him of his earlier experiences in life when he began practice in + that city, but never at any time during these conversations had the + name of this neighbour's daughter been mentioned, nor had the name + of the neighbour been mentioned, our conversation relating entirely + to the immediate members of the family, particularly the doctor's + father, who was a noted practitioner in that district. + +JOHN E. WILKIE. + +Dr. De Wolf, in reply to Dr. Hodgson's first inquiry, wrote:-- + + +6 GRENVILLE PLACE, CROMWELL ROAD, S.W., _April 29th, 1898_. + + DEAR SIR,--In reply to your letter of the 27th inst., I regret that + I cannot recall with any definite recollection the incident to + which Mr. Wilkie refers. + + I _do_ remember that he told me one morning he had had a remarkable + dream--or conference with some one who knew me when a young + lad.--Very truly yours, + +OSCAR C. DE WOLF. + +Dr. Hodgson then sent Mr. Wilkie's account to Dr. De Wolf, with further +inquiries, to which Dr. De Wolf replied as follows:-- + + +6 GRENVILLE PLACE, CROMWELL ROAD, S.W., _May 4th, 1898_. + + DEAR SIR,--Mr. Wilkie's statement is correct except as to + unimportant detail. My father practised his profession of medicine, + in Chester, Mass., for sixty years--dying in 1890. I was born in + Chester and lived there until 1857, when I was in Paris studying + medicine for four years. In 1861 I returned to America and + immediately entered the army as surgeon and served until the close + of the war in 1865. In 1866 I located in Northampton, Mass., where + I practised my profession until 1873, when I removed to Chicago. + + Chester is a hill town in Western Mass., and Northampton is + seventeen miles distant. While in Northampton I was often at my + father's house--probably every week--and during some of the years + from 1866 to 1873 I knew Katy McGuire as a servant assisting my + mother. + + She was an obliging and pleasant girl and always glad to see me. + She had no family in Chester (as Mr. Wilkie says) and I do not know + where she came from. Neither do I know where or when she died--but + I know she is dead. There is nothing left of my family in Chester. + The old homestead still remains with me, and I visit it every year. + + The strange feature (to me) of this incident is the fact that I had + not thought of this girl for many years, and Mr. Wilkie was never + within 500 miles of Chester. + + We had been warm friends since soon after my location in Chicago, + where he was connected with a department of the Chicago _Tribune_. + I came to London in 1892 and Mr. Wilkie followed the next year as + the manager of Low's _American Exchange_, 3 Northumberland Avenue. + His family did not join him until 1895, which explains his being in + my house when ill. + + Mr. Wilkie is a very straightforward man and not given to illusions + of any kind. He is now the chief of the Secret Service Department + of the U.S. Government, Washington, D. C. + + Neither of us were believers in spiritual manifestations of this + character, and this event so impressed us that we did not like to + talk about it, and it has been very seldom referred to when we + met.--Very truly yours, + +OSCAR C. DE WOLF. + + + + +INDEX + + +A., Miss, automatic writing, and crystal visions of, 276 _note_, 289-290. + +Abnormal and supernormal vital phenomena, 255-257. + +Accidents, apparitions at time of, 106-107, 208. + +Achille, case of, 359-361. + +_Across the Plains_, _cited_, 97. + +After-images-- + Ghosts described as, 215. + Veridical, 215. + +Agassiz, dream intelligence exercised by, case of, 103. + +_Ages of Faith_, _cited_, 277 _note_. + +Agoraphobia, 34; + cured by hypnotism, 136. + +Aidé, Mr. Hamilton, _cited_, 320 _note_. + +Aksakof, Hon. Alexander, case reported by, 291-292, 405; + _cited_, 313; + _quoted_, 433-437. + +Alcohol in relation to hypnotism, 123, 135. + +Alexander, Helen, case of, 388-390. + +"Alma," case of, 211. + +Alternating Personalities-- + Addition of faculty in, 310. + Memory in, 131, 310-311. + "Possession" compared with, 308-309, 336. + X., Félida, case of, 361-363. + +_Alterations de la Personalité_, _cited_, 362. + +Ambidexterity, relation of, to subliminal mentation, 68. + +_American Journal of Psychology_, _cited_, 33 _and note_, 64 _note_, + 170 _note_, 265 _note_, 270 _note_. + +American Society for Psychical Research, _see under_ Society + for Psychical Research. + +Amnesia, case of, 47. + +Ampère, case of, 66, 68. + +Anæsthesia-- + Hypnotic, 138-141. + Hysterical, unconsciousness of patient in, 36-37; + injury not resulting from, 37-39; + patches of, 37, 124. + Witches, patches on, 124. + +Anagrams automatically written, 264. + +Analgesia induced by hypnotism, 138-141. + +_Anatomy of Sleep_, _cited_, 416 _note_. + +Angélique, Sœur, 308. + +Animals-- + Apparition possibly seen by, 456, 457 _note_. + Hypnotisability and suggestibility of, 123-124. + Proximity of, sensibility to, 380. + Shock, effects of, on, 123. + Telepathy between, 188 _note_. + +_Annales des Sciences Psychiques_, _cited_, 284, 446. + +_Annales Médico-Psychologiques_, _cited_, 47 _note_{1}, 49 _note_{1}, + 379 _note_, 381 _note_, 382 _note_. + +_Année Psychologique, L'_, _cited_, 83 _and note_. + +Apparitions, _see_ Hallucinations. + +_Apparitions and Thought-transference_, _cited_, 185 _note_{2}. + +Arago, _quoted_, 71. + +_Arcanes de la vie future dévoilées_, _cited_, 317. + +_Archives de Médecine_, _cited_, 98 _note_{3}. + +_Archives de Nevrologie_, _cited_, 49 _note_{1}. + +Arithmetical calculations done under hypnotism, 152. + +---- prodigies, 64-67. + +Art, symbolism of, 79-80. + +Attention, hypnotic influence on, 153. + +Audition-- + Coloured, 170 _note_. + Defects of, removed by hypnotism, 143. + Hyperæsthesia of, 270. + Shell-hearing, 201. + +Automatic writing, _see under_ Motor Automatism. + +Automatism-- + Definition of, 168. + Motor, _see_ Motor Automatism. + Sensory, _see_ Sensory Automatism. + +_Automatisme Psychologique, L'_, _cited_, 48, 146 _note_, 308 _note_{2}; + _quoted_, 85-86. + +Ayre, Captain, case of, _cited_, 228 _note_. + +Azam, Dr., case of patient of, _quoted_, 361-363. + + +B., Madame, telepathic hypnotisation of, 382-383. + +--, S. H., apparition of, 210-211, 396-399. + +Babylonian inscriptions deciphered in dream, 366-369. + +Bacchus, Mrs., case of, 234. + +Backman, Dr., case of patient of, 211. + +Bacon, Francis, _cited_, 184, 341. + +Baillarger, _cited_, 96. + +Bajenoff, Rev. Basil, case attested by, 417. + +Barnes, Mary, case of, 49 _note_{3}. + +Barrett, Prof. W. F., _cited_, 320 _note_, 378, 380; + S.P.R. promoted by, 9 _note_{1}. + +Barrows, Dr. Ira, _cited_, 295. + +Beauchamp, Sally, case of, 49, 308. + +Beaumis, Prof., _cited_, 147 _note_. + +Beecher, Sir Arthur, case of, _cited_, 244 _note_. + +Bérillon, Dr. Edgar, _cited_, 133 _note_, 135 _note_{1}, 139 _note_, + 153, 155 _note_, 272. + +Berjon, Dr., _cited_, 49 _note_{1}, 379 _note_. + +Bernheim, Professor, hypnotic cures by, 117; + work of, 121-122; + _cited_, 133 _note_, 134 _note_, 135 _note_{2}, 155 _note_, 159, 160, 166. + +Bertha, Sister (Bertha Foertsch), apparition seen by, 228, 420. + +Bertrand, Dr., work of, 119. + +----, Rev. L. J., trance of, 400. + +_Bibliothèque Diabolique_, _cited_, 277 _note_, 308 _note_{1}. + +Bidder, Mr., case of, 66, 68. + +Bigge, Wm. Matthew, case of, 384-385. + +Biggs, Dr., _cited_, 146 _note_, 151 and _note_. + +Binet, Professor, _cited_, 64 _note_, 83, 362. + +Binns, Dr., _cited_, 416 _note_. + +Blake, William, work of, 58. + +Blindness, tactile hyperæsthesia with, 271. + +Blyth, Mr., case of, 68. + +Boeteau, M., case of patient of, 47. + +Bouffé, _cited_, 133 _note_. + +Bourdon, Dr., _cited_, 133 _note_, 134 _note_, 137 _note_{1}. + +Bourne, Ansel, case of, 45-46. + +----, Canon, apparition of, 195, 197. + +----, the Misses, apparition seen by, 386-387. + +Bourru, Dr., _cited_, 49 _note_{1}, 146 _note_. + +Boyle, Mr., case of, _cited_, 107 _note_. + +Braid, work of, 120 _and note_{2}-121; + squint of, 125-126. + +Brain-- + Possession, functions in, 190, 201. + Recovery of, from injury, 81-82. + Spirit's action on, 305. + Telepathic communications in relation to, 304-305. + +_Brain_, _cited_, 49 _note_{3}, 98 _note_{1}, 153 _note_{2}. + +Bramwell, Dr. J. Milne, _cited_, 49 _note_{3}, 120 _note_{2}, + 123, 124 _note_, 126 _note_, 129 _note_, 135 _note_{2}, + 137, 152, 153, 154; + _quoted_, 41. + +Breuer, Dr., _cited_, 40-41 _and note_. + +_British Medical Journal_, _cited_, 137 _note_{3}, 139 _note_. + +Brown, George, evidence given by, 413. + +Browne, Miss, 285. + +Bruce, Dr., case of, 107-108, 237; + _quoted_, 371-373. + +Buddhism, 349, 352-353. + +_Bulletins de la Société de Psychologie Physiologique_, _cited_, 382. + +Burot, Dr., _cited_, 49 _note_{1}, 146 _note_. + +Buxton, case of, 66, 67. + + +C., Miss, dream of, 315, 445-446. + +Cædmon's poem, _cited_, 104 _note_. + +Cahagnet, Alphonse, cases of subjects of, 299, 317-318; + _cited_, 204. + +Calculating boys, 64-67. + +Calculations under hypnotism, 152. + +Campbell, General, case of, _cited_, 243. + +----, Miss Catherine M., apparition seen by, 243, 429. + +Camuset, Dr., _cited_, 49 _note_{1}. + +Cataplexy produced by shock, 123. + +Cevennes, miracles of the, 285. + +Chabaneix, Paul, _cited_, 71 and _note_. + +Chaddock, Dr. C. G., _cited_, 98 _note_{4}. + +Character, hypnotic influence on, 133-135 _and notes_, 155, 381-382. + +Charcot, Prof.-- + _Cited_, 52 _note_, 103 _and note_[3], 132 _note_. + Hypnotic school of, 121. + Stages in hypnotism, theory as to, 130. + +Charms, potency of, 164. + +Childhood, 92. + +Children-- + Education and training of, value of hypnotism in, 133 _and + note_--134 _and note_. + Phantasms of, 456, 457 _note_. + Terrors of, 33-34. + +Chinese devil-possession, 307-309. + +Chloroform, influence of, on suggestibility, 122-123. + +Christian Science, 128, 165. + +Christianity, 3-4, 342, 346, 349-352. + +Clairvoyance-- + Automatic messages due to, 325. + Definition of term, 6 _note_{1}; + inadequacy of term, 105. + Dying, of the, 233. + Genius a kind of, 344. + Joan of Arc, case of, 267. + Medical, 380-381. + Telepathy, relation to, 187. + Travelling-- + Cases of, 205-206, 400. + Dreams, likeness to, 205. + Ecstasy and extension of, 337-338. + Hypnotic, 163. + Nature of, 204-205. + Savages, among, 345. + Sleep, during, 301. + +Claustrophobia cured by hypnotism, 136. + +"Clelia" case, _cited_, 277 _note_. + +Cobbe, Miss, cases of, _cited_, 233. + +Colburn, case of, 66, 67. + +Coleridge, Hartley considered as a genius, 60. + +----, S. T.--inspiration of _Kubla Khan_, 104. + +Colonial animals, analogy from, 30. + +_Comptes Rendus de la Société de Biologie_, _cited_, 146 _note_. + +Condillac, _cited_, 71. + +Conley, Elizabeth, vision seen by, 315, 412-415. + +Consciousness-- + Central, in relation to minor consciousness, 30. + Complexity and memory the test of, 28-30. + Dogs, of, 29. + Double, _see_ Secondary Personality. + Ethical and legal view of, 29. + Mind, relation to, 29. + Spectrum of, solar spectrum analogous to, 18-19. + Subliminal, 14-16. + Unreliability of, 14. + +Continuity-- + Doctrine of, 346. + Evidence, in, demand for, 213. + Life, of, presumptive proof of, 184. + Subliminal mentation, of, 280. + +_Contribution à l'étude de l'hypnotisme_, _cited_, 382 _note_. + +Coomes, Dr. M. F., _cited_, 146 _note_. + +Cooper, Alfred, _quoted_, 370. + +Cope, C. H., case collected by, 410-411. + +Cosmic and Planetary-- + Evolution, 342, 354. + Phases of personality developed simultaneously, 114-115, 165-166. + +Cosmic Law-- + Christianity the fulfilment of, 346. + Continuity of, 351. + +_Courier-Journal_, _cited_, 146 _note_. + +Cox, Mrs., case of, _cited_, 228 _note_. + +Crawford and Balcarres, Earl of, _cited_, 320 _note_. + +Crealock, Colonel, apparition seen by, 244. + +Crimes committed under hypnotism, no evidence for, 37, 154. + +Crookes, Sir W., _cited_, 24, 186, 319, 320 _note_; + work of, 7. + +Crowe, Mrs., _cited_, 317 _note_{2}. + +Crum, Amos, evidence obtained by, 413-415. + +Crystal Visions-- + Collective, analogy of, with collective apparitions, 241. + Distant knowledge acquired by, 201. + Goodrich-Freer, Miss, experience of, 365. + Hypnotisation accompanying, 181. + Method and nature of, 180, 182-183. + Supraliminally unapprehended facts, of, 103. + Symbolic character of, 202. + Telæsthesia in, 201-202. + Telepathic sensibility accompanying gift of, 181-182, 187. + +Crystals, sensibility to, 379. + +Cryptomnesia, 279, 284, 286. + +Cuvier, _cited_, 159. + + +D., Mrs., case of, _cited_, 228 _note_. + +_D. D. Home; His Life and Mission_, _cited_, 319 _note_, 320 _note_. + +Dase, case of, 66, 67, 68, 91. + +De Fréville, Mrs., apparition of, 243-244. + +_De Genio Socratis_, _cited_, 267 _note_{2}. + +De Gourmont Rémy, _quoted_, 71. + +D'Indy, M. Vincent, _cited_, 71. + +De Jong, _cited_, 134 _note_, 135 _note_{1}. + +_De l'Intelligence_, _cited_, 98 _note_{2}. + +_De la Suggestion et de ses Applications à la pédagogie_, _cited_, 133 + _note_, 134 _note_, 153 _note_. + +De Musset, _quoted_, 71. + +De Normandie, Rev. C. Y., _quoted_, 440. + +De Puységur, Marquis, work of, 119 _and note_; + _cited_, 157 _note_, 381. + +De Vesci, Lady, case of, 269. + +De Wolf, O. C., _quoted_, 451-452. + +Dead, the, _see_ Discarnate Spirits. + +Deafness removed by hypnotic suggestion, 143. + +Dean, Sidney, _cited_, 276 note. + +Death-- + Apparitions at or near time of, 9, 193, 225-226; + causes conditioning, 225; + time relations in, 224 _note_{2}, 225; + three main types of, 220. + Clairvoyance at time of, 233. + Conditions of, taken on, in mediumistic trance, 318. + Dream of, 228 _note_. + Premonitory vision of, 370. + Prevision of, by discarnate spirits, 232. + Transitional stage immediately following, 230-232, 237, 240. + +Dee, Dr., magic of, 180. + +Delbœuf, _cited_, 139 _note_{1}, 141, 152. + +Delirium tremens, suggestibility developed during recovery from, 123. + +Delitzsch, Prof. Friedrich, 365. + +Demoniacal possession, 307-309. + +Dent, Mrs., 386. + +_Des Indes à la planète Mars_, _cited_, 265 _note_, 279. + +Despine, Dr. Prosper, 150 _and note_, 157 _note_, 381. + +Dessoir, Herr Max, _cited_, 185. + +Devils, possession by, 307-309. + +Diamanti, case of, 64 _note_. + +Dickens, Charles, _cited_, 82-83. + +Dignowity, Karl, dream and vision of, 375-377. + +Discarnate spirits-- + Apparitions of-- + Animals, possibly seen by, 456, 457 _note_. + Automatic character of, 215, 221. + Cases of, 226-229, 231-236, 366, 371-373, 375-376, 406-409, + 410-411, 416-417, 420-429. + Collective, 241-243. + Compacts, in answer to, 235-236. + Dying, seen by the, 233. + Evidence for, Gurney _quoted_ on, 222. + Evidence of presence, not always to be considered as, 326. + Ghosts, popular theories as to, 214-216. + Nature of, 305-306. + News of death, bringing, 234-235; + coincident with, 239. + Personal and local, 240-243 _and note_[2]. + Premonitory, 406-411. + Projected from incarnate minds, 234, 244-245, 249, 250 _note_. + Repeated, 227, 231, 240-241, 401-404. + Results of past mental action as a factor in, 245. + Retrocognition in relation to, 245, 251. + Spatial phenomena in relation to, 250. + Twofold nature of, 306. + Veridical after-images, 215-216. + Attitude of, probable, towards earthly things, 229. + Bewilderment of, immediately after death, 237, 240, 335. + Communications from, 189, 217; + difficulties of spirits in establishing, 335-337; + case of Swedenborg, 317; + types of, 218-219, 221. + Corpse, knowledge regarding, indicated by, 236-238, 406-409. + Death conditions of, reproduced in mediumistic trance, 318. + Evolution amongst, theory as to, 345, 346. + Ghosts, definitions of, 214-215. + Identity, conception of, 334. + Knowledge of, sources of, 289-290. + Material perception of, 203. + Physical intervention of, question as to, 24. + Spacial relations of, 334. + State of, 252-253, 350-351. + Study of problems as to, method of, 229-230. + Surviving friends, thought for, indicated by, 239. + Telekinesis by, 312-314. + Telepathy from, 16, 187, 238, 304. + Terrene affairs-- + Knowledge of present and future, evidence as to, 231-233, 292-293, 334. + Memory of, evidence as to, 234-235, 412-415. + Theology, knowledge of, 350. + Time, relation to, 334. + Welcome of friends into spirit world by, 233. + +_Dissociation of a Personality_, _cited_, 49 _note_{2}. + +Dissociation of ideas, 361. + +Dissolution and evolution contrasted, 254-257. + +Divining rod, 269, 378. + +Distant knowledge, avenues to, 201. + +Dodson, Miss L., apparition seen by, 410-411. + +Dorez, Dr. A., _cited_, 137 _note_{1}. + +Dowsing, 269, 378. + +Drawing, automatic, 273 _and note_. + +Dreams-- + Acuteness of senses in, 97. + Babylonian inscriptions deciphered in, 366-369. + Death, of, 228 _note_. + Hallucinations, defined as, 173. + Hypermnesic, 102. + Hypnotic memory of, 30. + Inferences drawn in, 102. + Life of, concurrent with waking life, 196. + Lost objects, of, 364. + Memory in-- + Capricious nature of, 310-311. + Ecmnesic periods of, 101. + Hypnotic memory, relation to, 99-101. + Pain, of, after operations under chloroform, 140. + Scope of, as compared with that of waking memory, 102-104, 113. + Supraliminally known but forgotten facts, of, 102. + Supraliminally unapprehended facts, of, 102-103. + Nature of, 43-44, 53. + Permanent effect of certain, 97-98. + Precognitive, 107-112, 371-373. + Questions asked and replied to in, 278. + Reasoning intelligence of, 103-104, 113-114, 365-366. + Self-suggestion in, 98-99. + Stevenson, R. L., of, 72-73. + Storie, Mrs., case of, _see_ Storie. + Supernormal faculties exercised in, 104-112, 114, 366-375. + Transitional, 231. + Vision in, 172, 175-176. + Visualisation in, 179. + +_Dreams of a Spirit Seer_, _cited_, 317 _note_{1}. + +Drewry, Dr., _cited_, 48. + +Driesen, Baron Basil, apparition seen by, 416-417. + +Drugs-- + Hypnotic cure of impulse to, 135. + Suggestibility, relation to, 122-123. + +_Du Magnetisme Animal_, _cited_, 119 _note_. + +Du Prel, _cited_, 43 _note_. + +Dual existence in cosmic and planetary worlds, 114-115, 165-166. + +Dufay, Dr., _cited_, 152; _quoted_, 365. + +Dufour, M., hypnotic treatment by, 382 _and note_. + +Dunraven, Lord, _cited_, 320 _note_. + +Durand, _cited_, 139 _note_, 150 _note_. + +Dyce, Dr., case of patient of, _cited_, 45 _note_. + +Dynamometrical power and brain energy, 261. + + +E., Mlle. A., case of, _cited_, 147 _note_. + +Ecmnesia-- + Nature of, 310. + Temporary and permanent, 300-301. + Vivé, Louis, case of, 49. + +Ecstasy-- + Cases of, 337. + Definition of, 303. + Evidence for, 338. + Possession merging into, 314-315. + Revelations of, probably subjective, 317. + Sleep, relation with, 116. + +Education and training, value of hypnotism in, 133-134 _and notes_, 153. + +Eeden, Van, _cited_, 133 _note_, 134 _note_, 135 _note_{2}, 139 _note_. + +Egotistical view of life, 348. + +_Einige therapeutische Versuche mit dem Hypnotismus bei Geisteskranken_, + _cited_, 135 _note_. + +_Electricité Animale_, _cited_, 381. + +Elgee, Mrs., apparition seen by, 392-395. + +Elliotson, Dr., _cited_, 159 _note_; + mesmeric hospital of, 117-118, 120. + +Ellis, Mrs., case of, _cited_, 228 _note_. + +_Encyclopædia Britannica_, _cited_, 125 _note_. + +End-organs-- + Evolution of, 144. + Knowledge acquired without aid of, 169-170. + +Energy, ghost defined as persistent personal, 214-215. + +Enthusiasts, self-suggestion in relation to, 42. + +Environment, man's evolution a perception of, 74-76. + +Epilepsy-- + Hypnotism applied to, 46. + Nerve-centres functioning in, 57. + _Post-epileptic_ states, 45-46. + +_Erfolge des therapeutischen Hypnotismus in der Landpraxis_, + _cited_, 135 _note_{2}. + +Esdaile, hypnotic hospital of, at Calcutta, 52, 120; _cited_, + 52, 139 _note_, 159-160, 380. + +_Essay on the Intellectual Powers of Man_, _quoted_, 11. + +_État Mental des Hystériques, L'_, _quoted_, 36. + +Ether, matter in relation to, 313. + +_Étude Scientifique sur Somnambulisme_, _cited_, 150 _note_. + +Eugenics, study of, 179. + +Evens, Mr., case of, _cited_, 228. + +Evil, view of discarnate spirits as to, 350-351. + +Evolution-- + _By-products_ of, so-called, 75-76. + Cosmic, 354. + Dissolutive phenomena contrasted with that of, 254-257. + Environment, a perception of, 74-76. + Path of, 76. + Perturbation masking, 257. + Spiritual, 340-346. + Subliminal faculties, problem of origin of, 90-91. + +_Experiences in Spiritualism with Mr. D. D. Home_, _cited_, 320 _note_. + +_Experimental Study in Hypnotism, An_, _cited_, 98 _note_{4}, 146 _note_. + + +Fahnestock, Dr., _cited_, 163 _note_; _quoted_, 381; + work of, 121. + +Fairman, Mrs., case of, _cited_, 228 _note_. + +Faith-- + Aims of, 342-343. + Impulse given to, by spiritualistic knowledge, 341. + Need for, 348. + Self-suggestion in relation to, 166-167. + Uncertainty as an aid to, 343. + +_Familiar Lectures on Scientific Subject_, _quoted_, 69. + +Fancher, Mollie, case of, 51 _and note_[1]. + +Faraday, _cited_, 263. + +Farez, Paul, _cited_, 134 _note_. + +Farler, Archdeacon, case of, 227; _cited_, 240. + +Faure, Dr., _cited_, 98 _and note_[3]. + +Féré, Dr., _cited_, 98 _note_{1}, 261 _and note_. + +Fetichism, cures in relation to, 164-165. + +Finney, Mrs. W. A., _quoted_, 438-440. + +Flournoy, Prof., _cited_, 170, 265 _note_{1}; + case of patient of, discussed, 279-286. + +Foissac, _cited_, 150 _note_. + +Fontan, Prof., _cited_, 150 _note_. + +Forel, Dr. Auguste, _cited_, 135 _note_{2}; + cases of, _cited_, 153. + +_Forum_, _cited_, 210 _note_. + +Fraud in connection with spiritualism, 313, 329. + +Frémont, General, apparition of, 395. + +Freud, Dr., _cited_, 40-41 _and note_. + +Fryer, Mr., _cited_, 155 _note_. + +Fuller, case of, 66. + + +G., Mr. F., apparition seen by, 406-409. + +--, H., _quoted_, 408. + +--, K., _quoted_, 408. + +Galton, Mr., _cited_, 65, 96. + +Garrison, Mr., case of, 272. + +Gauss, case of, 66, 68. + +Genius-- + Aberrant manifestation, considered as, 56. + Definition of, 20, 56, 60-61. + Growth, analogy with, 82. + Hallucinations resembling inspirations of, 178. + Hypnotism and automatism in relation to, 72, 80-81. + Hysteria in relation to, 41, 53. + Inspirations of, 63-73, 80, 173, 179. + Internal vision of, 173. + Irregularities of, 76-77. + Lombroso's theories as to, 56, 74. + Nature of, 20, 63-64. + Normal, the best type of, 57, 61-63. + Origin of, 89-90. + Potential in all men, 63. + Scope of term, 56-57. + Sensitive's faculties, relation to, 83-84. + Sleep and, analogy between, 104. + Socrates, case of, 83-34, 266. + Stevenson, R. L., case of, 356. + Subjective rather than objective effects the real test of, 60-61. + Subliminal perceptions, the co-ordinated effect of, 58, 63-73, 80. + Substitution of control in, 301. + Telepathy and telæsthesia, relation to, 84-85. + Visual images of, 179. + +Geometrical patterns and subliminal mentation, 69-70. + +Germany, work on hypnotism in, 120. + +Ghosts, _see_ Discarnate Spirits. + +Gibert, Dr., experiments by, 160, 185, 382-383. + +_Gift of D. D. Home_, The, _cited_, 319 _note_, 320 _note_. + +Glanvil, Richard, _cited_, 7 _note_{1}. + +Goerwitz, E. F., _cited_, 317 _note_{1}. + +Goethe, _cited_, 184. + +Goodall, Edward A., case of, 315, 448-449. + +Goodhart, S. P., _cited_, 47 _note_{2}. + +Goodrich-Freer, Miss, _cited_, 180 _note_; + crystal-gazing experiments of, 103, 365. + +Gottschalk, Mr., case of, 206. + +_Grande Hysterie chez l'Homme, La_, _cited_, 49 _note_{1}, 379 _note_. + +Grant, Mr. Cameron, case of, _cited_, 221 _note_{1}, 273 _note_. + +Green, Mrs., case of, 238. + +Griesinger, _cited_, 96. + +Gurney, Edmund-- + Cases investigated by, 108, 320, 369. + _Cited_, 5, 9 _and note_[1], 107 _note_, 111, 112, 125, 130-131, + 137, 147 _note_, 152, 160-161, 174, 188, 189, 192, 198, 206, + 207, 215, 225, 235, 238, 242, 243, 255, 260, 274-275, 396, 433. + _Quoted_, 222-224, 397, 398, 399, 430. + +Guthrie, Malcolm, _cited_, 185 _note_{1}. + + +Hall, Miss, case of, _cited_, 237. + +----, Prof. Stanley, _cited_, 33 _and note_. + +Hallucinations-- + Accidents, at time of, 106-107, 208. + Arrival cases, 194, 384-385. + Auditory, 245-246. + Bystander the percipient of, 387-390. + Collective cases, 187, 194-196, 198-199, 200, 306. + Crises other than death, connected with, 193, 208, 390-391. + Death, at or near time of, _see_ Death--Apparitions. + Death-compacts prematurely fulfilled, 209. + Discarnate spirits, of, _see_ Discarnate Spirits--Apparitions. + Experimental production of, 209-211. + Genius, resembling inspirations of, 178. + Healthy subjects, of, 192 _and note_. + Hyperæsthesiæ, defined as, 173. + Hypnotism in relation to, 148, 178. + Living, of the-- + Cases of, 390-399. + Continuous series from, to those of the dead, 9-10. + Morbid, 179. + Optical laws not followed in, case of, 386-387. + Premonitory dream, 106-109, 371-373. + Projection of figures by agent, 409. + Promises, in fulfilment of, 418-420. + Psychorrhagic cases, 193-198. + Repetition of, 194-195. + Report of Census of, _cited_, 174 _and note_, 192, 193, 226, 233; + _quoted_, 390-391, 400-405, 418-420. + Spirit excursion in relation to, 177-178. + Threefold classification of, 220. + Veridical-- + Nature of, 175-177, 216-217; + two-fold nature of, 306. + Types of, apparently outside scope of telepathy, 188-189. + Waking, 206-207. + +Hamilton, Duchess of, vision of, 370. + +Handwriting, automatic, _see_ Motor Automatism--Writing. + +Hanna, Rev. Thos. C., case of, 47-48. + +Harriss, Miss, case of, _cited_, 228 _note_. + +Hart, Mr., communication from, after death, 332. + +Hartmann, Dr. Von, _cited_, 70-71. + +Haunting-- + Cases of, 244, 421-429. + Earth-bound spirits, by, 241. + Theories as to, 215-216, 247-251. + Unconscious, possibility of, 244. + Veridical after-images, 215-216. + +Hawkins, Mrs., case of, _cited_, 195 _and note_[1]. + +Haydon, genius of, 60. + +Hearing, _see_ Audition. + +Hector, Mr., case of, 237. + +_Herald, The_ (Dubuque, Iowa), case reported in, 412. + +Hernaman, Mrs., case of, _cited_, 227 _note_{2}. + +Herschel, Sir John, _quoted_, 69. + +Heteræsthesiæ-- + Hypnotism, produced by, 142, 144-145. + Organic substances, evoked by, 378, 380. + +Highest-level nerve-centres, function of, 57. + +Hill, Dr., _cited_, 137 _note_{2}. + +----, Rev. R. M., case of, 227. + +Hilprecht, Dr. Herman V., cases of, 103, 365-369. + +----, J. C., _quoted_, 367. + +_History of Rationalism_, _cited_, 4. + +Hodgson, Dr. Richard-- + Cases: attested by, 405-409; + investigated by, 438-440, 449-451. + _Cited_, 181, 297, 324, 328. + _Quoted_, 327-328, 332-333, 335-336, 409. + +Hoffmann, M. M., case attested by, 421. + +Holiness, definition of, 354. + +Home. D. D.-- + Case of, 24, 158, 318-319, 327, 337. + Literature concerning, 319 _note_--320. + +----, Madame Dunglas, _cited_, 319 _note_, 320 _note_. + +Homer, _cited_, 96 _and note_. + +Horse-asthma, 380. + +Hugo, Victor, 283. + +Hydrozoon, analogy from, 30. + +Hyperæsthesia-- + Auditory, 270. + Cases of, 270, 324. + Hypnotism, produced by, 142-145. + Tactile, 271. + Telæsthesia in relation to, 201, 202. + +Hypermnesia, 324. + +Hypnagogic visions, 96, 97. + +Hypnogenous zones, hypnotic trance induced by pressure on, 124. + +Hypnopompic visions, 96-97. + +Hypnosis-- + External stimuli, place of, in producing, 120, 122-125. + Highest level centres active in, 37-38, 151, 154. + Middle level centres: active in, 148-149: + under control of higher centres if necessary, 154. + Mono-ideism a misleading term for, 137. + Narcosis contrasted with, 123. + Nature of, 116-117. + Normal state of organism the effect of, 39. + Prolonged, effects of, 93-94. + Sleep, relation to, 122. + +Hypnotism-- + Agoraphobia cured by, 136. + Anæsthetic agent, as, 138-141. + Analgesia induced by, 138-141. + Animals, sensibility of, to, 123-124. + Attention, influence on, 137-142, 153. + Charcot's school of, 121. + Children susceptible to, 133-134 _and notes_. + Claustrophobia cured by, 136. + Community of sensation between hypnotiser and subject, 162. + Consciousness under, 131-132 _and note_. + Crimes not committed under, 37, 154. + Crystal-visions, as a factor in seeing of, 181. + Cures effected by, 122; + classes of cases treated by, 133 _note_--134 _and note_. + Definition of term, 53-54, 156. + Delirium tremens, suggestibility developed during recovery from, 123, 135. + Development of, 5. + Distance no bar to, 160, 185. + Dreams remembered under, 30. + Dynamogenic effects of-- + Attention and character, on, 151-155. + Imagination, on, 147. + Perceptive faculties, on, 142-145. + Vaso-motor system, on, 145-146. + Education, value in, 133-134 _and notes_, 153. + Effluence theory, 127, 159, 160-161. + Empirical development of sleep, considered as, 20. + Epilepsy, applied to, 46. + Faith cures in relation to, 166-167. + Future of, 163. + Genius and automatism in relation to, 80-81. + ---- ---- sleep in relation to, 72. + Hallucinations in relation to, 148, 178. + Heteræsthesiæ produced by, 142, 144-145. + Hyperæsthesiæ produced by, 142-145. + Hysterical hypnogenous zones, trance induced by pressure on, 124. + _Idées fixes_, cured by, 34, 138. + Inhibition by-- + Choice in exercise of faculty made possible by, 141-142. + Education and training of children, value in, 133 _and + note_--134 _and note_. + Memory, as applied to, 137. + Moral results of, 133-136. + Pain, effect on, 139-141. + Intellectual work done under, 152. + Jealousy, influence on, 136-137. + Kleptomania cured by, 134-135. + Maladies cured by aid of, 120. + Maniacs, in cases of, 125. + Memory in-- + Alternations in, 131. + Exactness of, 152. + Post-epileptic state of, 46. + Purgation of, 137. + Relation to dream memory, 99-101. + Secondary restored, 47. + Somnambulistic memory a part of, 156. + Wider scope of, than of waking memory, 130-131. + Monotonous stimulation, by, 125-126. + Moral training and reform by, 133-135 _and notes_, 155, 381-382. + Morphia habit cured by, 135-136 _and note_[1]. + Music and, 261. + Mysophobia cured by, 136. + Nancy school of, 158. + Narcotic drugs in relation to, 122-123. + Operations performed under, 120. + Pain treated by, 138-141. + Passes, procured by means of, 119-120, 126, 158-159. + "Phobies" cured by, 136. + Pioneer work in study of, 117-122. + Possession externally indistinguishable from, 301. + Post-hypnotic suggestions, three main types of, 219. + _Rapport_ in, 162. + Red light in relation to, 261. + Salpêtrière school of, 121, 123, 132 _note_, 147 _note_, 308, 381. + Self-suggestion in-- + Braid's discovery of, 120. + Fahnestock's results in, 121. + Nature of, 129. + Neuro-muscular changes produced by, 128-129. + Schemes of, 127-128, 163-165. + Stimuli, external, merely signals for action of, 125. + Subliminal self, defined as appeal to, 129. + Sexual disorders cured by, 135. + Sleep in relation to, 72, 121-122, 123. + Somatic signs of, 121. + Somnambulic state contrasted with, 137. + Squint, convergent, produced by, 120, 125-126. + Stages of-- + Charcot's three stages, 130; + depth of, 131; + Gurney's two stages, 130-131. + Stigmatisation due to self-suggestion, 146 _and notes_. + Subliminal operation in, 129-130, 132, 143, 147-149. + Suggestion in-- + Braid's discovery, 120. + Nature of, 126-127. + Mode of action unknown, 159. + Responsiveness to, requisite, 122-123. + Telæsthesia in relation to, 149-150. + Telepathic, 158-163, 382-383. + Telepathic _v._ physical influence, 160-161. + Travelling clairvoyance under, 163. + Will-power, effect on, 153-154. + +_Hypnotism_ (Dr. Bramwell), _cited_, 120 _note_{2}, 126 _note_, 129 _note_. + +_Hypnotisme, Double Conscience, etc._, _cited_, 361 _note_. + +_Hypnotisme et l'Orthopédie morale, L'_, _cited_, 134 _note_. + +_Hypnotismus und seine Anwendung in der praktischen Medicin, Der_, + _cited_, 135 _note_{2}. + +Hyslop, Prof., _cited_, 333 _and note_. + +Hysteria-- + Anæsthesia in-- + Accidents avoided in, 37, 38. + Fanciful areas of, 37, 38. + Organic disease unnoticed in, 39. + Patches of (witch marks), 124. + Sensibilities, separation of, 52. + Unconscious, 36-39. + Aphasia in, 52. + Genius in relation to, 41, 53. + Hyperæsthesia in, 52-53. + Nature, of 40. + Predisposition to, causes of, 40-42. + Types of, 35. + Visual area reduced in, 38-39. + Witches, of, 5. + + +_Idées fixes_-- + Disaggregation, first symptom of, 33. + Enthusiasts of, 41-42. + Hypnotic cure of, 34, 138. + Nature of, 33-34. + +Identity of discarnate spirits, cases offering proofs of, 433-439. + +_Illusions hypnagogiques_, 96, 179, 182. + +Imagination, effect of hypnotism on, 147. + +Improvisation, 81, 82. + +Inaudi, Jacques, case of, 64 _note_. + +_Incidents in my Life_ (D. D. Home), _cited_, 319 _note_. + +Inhibition-- + Hypnotic, _see under_ Hypnotism. + Socrates, case of, 268. + +Inorganic matter, spiritual influence exerted on, 312-314. + +_Inquiry into Human Faculty_, _cited_, 96. + +Insane, drawings of the, 265 _note_{1}. + +Inspiration the effect of subliminal uprush, 56, 65. + +_Instauratio magna_, _cited_, 341. + +_Introduction of Mesmerism with sanction of Government + into the Public Hospitals of India, The_, _cited_, 139 _note_. + + +Jackson, Dr. Hughlings, _cited_, 57. + +James, Prof. W., _cited_, 46, 48 _note_, 69 + _note_{3}, 295 _note_, 327, 328 _and note_; + _quoted_, 276 _note_, 329. + +Janet, Dr. Jules, cases of patients of, 36-37; + experiment by, 130. + +----, Dr. Pierre, cases of patients of, 359-361, 382; + _cited_, 36-37, 34 _and note_[1], 38-39, 48, 101 + _note_{3}, 123, 146 _note_, 147 _note_, 275, 308 _note_{2}; + _quoted_, 36, 85-86. + +Jealousy cured by hypnotism, 136-137. + +Jeanne des Anges, Sœur, _cited_, 277 _note_. + +Jesus Christ, resurrection and teachings of, 351. + +Joan of Arc, case of, 266-268. + +Johnson, Miss A., _cited_, 174 _note_. + +----, Samuel, 7 _note_{1}. + +Johnstone, Rev. J. C., _quoted_, 110-111. + +Jones, Mr. F. J., case of, _cited_, 228 _note_. + +Jowett, Prof., _cited_, 86 _note_. + + +Kant, Immanuel, _cited_, 6, 317 _note_{1}. + +Kapnist, Countess Eugénie, apparition seen by, 240, 418-420. + +Kardec, Allan, _cited_, 283. + +Keulemans, Mr., case of, _cited_, 181, 227 _note_{2}. + +Kingsford, Dr. Anna, 283. + +Kleptomania cured by hypnotism, 134-135. + +Kobbé, Major, case of, 272. + +Krafft, Ebing, Dr. R. von, case of patient of, 98-99; + _cited_, 146 _note_. + +Kubla Khan, inspiration of, 104. + + +L., Mr., case of, 186-187. + +--, Mrs., dream of, 445-446. + +Ladame, _cited_, 134 _note_, 135 _note_{2}. + +Ladd, Prof., _cited_, 70 _and note_. + +Lamartine, _quoted_, 71. + +Lang, Andrew, _cited_, 180 _note_, 232 _note_{2}, 266 _note_, 267 _note_{1}. + +Language, inadequacy of, in expressing needs of the psychical being, 77-78. + +Lao Tzu, religion of, 349. + +Lateau, Louise, case of, _cited_, 146 _note_. + +Leaf, Dr. Walter, _cited_, 328 _and note_. + +Lecky, Mr., _cited_, 4. + +Lefébure, M., _cited_, 284. + +Lemaître, Prof., _cited_, 284. + +Léonie, case of, 308, 309. + +Lett, Charles A. W., case reported by, 241-242. + +----, Sara, apparition seen by, 242. + +Lewis, Mr., dream of, _cited_, 106. + +----, H. J., _quoted_, 364. + +Liébeault, Dr. A. A.-- + Cases of patients of, 220, 291, 294. + _Cited_, 123 _note_, 130, 133 _note_, 134 + _note_, 135 _note_{2}, 142 _note_, 143 _and note_[1], 155 _note_. + Hypnotic school originated by, 121. + _Quoted_, 432-433. + +Life-- + Continuity of, presumptive proof of, 184. + Dual existence in material and spiritual world, 114-116. + Etherial world, a product of, 76. + Nature of, human ignorance of, 187-188. + Passion for, a factor in universal energy, 344. + Planetary origin of, an unproven theory, 74. + +Light-- + Magnetic, 379. + Red, dynamometrical power increased by, 261. + +Lightfoot, Mrs., case of, _cited_, 240. + +_Livre des Esprits_, _cited_, 283. + +Lodge, Sir Oliver, _cited_, 185 _note_{1}, 328 _and note_. + +Lombroso, Prof., _cited_, 56. + +Long, Geo. E., _quoted_, 431-432. + +Lourdes, miracles of, 128, 164-165. + +Love-- + Definition of, 85, 344-345. + Earth-loves, persistence of, in spirit world, 350-351. + Planetary conception of, 85-86. + Platonic conception of, 85-89. + Underlying Power of the Universe, as, 347-349. + +Lowest level nerve-centres, function of, 57. + +Lucidité, _see_ Clairvoyance _and_ Telæsthesia. + +Luther, Prof., _quoted_, 445-446. + +----, Mrs. case of, 315. + +Lyttelton, Hon. Mrs., 389. + + +M., Mrs., case of, _cited_, 244 _note_. + +--, Marie, case of, 47. + +--, S., _quoted_, 71. + +Mabille, Dr., _cited_, 146 _note_. + +Mabire, M. Etienne, _cited_, 185 _note_{1}. + +McAlpine, Mrs., apparition seen by, 390-391. + +M'Kendrick, Prof., _cited_, 125. + +_Macmillan's Magazine_, _cited_, 146 _note_. + +Maginot, Adèle, case of, 318. + +Magnetic sense, 379. + +Magnetism of the earth, 378. + +Magnets, sensibility to, 379. + +Mahomedanism, 352. + +Maitland, Edward, 283. + +_Making of Religion_, _cited_, 180 _note_. + +_Maladies de la Personnalité, Les_, _quoted_, 11-12. + +Mamtchitch, Eugène, apparition seen by, 315, 400-405. + +----, Sophie, apparition seen by, 404-405. + +Mangiamele, case of, 66, 67. + +Maniacs, hypnotisation of, 125. + +Manning, Mrs., case of, _cited_, 112 _note_. + +Mannors, Elisa, automatic writings by, 332-333. + +Marot, Dr., _cited_, 136 _note_. + +Martian control of Hélène Smith, 284-285. + +Martin, Mrs., case contributed by, 387-388. + +Mason, Dr. R. Osgood, case of patient of, 50-51. + +Massive motor impulses, 272-273. + +Maury, M. Alfred, _cited_, 96. + +_Mauvaise honte_ cured by hypnotism, 137. + +Medical clairvoyance, _see under_ Clairvoyance. + +_Medico-Legal Journal_, _cited_, 48. + +Mediumship--a healthy faculty, 280-281; + communications possibly affected by character of medium, 324. + +_Melbourne Argus_, _cited_, 111. + +_Mémoires pour servir à l'Histoire et à l'Etablissement du + magnetism Animal_, _cited_, 119 _note_. + +Memory-- + Alternating personalities, in, 131, 310-311. + Crystal-vision, subliminal memory reproduced by, 103. + Dream-- + Capricious nature of, 310-311. + Relation to waking and hypnotic memories, 99-100. + Ecmnesia, _see that title_. + Hypnotism, in, _see under_ Hypnotism. + Hysteria, heightened in, 309. + Multiple personality, in, 51. + Possession, memory of controlling spirit evident in, 298-299. + Post-epileptic, 46, 47. + Secondary personality, of, 46-48. + Somnambulistic, 156. + Subliminal continuous, 15. + Trance memory of spiritual world, 299. + +Mesmer, work of, 5, 117, 118, 119. + +Mesmerism-- + Nervous effluence theory of, 119. + Sensibility to objects treated by, 380. + +_Mesmerism in India_, _cited_, 139 _note_. + +Mesnet, Dr., case of, _cited_, 45 _note_. + +Metetherial environment, 9 _and note_{2}, 166. + +"Methectic," 217 _note_{2}. + +Mettalæsthesia, 378-379. + +Middle-level nerve centres-- + Function of, 57. + Unchecked rule of, in post-epileptic states, 45. + +Mill, John Stuart, _cited_, 72. + +Mind-reading, _see_ Muscle-reading. + +_Mind_, _cited_, 143 _note_{2}. + +_Mind-cure, Faith-cure, and the Miracles of Lourdes_, _cited_, 165 _note_. + +Mitchell, Rev. G. W., _cited_, 316 _note_. + +Moberly, Mrs. Alfred, planchette experiments by, 287. + +_Modern spiritualism; a History and a criticism_, _cited_, 313 _note_{1}. + +Moncrieff, Major, case of, _cited_, 227 _note_{2}. + +Mondeux, case of, 66, 67. + +Mono-ideism, 137, 147. + +Moral nature, splits in, 308. + +Moral training and reform, hypnotism in, 133-135. + +Morphia habit cured by hypnotism, 135-136 _and note_. + +Morton, Miss R. C., apparition seen by, 421-429. + +Moses, W. Stainton-- + Case of, 24, 158, 274, 297, 298, 300, 314, 315, 319-327 337, 441-445. + _Spirit Teachings_ by, 321, 323. + +Motor automatism-- + Anagrams automatically written, 264. + Definition of term, 168-169. + Dissolutive and evolutive, 254-255. + Dowsing, 269. + + Drawing, 264-265 _and note_[1]. + Genius and hypnotism, relation to, 80-81. + Idiognomonic, 258. + Inhibitions, 269-272. + Modes of, 273-274. + Nunciative character of, 258-268. + Possession, _see that title_. + Range of, 259. + Scope of, 21. + Sensibility to motor impulses, 272-273. + Sensory automatism: connected with, 268; + compared with, 274. + Speech, 274. + Spirit drawings, 78-79. + Spirit rapping, 262-264. + Table-tilting, 262-264, 400-401. + Teleological, 285-286. + Writing (hand-)-- + Cases of, 291-292, 360. + Moses, W. S., case of, _see_ Moses. + Spirit control, considered as proof of, 290. + Writing (planchette-), cases of, 287-289, 433-437. + Writing (hand- and planchette-),-- + Contents of messages, classification of, 275-276. + Early investigations of, 274-275. + Knowledge evidenced in, sources of, 291-296. + Literary style of, 78. + Secondary personality, by, 275. + Sources of, 275-276. + Subliminal centres regulating, 58-59. + Subliminal self, messages from, 276-278. + +Mount-Temple, Lady, 320. + +Multiple Personality, cases of, 49-51; + memory in, 51. + +_Multiple Personality_, _cited_, 47 _note_{2}. + +_Murray's Magazine_, _cited_, 395 _note_. + +Muscle-reading, 259-260. + +Muscular resistance, sense of, in relation to subliminal mentation, 69. + +Music, symbolism of, 79. + +Musical execution, subliminally initiated, 273. + +Musset, De, _quoted_, 71. + +Myers, Dr. A. T., _cited_, 165 _note_, 174 _note_, 382. + +----, F. W. H., 328; _cited_, 165 _note_. + +Mysophobia cured by hypnotism, 136. + +_Myth, Ritual and Religion_, _cited_, 232 _note_. + + +Nagel, _cited_, 144 _note_. + +Nancy School of Hypnotism, 121, 158. + +Narcosis, hypnosis contrasted with, 123. + +Narcotics, _see_ Drugs. + +Nasse, _cited_, 120 _note_{1}. + +_Natural and Mesmeric Clairvoyance_, _cited_, 139 _note_, 160 _note_{1}. + +Neilson, _cited_, 135 _note_{2}. + +Nerve cells, controlled by subliminal self, 34. + +Nervous development, modern, rapidity of, 73-74. + +Nevius, Dr., _cited_, 307, 309. + +_Nevroses et Idées Fixes_, _cited_, 45 _note_{1}, 101 _note_{3}; + case _quoted_ from, 359-361. + +Newbold, Prof. W. Romaine, case recorded by, 365; + _cited_, 307, 328 _and note_; + _quoted_, 103. + +Newell, E. J., _quoted_, 364-365. + +Newnham, Mr., case of, _cited_, 112 _note_. + +----, Mrs., case of, 287-288, 295-296, 308. + +----, Rev. P. H., case of, 287-989, 295-296. + +_Nineteenth Century_, _cited_, 320 _note_. + +Nordau, Dr. Max, _cited_, 56. + +Normal-- + Genius the best type of, 20, 57, 61-63. + Misuse of word, 61. + +Normandie, Rev. C. Y., de, _quoted_, 440. + +_Northern Standard_, _quoted_, 391. + +_Notes of Séances with D. D. Home_, _cited_, 320 _note_. + + +_Observations de Médecine Pratique_, _cited_, 150 _note_, 157 _note_, 381. + +Occult Wisdom, 339. + +_On the so-called Divining Rod_, _cited_, 378. + + +Pain-- + Dream memory of, 140. + Hypnotic suppression of, 138-141. + Memory of, 140-141. + Psychological entity, treated as, 140. + Sense of, distinguished from temperature sense in hysteria, 52. + Suggestion in removing, 140. + +Painting, automatic, 273. + +Palladia, apparitions of, 400-405. + +Parsons, Dr. D. J., case of, _quoted_, 271. + +----, Dr. J. W., _quoted_, 272. + +Parry, Mrs. Gambier, _quoted_, 421. + +"Peak in Darien" cases, 233. + +Pelham, George, control of, 235. + +Pennée, Mrs., case of, _cited_, 244 _note_. + +Percipient, definition of term, 9 _note_{3}. + +Perception-- + Distant, 201. + Power of, 149-150. + +Personality-- + Common-sense view of, 11, 13. + Co-ordination theory, 11-13, 26-27, 31. + Cosmic and planetary, simultaneous development of, 114-115, 165-166. + Dissociation of, 190-191, 196-197. + Dual, 356-359. + Hypnotic stratum of, 35, 37. + Knowledge, new, not evidenced in changes of, 310, 311. + Multiplex, 216. + Psychological view of, 11-12. + Secondary, _see_ Secondary personality. + Supraliminal life regarded as privileged case of, 169. + Upbuilding of, notion of, 32. + +Perturbation masking evolution, 357. + +Pesaro, experiments of, 301. + +Pessimistic views of life, 348. + +Pététin, _cited_, 150 _note_, 381. + +Petrovo-Solovovo, Mr. M., case collected by, 416-417. + +_Phædo_, _cited_, 213. + +Phantasmogenetic centres, 177, 188, 196, 197. + +Phantasms-- + Discarnate spirits, of, _see_ Discarnate Spirits--Apparitions. + Living, of the, 193-198, 205-207, 209-210. + +_Phantasms of the Dead from another point of view_, _cited_, 409 _note_. + +_Phantasms of the Living_, _cited_, 5, 9, 96, 108, 112 _and note_, 113 + _note_{1}, 160 _note_{1}, 174, 185 _and note_[1], 188, 195 _notes_, 199 + _and note_, 200 _notes_, 206, 207 _notes_, 208, 209 _and notes_, 210 + _note_{1}, 217 _note_{1}, 223 _and note_[2], 224 _and note_, 225, 226, + 227 _and note_[1], 233, 234 _note_{2}, 236 _and note_, 237, 240, 241, + 243, 272, 291; + _quoted_, 106-107, 205-206, 370-374, 384-385, 387-388, 392-396, 420, 430. + +_Phême_, _cited_, 185. + +_Philosophy of Mysticism_, _cited_, 43 _note_. + +_Philosophy of the Unconscious_, _cited_, 71. + +Pierce, A. H., _cited_, 14 _note_. + +Piper, Mrs.-- + Case of, 158, 189, 285, 297-300, 307, 309, 314, + 315, 318, 319, 326-333, 337, 448. + "George Pelham" control of, _quoted_, 336. + +Pitres, Dr., 124. + +Planchette, _see_ Motor Automatism--Writing. + +Plants, sensibility to presence of certain, 380. + +Plato-- + _Cited_, 137, 213, 217, _note_{2}, 282. + Love, conception of, 85, 86-89. + Pre-terrene training, theory as to, 91. + +Plotinus, _quoted_, 352-355. + +Plutarch, _cited_, 267 _note_{2}. + +Podmore, Frank, _cited_, 9, 14 _note_, 174 + _note_, 185 _note_{2}, 238, 244, 313 _note_{1}, 318, 409. + +_Points de repère_, 181, 182. + +Pole, W., _quoted_, 66. + +Pole-Carew, Mrs., case attested by, 388-389. + +Poltergeist phenomena, 246. + +Possession-- + Analogies for, 300-302, 307, 310-311. + Angelic, diabolical or hostile, no evidence for, 307-310. + Brain function in, 305. + Cases of, 446-451. + Chinese, 307, 309. + Definition of term, 274, 298, 300. + Demoniacal, 307-310, 359. + Ecstasy, merging into, 314-315. + Evidence for, 297-298. + Home, D. D., case of, 318-319. + Janet's treatment of, 361. + Memory in, 298-299. + Moses case, _see_ Moses. + Motor automatism contrasted with, 297. + Nature of, 300-303, 311. + Piper, Mrs., case of, _see_ Piper. + Place of, in psychical phenomena, 299-300. + Pseudo-, 51, 359-361. + Simulation of, in somnambulistic state, 157-158. + Spirit possession-- + Difficulties of controlling spirit in, 335-337. + Home, D. D., case of, 319. + Piper, Mrs., case of, discussed, 330-333. + Subliminal self, as the domination of, 315-316, 318, 324, 325. + Two or more spirits, by, 298. + +Potolof, W., case attested by, 405. + +Prayer, relation of, to telepathy, 184. + +Precognition-- + Death, of, 232, 370. + Dreams, in, 107-112. + Telepathy from discarnate spirits, defined as, 187. + +Prince, Dr. Morton, case of patient of, 49 _and note_[2], 308. + +_Principles of Psychology_, _cited_, 48 _note_, 69 _note_{3}. + +Prolongeau, case of, 66, 67. + +Proust, Dr., case of patient of, 46-47. + +Proximity of plants and animals, sensibility to, 380. + +Prudhomme, M. Sully, _quoted_, 71. + +Psychical invasion-- + Cases of, 193-198, 337; + where agent has no memory of circumstance, 208; + where agent and percipient retain memory of, 199-200, 209; + where neither agent nor percipient retain memory of, 198-199. + Dreams, in, 105, 112. + Dying, by, 113. + Ecstasy in relation to, 314. + Evidence for, 302, 337-338. + Living persons, of, 112-113. + Telepathy almost indistinguishable from, 294. + +Psychical Research, Christian evidence supported by, 352. + +_Psychische Studien_, _cited_, 433. + +_Psychological Review, The_, _quoted_, 329. + +Psychology, advance in, during last twenty years, 279-280. + +_Psychology of Suggestion_, _cited_, 47 _note_{2}. + +Psychorrhagic diathesis, 196-197. + +_Psycho-Thérapie_, _cited_, 133 _note_, 134 _note_, 135 _note_{2}, 139 _note_. + +Psycho-therapeutics, development of, 5. + +Pythagoras, 283. + + +_Quarterly Journal of Science_, _cited_, 320 _note_. + +Quicherat, M., _cited_, 266, 267. + + +R., Mr. Van, of Utica, case of, 66, 67. + +Ramsay, Mrs., apparition seen by, 394-395. + +Raphael's San Sisto, inspiration of, 173. + +Rarey, _cited_, 123. + +Rawson, Henry G., _cited_, 185 _note_{1}. + +_Recent Experiments in Crystal Vision_, _cited_, 180 _note_. + +_Recherches Physiologiques sur l'Homme_, _cited_, 119 _note_. + +_Recherches sur l'Homme dans le Somnambulisme_, _cited_, 157 _note_, 381. + +_Record of a Haunted House_, _cited_, 421. + +Red Light in hypnotism, 261. + +Reddell, Frances, apparition seen by, 387-388. + +Reed, Colonel, case of, _cited_, 200. + +----, Mrs., case of, _cited_, 228 _note_. + +Regis, _cited_, 135 _note_{1}. + +Reichenbach, Baron, 379. + +Reid, _quoted_, 11. + +Reincarnation, doctrine of, 282-285. + +_Religio-Philosophical Journal_, _cited_, 51 _note_{3}, 370-371, 437 _note_. + +Religion-- + Ancient Sage, of, 349-50. + Buddha, of, 349, 352-353. + Christianity, 342, 346, 349-350. + Definition of, 85, 89, 347. + Ideals of, 347-348. + Natural, 349-350. + Old-world beliefs not adapted to modern needs, 342. + Oracular, development of, 346. + Science, complementary to, 25, 354; + scientific methods applied to truths of, 341. + Synthesis of, provisional sketch for, 347-355. + +Renterghem, Dr. van, hypnotic cures by, 117; + _cited_, 133 _note_, 134 _note_, 135 _note_{2}, 139 _note_. + +_Report of the International Congress of Experimental + Psychology_, _cited_, 170 note. + +_Report on Spiritualism of the Committee of the London + Dialectical Society_, _cited_, 319 _note_. + +_Researches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism_, _cited_, 320 _note_. + +_Retrocognition and Precognition_, _cited_, 245 _note_. + +Retté, M., _cited_, 71. + +Revelation, telepathy a means for continuous, 350. + +_Rêves, Les_, _cited_, 98, 101 _note_{2}. + +_Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, _cited_, 46 _note_, 52 _note_, 101 _note_{1}, + 133 _note_, 134 _note_, 135 _notes_[1] _and_ [2], 136 _note,_ 137 + _note_{1}, 139, 140 _note_{1}, 142 _note_, 146 _note_, 147 _note_, 153 + _note_{1}, 155 _note_, 170 _note_, 272 _note_, 382. + +_Revue de Médecine_, _cited_, 101 _note_{3}. + +_Revue Philosophique_, _cited_, 64 _note_, 139 _note_{1}, 143 _note_{2}, + 150 _note_, 152 _note_{2}, 308 _note_{2}, 382, 430. + +_Revue Scientifique_, _quoted_, 365 _and note_. + +Reynolds, Mary, case of, 48-49. + +Ribot, Mr., _quoted_, 11-12, 71-72. + +Richet, Prof., work of, 121; + table-tilting experiments of, 430; + _cited_, 185 _note_{1}, 263, 287, 446; + _quoted_, 448. + +Ringier, Georg, _cited_, 133 _note_, 135 _note_{2}. + +_Riverine Herald_, _cited_, 111. + +Romances, inward, 279. + +Rose-asthma, 380. + +Rossi-Pagnoni, Prof., experiments by, 290. + +Royce, Prof., _cited_, 69 _and note_[1]; + case attested by, 405-406. + +Rybalkin, Dr. J., _cited_, 146 _note_. + + +Safford, Prof., case of, 66-67. + +S. Augustine, _cited_, 184. + +S. Brieux, Bishop of, vision of, 244-245. + +S. Ilma, case of, _cited_, 146 _note_. + +Saint-Saens, _cited_, 71. + +S. Theresa, 5-6. + +Salpêtrière School of Hypnotism, 121, 123, 132 _note_, 147 _note_, 308, 381. + +Sand, George, method of work of, 82. + +Sanders, Rev. C. B. (X + Y = Z), case of, 316 _and note_. + +"Scheme of Vital Faculty," 313-314. + +Schiller, Mr., case of, 278-279. + +Schmoll, Herr Anton, _cited_, 185 _note_{1}. + +Schneller, Fräulein, case communicated by, 375-376. + +Schrenck-Notzing, _cited_, 133 _note_, 185 _note_{1}. + +Science-- + Methods of, applied to psychology, 1-3. + Religion, complementary to, 25, 354. + +Scripture, Dr., _cited_, 64 _note_, 65; + _quoted_, 67. + +Searle, Mr., case of, 207. + +Secondary personality-- + Defective integration of psychical being, cases due to, 45-48. + Diabolical possession a phase of, 308. + Emotionally selected, 44. + Fictitious, 48. + Improvement on primary, 48-49, 51. + Memory of, lost to primary, 46, 47; + recovered under hypnotism, 46-48. + Motor automatisms by, 295. + Possession, possible confusion with, 307. + _Post-epileptic states_, 45-46. + Primary superseded by, 48-49, 51. + Somnambulic, 45, 156-157. + Stevenson, R. L., case of, 356-359. + X., Félida, case of, 361-363. + +"Seeress of Prevorst," _cited_, 317 _note_{2}. + +Self-projection, 210-211. + +Self-suggestion-- + Automatisms, range of, increased by, 152. + Charms as means to, efficacy of, 164. + Pain suppressed by, 140. + Schemes of, 127-128. + Stigmatisation due to, 146 _and notes_. + Subliminal self, defined as appeal to, 129. + Witchcraft explained as, 5. + +_Sensation et Mouvement_, _cited_, 261 _note_. + +Sense Organs-- + Perceptive power independent of, 149-150. + Specialised, 169-171. + Transposition of faculties of, 149-150. + +Sensibility-- + Drugs, to, 122-123. + Magnets, to, 379. + + Synæsthesiæ of, 170 _and notes_, 171. + Transition from undifferentiated, to specialisation of sense, 170-171. + +Sensitives, spirit perception of, 335. + +Sensory automatism-- + Causes predisposing to, in healthy persons, 174-175. + Genius and hypnotism, relation to, 80-81. + Hallucinations, _see that title_. + Motor automatism: connected with, 268; + compared with, 274. + Nature of, 20-21. + Scope of term, 168. + Telepathy the prerequisite for, 183. + +Sewall, Frank, _cited_, 317 _note_{1}. + +Shell-hearing, 201. + +Shock, effects of, on human beings and animals, 123. + +Sidgwick, Mrs., experiments of, 131; + case attested by, 387; + _cited_, 161, 162 _note_{2}, 174 _note_, 185 _note_{1}, 246 _note_; + _quoted_, 111, 247 _and note_-250 _and note_. + +Sidgwick, Professor, case of, _cited_, 277 _note_; + case investigated by, 411; + _cited_, 9 _note_{1}, 108, 162 _note_{2}, 174 _note_, 185 _note_{1}; + _quoted_, 111. + +Sidis, Dr. Boris, 47 _and note_[2]. + +Skae, Dr. David, case of patient of, 48. + +Skirving, Mr., case of, 272. + +Sleep-- + Characteristics of, 93-94, 113-114. + Clairvoyant excursions during, 301. + Cosmic personality developed during, 114-115. + Definition of, 20. + Ecstasy, connection with, 116. + Faculties of, analogy between those of Genius and, 104. + Hyperæsthesia of, 97. + Hypnotism in relation to, 72, 121-122, 131. + Imagination, intense, during, 97. + Psychical excursion during, 302. + Recuperative powers of, 94-95, 97, 113. + Rocking, induced by, 126. + Somnambulism, relation to, 95. + Spiritual functions of subliminal self during, 156. + Subliminal self directing, 116. + Submerged faculty, indicating existence of, 53. + Telepathy and telæsthesia in, 105, 114, 116. + +Smell, subliminal sense of, 271. + +Smith, G. M., _cited_, 287 _and note_[1]. + +----, H. Babington, _cited_, 291. + +----, H. Arthur, cases of, 277 _and note_--278. + +----, Mlle. Hélène-- + Case of, discussed, 280-286; _cited_, 324. + Martian landscapes of, 265 _note_{1} + +----, J. W., _cited_, 185 _note_{1}. + +Smyth, Sibbie (née Towns), apparition seen by, 242. + +Snow, Herman, _cited_, 437 _note_. + +_Société de Psychologie Physiologique_, paper presented to, _cited_, 382. + +Society for Psychical Research-- + Address of Secretary, 293 _note_. + American, _Proceedings of_, case from, 226 _note_, _cited_, 51 + _note_{2}, 69 _note_{1}, 102 _note_, 243 _note_{1}, 244 _note_, + 246 _note_, 295 _note_, 405. + Census of Hallucinations undertaken by, 174 _and note_; + Report of, _see under_ Hallucinations. + Founding of, 9 _note_{1}. + Journal of-- + Cases _quoted_ from, 385-386, 445, 449-451. + _Cited_, 51 _note_{3}, 102 _note_, 106 _note_, 107 _note_, 112 + _note_, 113 _note_{2} 140 _note_{2}, 146 _note_, 151 _note_, 157 + _note_, 185 _note_{2}, 188 _note_, 207 _note_{2}, 209 _and note_[1], + 210 _note_{1}, 237, 238, 241 _notes_, 272, 285 _note_, 287 _note_{1}, 290 + _note_, 320 _note_, 395, 409, 416 _note_. + Object of, 313. + _Proceedings of_, _cited_, 35 _and note_, 45 _note_{3}, 49 _notes_[2] + _and_[3], 51 _note_{1}, 69 _note_{2}, 103 _note_, 106 _note_, 112 + _note_, 120 _note_{2}, 124 _note_, 126 _note_, 128, 139 _note_, 141 + _note_{2}, 142 _note_, 147 _note_, 148 _and note_, 152 _note_{1}, 155 + _note_, 160 _note_{2}, 162 _notes_, 163 _note_{1}, 165 _note_, 173 + _note_, 180 _note_, 181, 185 _note_{1}, 187, 192 _note_, 193, 195 + _note_{2}, 209 _note_{2}, 210 _note_{1}, 215, 221 _notes_[1] _and_[2], + 226, 231, 232 _and_ _note_{1}, 233, 234 _notes_[1] _and_[2], 236 _and + note_, 237, 238, 239 _and note_, 241, 243 _and note_[2], 244, 245 + _note_, 247 _and note_[1], 259 _and note_, 260, 263 _note_, 266 + _note_{1}, 271 _notes_, 277 _and note_, 278 _and note_, 279, 285 _and + note_, 287 _note_{2}, 288 _note_{1}, 289 _notes_, 290 _and note_, 292, + 297, 301, 317 _note_{3}, 318, 320 _note_, 321, 324, 328 _note_, 329, + 330, 332, 333 _and note_, 356, 378, 380, 382, 400, 409 _note_, 430; + _quoted_, 177, 270, 271, 287, 327-328, 330-333, 364-366, 369-370, + 375-376, 390-391, 405, 410, 412, 416, 418-420, 421, 433-437, 446-449. + Test letters to be sent to, suggestions regarding, 293 _note_. + +Socrates-- + Dæmon of, 265-268. + Science originated by, 6. + +Solon, _quoted_, 117 _note_. + +Solovovo, Michael Petrovo, _quoted_, 420. + +Somnambulism-- + Analogy from, for ghostly communications, 217-218. + Characteristics of state of, 44. + Hypnosis in relation to, 137, 156. + Intellectual work done in state of, 156-157. + Possession, parallelism with, 311. + Secondary personality starting from, 44, 45. + Sleep, relation to, 95. + Spontaneous, 156. + Supernormal powers evidenced in, 157 + +Space-- + Phantasmogenetic centre, modification of part into, 195, 197. + Spirit attitude towards, 176. + Spiritual phenomena in relation to, 22. + Telepathy, relation to, 22. + +Speech, phantasmal, 241. + +Speer, Dr., _cited_, 24. + +Spirit-- + Conception of, 59. + Existence of, postulated, 27, 91-92. + +Spirit drawings, 78-79. + +_Spirit Drawings_, _cited_, 79 _note_, 265 _note_{1}. + +Spirit guardianship, case of, 271-272. + +Spirit healing, 164. + +Spirit intervention, telepathy explained by theory of, 16-17. + +Spirit possession, _see_ Possession. + +Spirit rapping, 262-264. + +_Spirit Teachings_, _cited_, 321, 323. + +Spiritual environment, 165-166. + +---- evolution, 340-346. + +Spiritualism-- + Fraud in connection with, 313, 329. + Home, D. D., case of, _see_ Home. + Methods of, 8. + Moses, W. S., case of, _see_ Moses. + Physical phenomena of, 313-314. + Pioneer work in, 4 _et seq._ + Piper, Mrs., case of, _see_ Piper. + Support of, by subliminal-self theory, 16-17. + +Stage-fright cured by hypnotism, 152. + +_Statuvolism, or Artificial Somnambulism_, _cited_, 121, 163 _note_{1}; + _quoted_, 381. + +Stevenson, R. L.-- + Dreams of, 72-73, 82-83, 97. + Dual personality experiences of, 356-359. + Genius of, 356. + +Stigmatisation, 146 _and notes_. + +Stone Age, 104, 299. + +Storie, Mrs., case of, 108-112, 228-229, 235, 237. + +Stramm, Mdlle., automatic message written by, 291-292. + +Stubbing, Mrs. Annie S., _quoted_, 373. + +_Studien über Hysterie_, _cited_, 41 _and note_[1]. + +_Study of Fears_, _cited_, 33 _and note_. + +Sturgis, Dr. Russell, _cited_, 33 _note_. + +_Subconscient chez les Artistes, les Savantes et les + Ecrivains, Les_, _cited_, 71 _and note_. + +Subliminal, definition of term, 15. + +Subliminal power-- + Functioning of, referred to control centres, 57-60. + Potential, in every organism, 63. + +Subliminal self-- + Control of organism by, 151, 157. + Cognisance of fragment of, 15. + Definition of term, 15. + Dominance of, over supraliminal self, 315. + Functions of, 37. + Imaginative faculty of, 147-149. + Methods of communication with supraliminal self, 20-21. + Nerve cells controlled by, 34. + Powers of, compared with supraliminal, 277-278. + Suggestion in relation to, 129. + Surviving self, related to, 168. + Telepathy explained by theory of, 16, 17. + +_Subliminal Self or Unconscious Cerebration_, _cited_, 14 _note_. + +Substitution of ideas, 361. + +Suggestion-- + Attention, effect on, 153. + Character, influence on, 154-155. + Cures effected by, 34. + Delirium tremens, suggestibility developed during recovery from, 123, 135. + Dynamogenic effect of, on attention and character, 151-155. + Post-hypnotic, 260-261. + Responsiveness to, requisite, 122-123. + Subliminal self, defined as appeal to, 129. + Will-power, influence on, 153-154. + +_Suggestion Mentale, La_, _cited_, 263 _note_. + +_Suggestions-Therapie bei krankhaften Erscheinungen des + Geschlechissinnes, Die_, _cited_, 133 _note_. + +Suicide-- + Greek view of, 344. + Phantasms in connection with, 200. + +Supernormal, definition of term, 6 _note_{1}. + +Survival-- + Continuity, theory as to, 333-334. + Evidence for, 9-10; nature of, 213. + Scientific method not applied to problem of, 3. + Telepathy the security of, 344. + Tests of, 292-293 _and note_. + +Swedenborg, Emmanuel-- + Case of, 299. + Debt of posterity to, 339. + Evidential cases of, 316. + Experiential and dogmatic writings of, 317. + Psychical science originated by, 6-7, 9. + Teachings of, corroborative of recent investigations, 317. + +Symbolism, subliminal tendency to, 202-203. + +Synæsthesia, 170 _and notes_--171. + +Synthetic Society, papers read before, 350 _note_. + +Syringomyelitis, anæsthesia of, 37. + + +T., case of, 382. + +--, Mrs., case of, 373-375. _cited_, 234. + +--, Mr. and Mrs., case of, _cited_, 112-113. + +Table-tilting, 262-264, 400-401, 430-433, 438. + +Tactile sensibility, hyperæsthesia of, 271. + +Taine, M., _cited_, 98 _and note_[2]. + +Taunton, Mrs., case of, 207 _and note_[1]. + +Teale Mrs., case of, _cited_, 228. + +Telæsthesia-- + Cases of, 289-290. + Crystal gazing or shell hearing, in, 201. + Definition of term, 6 _note_{1}, 90, 105. + Dreams in, 104-112, 114, 366-375. + Genius, relation to, 84-85. + Hyperæsthesia in relation to, 201, 202. + Hypotheses explaining, 16. + Parsons, Dr. D. J., case of, 271-272. + Psychical invasion in relation to, 177, 199-205. + Telepathy, relation to, 187. + +Telekinesis, 313-314. 326; + case of W. S. Moses, 320-322. + +Telepathy-- + Animals, between, 188 _note_. + Brain vibrations in, theory of, 304. + Collective cases, 187, 198-199. + Conception of, 303-306. + Crystal-vision, gift of, accompanied by sensibility to, 181-182. + Definition of, 90, 105. + Discarnate spirits, relation to, 187, 350. + Distance, from, 160, 185. + Evidence for, 183-189, 191. + Evolutive nature of, 256 _and notes_. + Experiments to prove, 185 _and notes_-186. + Genius, relation to, 84-85. + Ghostly communications in relation to, 216-217. + Hypnosis induced by, 160, 162 _and note_[2], 382-383. + Hypotheses explaining, 16-17. + Inadequacy of term, 105. + Language difficulties in, 285. + Latency of impacts, 223-224, 228, 291. + Law, fundamental, of spiritual world, as, 31. + Newnham, Rev. P. H., case of, 287-289. + Prayer in relation to, 184. + Precognitive, 187, 189. + Prerequisite for supernormal phenomena, as the, 183. + Psychical invasion indistinguishable from, in motor automatism, 294. + Savages, among, 256 _note_{1}. + Sleep, relation to, 116. + Spiritual excursion in relation to, 177. + Split personality in relation to, 190-191. + Subliminal selves, between, during sleep, 315. + Survival, the security for, 9, 344. + Table-tilting, by, 430-433, 438. + Telæsthesia in relation to, 187. + Three main types of communications in, 219-220. + Time relations in, 187. + Vibration theory of, 186-187. + +Temperature sense distinguished from pain sense, 52. + +Tennyson, _cited_, 184. + +Teste, _cited_, 381. + +Thaw, Dr. A. Blair, _cited_, 185 _note_{1}. + +Theology, reason for avoiding, 10. + +_Thérapeutique Suggestive_, _cited_, 123 _note_, 142 _note_, 143 _note_{1}. + +Thorpe, Mr. Courtenay, 206. + +Thought-transference, _see_ Telepathy. + +Thoulet, Professor, case of, 315, 446-448. + +Time-- + Spiritual phenomena, in relation to, 22-23, 251. + Subliminal mentation, in relation to, 68-69. + Telepathy, in relation to, 187. + +Tissié, Dr., _cited_, 98; + case of patient of, 101. + +Trance (_see also_ Home--Moses--Piper)-- + Messages, generic similarity of, in different individuals, 276 _note_. + Three main types of, 315. + +Transposition of senses, 149. + +Tuckey, Lloyd, _cited_, 135 _note_. + +Twins, telepathic communications between, 108-109. + + +Unity, central, in multicellular organisms, 30-31. + +_Use of Hypnotism in the First Degree_, _cited_, 33 _note_. + + +V., Mrs., vision of, 232. + +Vaso-motor system, dynamogenic hypnotic effects on, 145-146. + +Vennum, Miss Mary Lurancy, case of, 51. + +Verity, A. S., case attested by, 397, 398. + +----, L. S. and E. C., apparition appearing to, 396-399. + +Verrall, Mrs., 181. + +Virgil, _cited_, 96 _and note_, 282. + +Vision-- + After-images, 171, 179. + Defects of, removed by suggestion, 142-143. + Entoptic, 171. + Evolution of, 169-173. + Imagination images, 172-173. + Inward, 171-174; + control of, 178; + veridical, 175-177. + Memory-images, 172, 179. + Non-optical, in dreams, 169-170. + Ocular, a privileged case of general vision, 173, 175. + Subliminal mentation in relation to, 69 _and note_-70. + +Vital faculty, scheme of, 441 _et seq._ + +Vivé, Louis, case of, 49 _and note_[1], 146 _note_, 379. + +Vlavianos, Dr., _cited_, 134 _note_, 135 _note_{2}. + +Voisin, Dr. Auguste, _cited_, 49 _note_{1}, 101 _and note_, + 133 _note_, 134 _note_, 135 _notes_[1] _and_ [2], 136 _note_, 155 _note_; + _quoted_, 381-382. + +Voltaire, genius of, 60. + + +W., Miss, case of, _cited_, 233. + +Wallace, Alfred Russel, _cited_, 7 _and note_, 16. + +Warburton, Canon, dream of, 106-107, 208. + +Water-- + Mesmerised, experiments with, 380. + Running, finding of, 378. + +Wendell, Prof. Barrett, _cited_, 318. + +Wesermann, experiments of, 409. + +Wesley, John, 7 _note_{1}. + +Wetterstrand, Otto, _cited_, 93, 135 _note_{2}, 136 _note_. + +Whately, Archbishop, case of, 66-67. + +Wheatcroft, Mrs., case of, _cited_, 228. + +Wilkie, J. E., dream of, 315, 450-451. + +Wilkinson, W. M., _cited_, 79 _note_, 265 _note_{1}. + +Will power-- + Hypnotic influence on, 153-154. + Self-projection by means of, 210-211, 396-399. + +Wilmot, Mrs., case of, 177. + +Wilson, Archdeacon, case of, 228. + +----, Dr. Albert, case of patient of, 49 _note_{3}. + +Wingfield, Dr. Hugh, _quoted_, 128. + +Winsor, Miss Anna, case of, 51 _and note_[2], 295 _note_. + +Witchcraft, 4-5. + +Witches, anæsthetic patches on, 124. + +Wittman, 130. + +Wordsworth, _cited_, 81, 84 _note_, 92. + +World-soul, 355 _note_. + +Wyman, W. H., case of, _quoted_, 270. + + +X., Emile, case of, 46-47. + +--, Félida, case of, 44, 48, 50-51, 307, 361-363. + +"X + Y = Z," case of, 316 _and note_. + +_X + Y = Z_ or _The Sleeping Preacher of North Alabama_, _cited_, 316 _note_. + + +Z., Alma, case of, 50-51. + +_Zeitschrift für Hypnotismus_, _passim_, _cited_, 120 _note_{1}. + +_Zoist, the_, _cited_, 123 _note_, 139 _note_{1}, 159, + 161, 162 _note_, 163 _note_{2}, 177 _note_, 380, 381. + +Zones, anæsthetic, occurrence of, in witchcraft, 124. + +_Zones analgésique_ in witches, 5. + + * * * * * + +The following typographical errors were corrected by the etext +transcriber: + +and of communciation with=>and of communication with + +His field of consciousness is so far=> His field of typo consciousness +is so far + +physiolgical explanations=>physiological explanations + +choreic or fidgetty shiftings of motor impulse=>choreic or fidgety +shiftings of motor impulse + +these types of subacent vision=>these types of subjacent vision + +will sometimes express themseves=>will sometimes express themselves + +Bibliotèque Diabolique=>Bibliothèque Diabolique + +omniscent benevolence=>omniscient benevolence + +childhood dissappeared=>childhood disappeared + +ot January and February 1885=>of January and February 1885 + +committed siucide by drowning himself in the lake=>committed suicide by +drowning himself in the lake + +temps aprés leur arrivée=>temps après leur arrivée + +soon as he told ns.=>soon as he told us. + +not finding the pad of paper on my kneee=>not finding the pad of paper +on my knees + +Telepathy almost intistinguishable=>Telepathy almost indistinguishable + +ou il préparait le samovar=>où il préparait le samovar + +cabinet ou nous ne trouvâmes personne=>cabinet où nous ne trouvâmes +personne + +séparée ou j'étais tout seul=>séparée où j'étais tout seul + + * * * * * + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] See glossary. + +[2] I have ventured to coin the word "supernormal" to be applied to +phenomena which are _beyond what usually happens_--_beyond_, that is, in +the sense of suggesting unknown psychical laws. It is thus formed on the +analogy of _abnormal_. When we speak of an abnormal phenomenon we do not +mean one which _contravenes_ natural laws, but one which exhibits them +in an unusual or inexplicable form. Similarly by a supernormal +phenomenon I mean, not one which _overrides_ natural laws, for I believe +no such phenomenon to exist, but one which exhibits the action of laws +higher, in a psychical aspect, than are discerned in action in everyday +life. By _higher_ (either in a psychical or physiological sense) I mean +"apparently belonging to a more advanced stage of evolution." + +[3] Other _savants_ of eminence--the great name of Alfred Russel Wallace +will occur to all--had also satisfied themselves of the reality of these +strange phenomena; but they had not tested or demonstrated that reality +with equal care. I am not able in this brief sketch to allude to +distinguished men of earlier date--Richard Glanvil, John Wesley, Samuel +Johnson, etc., who discerned the importance of phenomena which they had +no adequate means of investigating. + +[4] The Society for Psychical Research was founded in 1882, Professor W. +F. Barrett taking a leading part in its promotion. Henry Sidgwick was +its first President, and Edmund Gurney was its first Honorary +Secretary--he and I being joint Honorary Secretaries of its Literary +Committee, whose business was the collection of evidence. + +[5] See, for instance, _Proceedings_ of the Society for Psychical +Research (henceforth in this book referred to as the S.P.R.), vol. iv. +p. 256, Jan. 1887. + +[6] See, however, an article in _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xi. pp. 317 +to 325, entitled "Subliminal Self or Unconscious Cerebration," by Mr. A. +H. Pierce, of Harvard University, with a reply by Mr. F. Podmore. + +[7] The difficulty of conceiving any cellular focus, either fixed or +shifting, has actually led some psychologists to demand a unifying +principle which is not cellular, and yet is not a soul. + +[8] Stanley Hall's "Study of Fears," _American Journal of Psychology_, +vol. viii., No. 2, January, 1897. See also "The Use of Hypnotism in the +First Degree," by Dr. Russell Sturgis (Boston, 1894). + +[9] For instances of such cures see Drs. Raymond and Janet's _Névroses +et Idées fixes_. + +[10] See vol. vii. p. 309. + +[11] See "Studien über Hysterie" (Leipsic, 1895), by Drs. Breuer and +Freud. An account of two of these cases is given in the original +edition. Vol. i. pp. 51-6. + +[12] On this subject see Du Prel, _Philosophy of Mysticism_, Eng. +trans., vol. i., passim. + +[13] An old case of Dr. Dyce's (see _The Zoist_, vol. iv. p. 158) forms +a simple example of this type. Dr. Mesnet's case (_De l'Automatisme de +la Mémoire_, _etc._ Par le Dr. Ernest Mesnet, Paris, 1874, p. 18, seq.) +should also be referred to here. In these instances the secondary state +is manifestly a degeneration of the primary state, even when certain +traces of supernormal faculty are discernible in the narrowed psychical +field. + +[14] See _The Zoist_, vol. iv. pp. 172-79, for a case showing the +inevitable accomplishment of a post-epileptic crime in such a way as to +bring out its analogy with the inevitable working out of a post-hypnotic +suggestion. + +[15] See _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. vii. pp. 221-258 [225 A]. + +[16] See _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, March 1890, p. 267 [226 A]. + +[17] See the _Annales Médico-Psychologiques_ for January 1892 [226 B]. + +[18] For full details of this, see Dr. Boris Sidis's work, _The +Psychology of Suggestion: a Research into the Subconscious Nature of Man +and Society_ (New York, 1898), and _Multiple Personality_ by Drs. Boris +Sidis and S. P. Goodhart. London, 1905. + +[19] Zoist vol. iv. p. 185 [229 A]. + +[20] See Professor W. James's _Principles of Psychology_, vol. I. pp. +381-84 [232 A]. + +[21] For Dr. Camuset's account see _Annales Médico-Psychologiques_, +1882, p. 75; for Dr. Voisin's, _Archives de Neurologie_, September 1885. +The observations at Rochefort have been carefully recorded by Dr. +Berjon, _La Grande Hystérie chez l'Homme_, Paris, 1886, and by Drs. +Bourru and Burot in a treatise, _De la suggestion mentale_, &c. (_Bibl. +scientifique contemporaine_), Paris, 1887 [233 A]. + +[22] See _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xv. pp. 466-483 [234 A] and the more +complete account given in Dr. Morton Prince's _Dissociation of a +Personality_. New York and London, 1906. + +[23] Besides the cases mentioned above see a remarkable recent case +recorded by Dr. Bramwell in _Brain_, Summer Number, 1900, on the +authority of Dr. Albert Wilson, of Leytonstone. Dr. Wilson has given a +detailed account of his patient, Mary Barnes, in _Proceedings_ S.P.R., +vol. xviii. pp. 352-416, where a full discussion of the case will also +be found. Mary Barnes developed sixteen different personalities with +distinct memories and different characteristics. + +[24] _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xiv. 396-398 [236 A]. + +[25] _Proceedings of American_ S.P.R., vol. i. p. 552 [237 A]. + +[26] For a detailed record of this case see the _Religio-Philosophical +Journal_ for 1879. An abridgment is given in [238 A]. See also _Journal_ +S.P.R., vol. x. p. 99. + +[27] _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, July 1889. + +[28] Professor Scripture in the _American Journal of Psychology_, vol. +iv., No. 1, April 1891; Professor Binet in the _Revue Philosophique_, +1895. Professor Binet's article deals largely with Jacques Inaudi, the +most recent prodigy, who appears to differ from the rest in that his +gift is auditile rather than visual. His gift was first observed in +childhood. His general intelligence is below the average. Another recent +prodigy, Diamanti, seems, on the other hand, to be in other ways +quick-witted. + +[29] Scripture, _op. cit._, p. 54. + +[30] _Proceedings_ of American S.P.R., vol. i. No. 4, p. 360. + +[31] See _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. viii. p. 337 [§ 311]. + +[32] On this point see Professor James's _Principles of Psychology_, +vol. ii. p. 84, note. Goethe's well-known phantasmal flower was clearly +no mere representation of retinal structure. A near analogy to these +patterns lies in the so-called "spirit-drawings," or automatic +arabesques, discussed elsewhere in this chapter. + +[33] See Professor Ladd's paper on this subject in _Mind_, April 1892. + +[34] "Le Subconscient chez les Artistes, les Savantes, et les +Ecrivains," par le Dr. Paul Chabaneix, Paris, 1897. + +[35] Instances of this form of automatism are described in a book called +_Spirit Drawings: a Personal Narrative_, by W. M. Wilkinson, some +account of which is given in Appendix 811 A (Vol. II.) of the unabridged +edition. + +[36] _L'Année Psychologique_, i. 1894, p. 124, F. de Curel, par A. Binet +[§ 330]. + +[37] In Wordsworth's _Prelude_ we find introspective passages of extreme +psychological interest as being deliberate attempts to tell the truth +about exactly those emotions and intuitions which differentiate the poet +from common men. + +[38] In the passage which follows some use has been made of Jowett's +translation. It is noticeable that this utterance, unsurpassed among the +utterances of antiquity, has been placed by Plato in the mouth of a +woman--the prophetess Diotima--with the express intention, as I think, +of generalising it, and of raising it above the region of sexual +passion. There is nothing else in antiquity resembling the position thus +ascribed to Diotima in reference to Socrates,--the woman being +represented as capable of raising the highest and of illumining the +wisest soul. + +[39] _Iliad_, xxii. 199; _Æneid_, xii. 908. + +[40] See Dr. Féré in _Brain_ for January 1887. + +[41] _De l'Intelligence_, vol. i. p. 119. + +[42] _Archives de Médecine_, vol. i. 1876, p. 554. + +[43] _An Experimental Study in Hypnotism_, by Dr. R. von Krafft-Ebing, +translated by Dr. C. G. Chaddock, p. 91. + +[44] _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, June 1891, p. 302. + +[45] _Les Rêves_, p. 135. This remarkable patient afforded examples of +many forms of communication of memory between different states of +personality. See pp. 192-200 for a conspectus of these complex +recollections. + +[46] _Revue de Médecine_, February 1892. A full account and discussion +of the same case is contained in Dr. P. Janet's _Névroses et Idées +fixes_, vol. i. pp. 116 _et seq._ [§413]. + +[47] See also _Journal_ S.P.R., vol. iv. p. 142 (October 1889), and +_Proceedings_ of the American S.P.R., vol. i. No. 4, p. 363 [415 A and +B]. + +[48] _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. v. p. 507. + +[49] Cædmon's poem was traditionally said to have come to him in like +fashion. + +[50] The reader will find many similar cases in the _Journal_ and +_Proceedings_ of the S.P.R. Several are quoted in Appendices to Section +421 in the unabridged edition. + +[51] The case of Mr. Boyle, investigated by Edmund Gurney and printed in +S.P.R. _Journal_, vol. iii. pp. 265, 266 [§423], is interesting in this +connection. In this case the vision, which recurred twice, was of a +simple kind, and might be interpreted as an impression transferred from +the mind of one waking to the mind of one asleep. + +Again, the single dream which a man has noted down in all his life +stands evidentially in almost as good a position as a single waking +hallucination. For cases of this kind see _Journal_ S.P.R., vol. iii. p. +267 [§424]; _ibid._ vol. v. p. 61 [424 A]; _ibid._ vol. v. p. 252 [424 +C]; and _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. i. p. 443 [424 B]. + +[52] _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. ii. p. 105 [428 A]. + +[53] _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. ii. p. 154 [428 D]. + +The cases of Mrs. Manning (_Journal_ S.P.R., vol. xii. p. 100 [428 B]) +and Mr. Newnham (_Phantasms of the Living_, vol. i. p. 225 [428 C]) are +somewhat similar. See also _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xi. p. 444 [428 E] +and _Journal_ S.P.R., vol viii. p. 128 [428 F]. + +[54] _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. i. p. 365; _ibid._, p. 453 [429 A +and B]. + +[55] See, for example, _Journal_ S.P.R., vol. viii. p. 123 [429 F]. + +[56] Long ago Solon had said, apparently of mesmeric cure-- + + Τὁν δἑ κακαἱς νοὑσοισι κυκὡμενον ργαλαλἑαις τε + ἁφἁυενος χειροἱν αἱφα τἱθησ' ὑγιἡ + + +[57] _Recherches Physiologiques sur l'Homme_ (Paris, 1811); _Mémoires +pour servir à l'Histoire et à l'Establissement du Magnétisme Animal_; +_Du Magnétisme Animal considéré dans ses Rapports avec diverses branches +de la Physique Générale_; etc. + +[58] See Nasse's _Zeitschrift für Hypnoitsmus_, _passim_. + +[59] This later work of Braid's has been generally overlooked, and his +theories were stated again as new discoveries by recent observers who +ignored what he had already accomplished. See Dr. Bramwell's paper on +"James Braid, his Work and Writings," in _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xii. +pp. 127-166. This contains a complete list of Braid's writings, and +references to his work by other writers. See also the references to +Braid's work and theories in Dr. Bramwell's _Hypnotism_. + +[60] See also the _Zoist_ (Vol. viii. pp. 156, 297-299) for cases of +mesmerisation of animals. In his _Thérapeutique Suggestive_, 1891 (pp. +246-68), Dr. Liébeault gives an account of his experiments with infants +[513 B and C]. + +[61] See Dr. Bramwell's discussion of the subject. (_Proceedings_ +S.P.R., vol. xii. p. 213) [513 A]. + +[62] This view unfortunately dominates Professor M'Kendrick's article on +"Hypnotism" in the _Encyclopædia Britannica_. + +[63] See Dr. Bramwell's discussion of the inadequacy of this explanation +in his article "What is Hypnotism?" in _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xii. +p. 224, also in his book on _Hypnotism_ pp. 337-8. + +[64] See Dr. Bramwell's _Hypnotism_, p. 274. + +[65] I am inclined to think that this is always the case. For a long +time the lethargic state was supposed at the Salpêtrière to preclude all +knowledge of what was going on; and I have heard Charcot speak before a +deeply-entranced subject as if there were no danger of her gathering +hints as to what he expected her to do. I believe that his patients did +subliminally receive such hints, and work them out in their own hypnotic +behaviour. On the other hand, I have heard the late Dr. Auguste Voisin, +one of the most persistent and successful of hypnotisers, make +suggestion after suggestion to a subject apparently almost +comatose,--which suggestions, nevertheless, she obeyed as soon as she +awoke. + +[66] According to Dr. Edgar Bérillon, who was the first systematically +to apply the hypnotic method to the education of children (see his +paper, "De la Suggestion envisagée au point de vue pédagogique" in the +_Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, vol. i. (1887), p. 84), the percentage of those +who can be hypnotised is more than 80, and he asserts that +suggestibility varies directly as the intellectual development of the +subject. He classes under four heads the affections which can be +successfully treated by hypnotic suggestion. (See the _Revue de +l'Hypnotisme_, July 1895.) + +(1) Psychical derangements caused by acute diseases; in particular, +insomnia, restlessness, nocturnal delirium, incontrollable vomiting, +incontinence of urine and of fæces. + +(2) Functional affections connected with nervous disease: chorea, tics, +convulsions, anæsthesiæ, contractures and hysterical paresis, hysterical +hiccough, blepharospasm. + +(3) Psychical derangements, such as habit of biting nails, precocious +impulsive tendencies, nocturnal terrors, speaking in sleep, kleptomania, +nervousness, shyness. + +(4) Chorea, hysteria, epilepsy, or mental derangements considered as +resulting from the combination of several nervous diseases. + +Scattered about in the _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_ the reader will find +numerous illustrative cases. Specially characteristic are those recorded +in the number for July 1893, p. 11, and April 1895, p. 306. + +For reports of hypnotic cure of onychophagy, see Bérillon, the articles +already quoted; Bourdon, _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, November 1895, p. 134; +Bouffé, _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, September 1898, p. 76. + +For reports of hypnotic cure of even graver habits, see Van Renterghem +and Van Eeden, _Psycho-Thérapie_, p. 250; Bernheim, _Revue de +l'Hypnotisme_, December 1891, a case in which the habit had become quite +automatic and irresistible, and where every other method of treatment +had failed; also _De la Suggestion_; Schrenck-Notzing, _Die +Suggestions-Therapie bei krankhaften Erscheinungen des +Geschlechtssinnes_; Bérillon, _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, July 1893, pp. +12, 14, 15; Bourdon, _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, November 1895, pp. 136, +139, 140; Auguste Voisin, _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, November 1887, p. +151. + +For cures of _enuresis nocturna_, see Liébeault, _Revue de +l'Hypnotisme_, September 1886, p. 71; Bérillon, _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, +June 1894, p. 359; Van Renterghem and Van Eeden, _Psycho-thérapie_; Paul +Farez, _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, August 1899, p. 53. This author +recommends the method of suggestion in normal sleep. + +Liébeault, in the _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_ for January 1889, gives +twenty-two cases in which hypnotic suggestion was used in the moral +education of children from the age of fourteen months upwards, with the +aim of curing, _e.g._ the habit of lying, excessive developments of +emotions, such as fear and anger, and precocious or depraved appetites; +and of improving the normal faculties of attention and memory. He +reports ten cures, eight improvements, and four failures. + +For other cases of moral education, see Bérillon, _De la suggestion et +de ses applications à la pédagogie_ (1887); _L'Hypnotisme et +l'Orthopédie morale_ (1898); _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, December 1887, pp. +169-180, and December 1897, p. 162; Bernheim, _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, +November 1886, p. 129; Ladame, the same, June and July 1887; Voisin, the +same, November 1888; De Jong, the same, September 1891; Bourdon, the +same, August 1896; Van Renterghem and Van Eeden, _Psycho-thérapie_, p. +215. Nervous troubles in adults have often been cured by the same means. +Thus, in the _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, September 1899, p. 73, Dr. +Vlavianos records a case of _tic convulsif_ cured by hypnotic +suggestion. Wetterstrand has used the same method with success (_loc. +cit._, p. 76). See also Janet, _Névroses et Idées Fixes_, vol. ii., part +ii., chapter iii., "Les. Tics." + +[67] See Bérillon, _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, September 1890, p. 75, and +February 1896, p. 237; Regis, the same, May 1896; De Jong, the same, +September 1891, p. 82; and Auguste Voisin, the same, November 1888, p. +130. + +[68] See Otto Wetterstrand, _Der Hypnotismus und seine Anwendung in der +praktischen Medicin_; Georg Ringier, _Erfolge des therapeutischen +Hypnotismus in der Landpraxis_; Van Renterghem and Van Eeden, +_Psycho-thérapie_; Auguste Forel, _Einige therapeutische Versuche mit +dem Hypnotismus bei Geisteskranken_; Lloyd Tuckey, _Revue de +l'Hypnotisme_, January 1897, p. 207; Ladame, Revue de l'Hypnotisme, +November 1887, p. 131, and December 1887, p. 165; A. Voisin, _Revue de +l'Hypnotisme_, vol. ii. (1888), p. 69, and vol. iii. (1889), p. 353; +Vlavianos, _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, June 1899, p. 361; Neilson, _Revue +de l'Hypnotisme_, vol. vi. (1892), p. 17. Bérillon, _Le traitement +psychologique de L'Alcoolisme_. Paris 1906. See also the works of +Liébeault, Bernheim, and Milne Bramwell. + +[69] There are many instances of the cure of morphinomania. See +especially the case recorded by Dr. Marot in the _Revue de +l'Hypnotisme_, February 1893, on account of the psychological interest +of the patient's own remarks. + +Wetterstrand, out of fourteen cases, records eleven cures of +morphinomania. In a paper in the _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, November 1890, +he discusses the benefit of prolonged hypnosis--causing the patient to +sleep for a week or more at a time--which he tried in one case. See also +Voisin, _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, December 1886, p. 163. + +[70] See Dr. A. Dorez, _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, May 1899, p. 345; and +Dr. Bourdon, the same, November 1893, p. 141 [557 A]. + +[71] Dr. Hill, _British Medical Journal_, July 4th, 1891. + +[72] In some articles in the _Revue Philosophique_, published in 1886 +and 1887, Delbœuf describes some experiments which suggest that in +many of the remarkable hypnotic cures recorded in the _Zoist_ (as well +as in modern cases) the removal of pain was probably an important +element in the cure; see _e.g._ cures of inflammation (_Zoist_, vol. x. +p. 347); of neuralgia and chronic rheumatism (vol. ix. pp. 76-79); of +abdominal pains (vol. ix. p. 155); of tic douloureux (vol. viii. p. +186); of severe headaches (vol. x. p. 369); of eczema impetiginodes +(vol. x. p. 96). + +The general subject of hypnotic analgesia is strikingly illustrated by +Esdaile's well-known work in the Indian hospitals; see his books, +_Mesmerism in India_ (London, 1846); _The Introduction of Mesmerism with +Sanction of Government into the Public Hospitals of India_ (2nd edit. +London, 1856); _Natural and Mesmeric Clairvoyance_ (London, 1852); and +constant references to him in the _Zoist_. + +For later cases see _British Medical Journal_, April 5th, 1890, p. 801; +the same, February 28th, 1891, pp. 460-468. + +See also Van Renterghem and Van Eeden's _Psycho-thérapie_, pp. 262-280. + +See also the _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xii. p. 21, and the _Revue de +l'Hypnotisme_, November 1891, p. 132; the same, 1895, p. 300; and for +the discussion of a very interesting recent case of the cure of _sycosis +menti_, see Bérillon, _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, January 1896, p. 195; +Delbœuf, _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, February 1896, p. 225; Durand (de +Gros), _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, 1896, p. 37. It was also quoted in the +_British Medical Journal_ for November 16th, 1895. + +[73] See the _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, August 1887. + +[74] See the _Journal_ S.P.R., vol. vi. p. 209 [535 A]. + +[75] See the _Revue Philosophique_, 1886. + +[76] See the _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xii. p. 193 [535 B]. + +[77] For cases bearing on this subject see Dr. Liébeault's +_Thérapeutique Suggestive_, pp. 64 _et seq._; the _Revue de +l'Hypnotisme_, January 1893; and _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xii. p. 177 +[538 A and B]. + +[78] _Thérapeutique Suggestive_, pp. 64 _et seq._ + +[79] See the _Revue Philosophique_, November 1886. The same case is +discussed in _Mind_ for January 1887 [539 A]. + +[80] Nagel suggests that there may have been at a certain stage _mixed +sense-organs_, by means of which two or three sensations were perceived +simultaneously. + +[81] For a circumstantial English account of the well-known case of +Louise Lateau, see _Macmillan's Magazine_, vol. xxiii. p. 488 _et seq._ + +Three cases of the production of cruciform marks reported by Dr. Biggs, +of Lima, appeared in the _Journal_ S.P.R., vol. iii. p. 100. + +Another remarkable American case of stigmatisation was reported in the +_Courier-Journal_, Louisville, Ky., December 7th, 1891, on the authority +of Dr. M. F. Coomes and several other physicians. + +See also the case of Ilma S. recorded in Dr. R. von Krafft-Ebing's +_Experimental Study in Hypnotism_. + +Dr. P. Janet describes somewhat similar experiments in _L'Automatisme +Psychologique_ (see p. 166 _et seq._). + +Again, somewhat similar is a case recorded by Dr. J. Rybalkin in the +_Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, June 1890 (p. 361), in which a post-hypnotic +suggestion to the subject to burn his arm at a stove--really +unlighted--produced blisters as of a burn. + +Hæmorrhage and bleeding stigmata were several times produced in the +famous subject, Louis Vivé, by verbal suggestion alone. (Drs. Bourru and +Burot, _Comptes Rendus de la Société de Biologie_, July 12th, 1885; and +Dr. Mabille, _Progrès Médical_, August 29th, 1885.) + +Professor Beaunis (_Recherches Expérimentales_, etc., Paris, 1886, p. +29) produced redness and cutaneous congestion in his subject, Mlle. A. +E., by suggestion, and the experiment was repeated on the same subject +by the present writer and Edmund Gurney in September 1885 (see +_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. iv. p. 167). + +It appears that there is at present at the Salpêtrière a _stigmatisée_, +the development of whose stigmata has been watched by Dr. Janet under +copper shields with glass windows inserted in them (_Revue de +l'Hypnotisme_, December 1900, p. 190). + +Other cases are recorded in the _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, June 1890, p. +353; the same February 1892, p. 251 [543 A to H]. + +[82] See _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. iv. pp. 268-323 [551 A]. + +[83] Professor Fontan's experiments described in the _Revue +Philosophique_, August 1887, cannot lightly be set aside. An account of +his experiments is given in _Proceedings_ S. P. R. vol. ii. p. 263-268. +[549 D]. See also the works of Pététin, Durand, Foissac, and Despine, +especially _Observations de Médecine Pratique_, pp. 45, 62, and _Étude +Scientifique sur Somnambulisme_, p. 167. + +[84] See _Journal_ S.P.R., vol. iii. p. 100 [543 B]. + +[85] See _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xii. pp. 176-203 [551 C]. + +[86] _Revue Philosophique_, September 1888 [552 A]. + +[87] _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, vol. vi. p. 357 [553 A]. + +[88] For illustrative instances see _Brain_, Summer Number 1900, p. 207, +_Revue de l' Hypnotisme_, January 1889, and Bérillon, _De la suggestion +et de ses applications à la pédagogie_ (1887) [553 B]. See also +Bérillon, _La Psychologie du Courage et l'Éducation du Caractère_. Paris +1905. + +[89] _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xii. pp. 204-58 [555 B]. See also his +book on _Hypnotism_, pp. 425-32. + +[90] See also the _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, January 1889, September 1890, +November 1886, November 1888, for cases reported by Liébeault, Bérillon, +Bernheim, and Voisin. + +[91] See Mr. Fryer's paper on "The Welsh Revival of 1904-5," in +_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xix. p. 80. + +[92] See Puységur, _Recherches sur l'Homme dans le Somnambulisme_ +(Paris, 1811); Pététin, _Electricité Animale_ (Paris, 1808); Despine, +_Observations de Médecine Pratique_ (1838), and _Journal_ S.P.R., vol. +ix. p. 333. + +[93] _Natural and Mesmeric Clairvoyance_, pp. 227-28; quoted in +_Phantasms of the Living_, vol. i. p. 88. + +[94] See _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. v. (1888), pp. 14-17. [569 A.] + +[95] See _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. viii. pp. 536-596. [569 B.] + +[96] Beginning with cases partly retrocognitive, the leader is referred +to _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. vii. pp. 30-99; _Zoist_, vol. vii. pp. +95-101 [572 A and B]. + +[97] The longest and most important series of experiments in +thought-transference with hypnotised subjects, carried out by members of +the S.P.R., are those of Professor and Mrs. Sidgwick. _Proceedings_ +S.P.R., vol. vi. pp. 128-70; and vol. viii. pp. 536-96 [573 A]. + +[98] _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. vii. pp. 199-220; Dr. Fahnestock's +_Statuvolism_, pp. 117-35, 221-32 [573 B, C and D]. + +[99] _Zoist_, vol. xii. pp. 249-52 [573 F]. + +[100] See "Mind-Cure, Faith-Cure, and the Miracles of Lourdes," by A. T. +Myers, M.D., F.R.C.P., and F. W. H. Myers, _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. +ix. pp. 160-210. + +[101] For a true synæsthetic or "sound-seer,"--to take the commonest +form of these central repercussions of sensory shock,--there is a +connection between sight and sound which is instinctive, complex, and +yet for our intelligence altogether arbitrary. + +But sound-seeing is only a conspicuous example of synæsthesiæ which +exist in as yet unexplored variety. When we find that there are +gradated, peremptory, inexplicable associations connecting sensations of +light and colour with sensations of temperature, smell, taste, muscular +resistance, etc., we are led to conclude that we are dealing, not with +the casual associations of childish experience, but with some reflection +or irradiation of specialised sensations which must depend upon the +connate structure of the brain itself. + +This view is consistent with the results of an _Enquête sur l'audition +colorée_ recently conducted by Professor Flournoy, from which it appears +that of 213 persons presenting these associations only 48 could assign +the date of their origin; and is supported by a case described in the +_Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, December 1892, p. 185, where a man who had long +exhibited a limited form of _audition colorée_ developed _gustation +colorée_ in addition when in a low state of health. + +See also the "Report of the International Congress of Experimental +Psychology, Second Session, London, 1892," pp. 10-20 (Williams & +Norgate, London, 1892), and the _American Journal of Psychology_ for +April 1900 (vol. xi. pp. 377-404). + +[102] See _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. viii. p. 480 [610 A]. + +[103] The "Census of Hallucinations" was undertaken in 1889, by a +Committee of the S.P.R., under the direction of Professor Sidgwick, and +consisting of himself and Mrs. Sidgwick, Dr. A. T. Myers, Mr. F. +Podmore, Miss A. Johnson, and the present writer. The full report of the +committee was published in 1894. (_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. x. pp. +25-422.) A summary of the report is given in the original edition. [612 +A.] + +[104] For prehistoric and historic crystal-gazing see Mr. Andrew Lang's +_Making of Religion_, and Miss Goodrich-Freer's "Recent Experiments in +Crystal-Vision," _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. v. p. 486 [620 A]. + +[105] It is right also to state, although I cannot here discuss the +problems involved, that I believe these visions to be sometimes seen by +more than one person, simultaneously or successively. + +[106] See also _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. i. pp. 263-283; vol. ii. pp. +1-5, 24-42, 189-200; vol. iii. pp. 424-452, where a full record will be +found of Mr. Malcolm Guthrie's experiments [630 B]. Also _Proceedings_ +S.P.R., vol. xi. pp. 2-17 [630 C], for Mr. Henry G. Rawson's +experiments. Others are recorded in the _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. i. +pp. 161-167 and 174-215. See also those of Herr Max Dessoir +(_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. iv. p. 111, and vol. v. p. 355); Herr Anton +Schmoll and M. Etienne Mabire (_ibid._ vol. iv. p. 324 and vol. v. p. +169); Mr. J. W. Smith (_ibid._ vol. ii. p. 207); Sir Oliver Lodge +(_ibid._ vol. vii. p. 374); Dr. A. Blair Thaw (_ibid._ vol. viii. p. +422); Dr. von Schrenck-Notzing (_ibid._ vol. vii. p. 3); Professor +Richet (_ibid._ vol. v. p. 18). See also _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. +i. pp. 32-34, and vol. ii. pp. 653-654. Also the experiments of +Professor and Mrs. Sidgwick (_Proceedings_, vol. vi. and vol. viii.) +already referred to in Chapter V. + +[107] See Mr. F. Podmore's _Apparitions and Thought-transference_, +Chapter V. [630 D, etc.]; also _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xi. p. 455 +[630 F]; and _Journal_ S.P.R., vol. vii. pp. 325-329 [630 E]: _ibid._ +pp. 234-237, pp. 299-306 and pp. 311-319; and vol. xii. p. 223 (March +1906). + +[108] It is plain that on this view there is no theoretical reason for +limiting telepathy to human beings. For aught we can say, the impulse +may pass between man and the lower animals, or between the lower animals +themselves. See _Journal_ S.P.R., vol. xi. pp. 278-290 and pp. 323-4; +the same, vol. xii. pp. 21-3; the same, vol. iv. p. 289; and +_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xiv. p. 285. + +[109] See _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. x. pp. 25-422. + +[110] See also _Phantasms of the Living_ vol. ii. p. 96 [§ 653], and for +an auditory case, _ibid._ p. 100 [§ 655]. + +[111] _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. ii. p. 78 [§ 645]. See also _op. +cit._, p. 82 _et seq._ + +[112] _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. x. p. 306 [§ 646]. See also the case in +_Phantasms of the Living_ (vol. ii. p. 217) [§ 647], where an apparition +was seen _by its original_ and by others _at the same time_. + +[113] See _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. ii. p. 144 [651 A] and _ibid._ +p. 61 [§ 651]. + +[114] _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. ii. p. 97 [654 A]. + +[115] _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. ii. p. 194 [654 B]. + +[116] See Chapter IX., _passim_. + +[117] See _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. vii. pp. 30-99 [572 A and 573 B]; +_op. cit._, 199-220 [573 C]; _Zoist_, vol. vii. pp. 95-101, vol. ix. p. +234, vol. xii. pp. 249-52; and Dr. Fahnestock's _Statuvolism_, +especially pp. 127-35 and 221-32. + +[118] _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. ii. p. 31 [662 B]. + +[119] _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. ii. p. 37 [662 D]. + +[120] See _Journal_ S.P.R., vol. vii. p. 25 [665 A]. + +[121] _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. ii. p. 35 [662 C]. + +[122] See _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. i. p. 265 [§ 664]. + +[123] For examples of various types see _Journal_ S.P.R., vol. vii. p. +25; vol. v. p. 68, and _op. cit._, p. 147 [665 A, B and C]. + +[124] See _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. ii. p. 162; _op. cit._, p. +164; _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. vii. p. 41 [666 A, B and C]. + +[125] See _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. i. p. 527, for example [667 +A]. + +[126] For cases see the second edition of _Phantasms of the Living_, +vol. i. p. lxxxi; _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. x. pp. 270, 273, and 418; +_Forum_, March 1900; _Journal_ S.P.R., vol. iv. p. 217; vol. vii. p. 99 +[668 A to G]. See also _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. i. p. 103 and +vol. ii. p. 675; and the _Journal_ S.P.R., vol. iii. p. 307. + +[127] Some such power as this is frequently claimed in oriental books as +attainable by mystic practices. We have not thus far been fortunate +enough to discover any performances corresponding to these promises. + +[128] See _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. vii. pp. 199-220 [573 C]. + +[129] See _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. i. p. 231. + +[130] Some word is much needed to express communications between one +state and another, _e.g._ between the somnambulic and the waking state, +or, in hypnotism, the cataleptic and the somnambulic, etc. The word +"methectic" μεθεκτὁς) seems to me the most suitable, especially since +μἑθεξις happens to be the word used by Plato (Parm. 132 D.) for +participation between ideas and concrete objects. Or the word +"inter-state" might be pressed into this new duty. + +[131] See for example Mr. Cameron Grant's case. (_Proceedings_ S.P.R., +vol. viii. p. 202.) + +[132] _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. v. pp. 404-408. + +[133] In some experimental cases, it will be remembered, the impression +takes effect through the _motor_, not the _sensory_, system of the +recipient, as by automatic writing, so that he is never directly aware +of it at all. + +[134] See, for instance, case 500, _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. ii. +p. 462. + +[135] I mean by "ordinary" the classes which are recognised and treated +of in _Phantasms of the Living_. But if the departed survive, the +possibility of thought-transference between them and those who remain is +of course a perfectly tenable hypothesis. "As our telepathic theory is a +psychical one, and makes no physical assumptions, it would be perfectly +applicable (though the _name_ perhaps would be inappropriate) to the +conditions of disembodied existence."--_Phantasms_, vol. i. p. 512. + +[136] Certain statistics as to these time-relations are given by Edmund +Gurney as follows (_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. v. p. 408): "The +statistics drawn from the first-hand records in _Phantasms of the +Living_ as to the time-relation of appearances, etc., occurring in close +proximity to deaths, are as follows:--In 134 cases the coincidence is +represented as having been exact, or, when times are specifically +stated, close to within an hour. In 104 cases it is not known whether +the percipient's experience preceded or followed the death; such cases +cannot be taken account of for our present purpose. There remain 78 +cases where it appears that there was an interval of more than an hour; +and of these 38 preceded and 40 followed the death. Of the 38 cases +where the percipient's experience preceded the death (all of which, of +course, took place during a time when the "agent" was seriously ill), 19 +fell within twenty-four hours of the death. Of the 40 cases where the +percipient's experience followed the death, all followed within an +interval of twenty-four hours, and in only one (included by mistake) was +the twelve hours' interval certainly exceeded, though there are one or +two others where it is possible that it was slightly exceeded." + +[137] The _Proceedings_ of the American Society for Psychical Research +(vol. i. p. 405) contain a case where a physician and his wife, sleeping +in separate but adjoining rooms, are both of them awakened by a bright +light. The physician sees a figure standing in the light; his wife, who +gets up to see what the light in her husband's room may be, does not +reach that room till the figure has disappeared. The figure is not +clearly identified, but has some resemblance to a patient of the +physician's, who has died suddenly (from hemorrhage) about three hours +before, calling for her doctor, who did not anticipate this sudden end. +Even this resemblance did not strike the percipient until after he knew +of the death, and the defect in _recognition_ weakens the case +evidentially. + +[138] The references in this and the two following pages are to +_Phantasms of the Living_. + +[139] See the cases of Major Moncrieff (i. p. 415); of Mr. Keulemans (i. +p. 444), where the second phantasm was held by the percipient to convey +a fresh veridical picture; of Mr. Hernaman (i. p. 561), where, however, +the agent was alive, though dying, at the time of the appearance; see +also the cases of Mrs. Ellis (ii. p. 59); of Mrs. D. (ii. p. 467); of +Mrs. Fairman (ii. p. 482), and of Mr. F. J. Jones (ii. p. 500), where +the death was again due to drowning, and the act of dying cannot, +therefore, have been very prolonged. We may note also Mrs. Reed's case +(ii. p. 237), Captain Ayre's (ii. p. 256) and Mrs. Cox's (ii. p. 235). +In the case of Miss Harriss (ii. p. 117) a hallucinatory _voice_, about +the time of the death, but not suggesting the decedent, is followed by a +dream the next night, which presents the dead person as in the act of +dying. One or two other cases might be added to this list, and it is +plain that the matter is one towards which observation should be +specially directed. + +[140] See _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. ii. p. 305; _Proceedings_ +S.P.R., vol. viii. p. 180; _ibid._ p. 194. + +[141] See _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. viii p. 236 [716 B]. + +[142] See for instance _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. vi. p. 20; the same, +vol. xi p. 429 and _Phantasms of the Living_, vol ii. p. 208 [717 A, B +and C]. + +[143] _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. x. p. 214 [719 A]. + +[144] _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. i. p. 449 [719 B]. + +[145] See _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. v. pp. 422-26 [§ 720]. + +[146] The cases recorded in _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. ii. p. 216, +and _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. x. p. 263 [727 A and B] may be regarded +as deflected fulfilments. + +[147] _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. x. p. 383. See also _ibid._ p. 371 and +vol. viii. p. 214 [728 A and B and § 726]. + +[148] For the other case see _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. i. p. 265. + +[149] For cases illustrating this, see _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. v. p. +409 [§ 734]; also _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. viii. p. 220; _ibid._ p. +218; _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. ii. p. 690; and _Proceedings_ +S.P.R., vol. x. p. 373 [§ 736 and 736 A, B and C]. + +[150] See for instance _Journal_ S.P.R., vol. vii. p. 173. + +[151] This analogy suggests itself still more forcibly in the remarkable +case recorded in _Journal_ S.P.R., vol. xii. p. 17. Here the visions, +seen in a mirror, were perceived simultaneously, though not quite in the +same way, by four witnesses, and lasted for an appreciable length of +time. + +[152] See the _Proceedings_ of the American Society for Psychical +Research, vol. i. p. 446 [741 A]. + +[153] In the case recorded in _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. viii. p. 173 [§ +742], the decedent would appear to be satisfying both a local and a +personal attraction. See also the cases given in _Proceedings_ S.P.R., +vol. iii. p. 93, and vol. v. p. 437 [742 A], which are somewhat similar. + +[154] See, however, Sir Arthur Beecher's case (_Proceedings_ S.P.R., +vol. iii. p. 110) where there was at least a rumour of some crime. In +Mrs. M.'s case, too (_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. viii. p. 178) and Mrs. +Pennée's (_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. vi. p. 60) there is some indication +of past troubles in which the percipients, of course, were in no way +concerned. But in no other cases has there been anything, as far as we +know, which could trouble the departed spirit with importunate memories +of his earthly home. + +[155] For a discussion of this problem, illustrated by a large number of +cases, see my article on "Retrocognition and Precognition" in the +_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xi. pp. 334-593. + +[156] See, however, Mrs. Sidgwick's remarks (_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. +iii. pp. 79-80), as to the rarity of any indication of intelligence in +such sounds, and the possibility of reading more intelligence into them +than they really possess. There is now, of course, more evidence as to +these sounds than there was at the date of Mrs. Sidgwick's paper (1885). + +[157] Thus Mrs. Sidgwick, even as far back as 1885 (_Proceedings_ +S.P.R., vol. iii. p. 142), writes: "I can only say that having made +every effort--as my paper will, I hope, have shown--to exercise a +reasonable scepticism, I yet do not feel equal to the degree of unbelief +in human testimony necessary to avoid accepting, at least provisionally, +the conclusion that there are, in a certain sense, haunted houses, i.e., +that there are houses in which similar quasi-human apparitions have +occurred at different times to different inhabitants, under +circumstances which exclude the hypothesis of suggestion or +expectation." + +[158] This case is given in Appendix VII. G. + +[159] In an earlier part of this paper, I mentioned cases of haunted +houses where the apparitions are various, and might therefore all of +them be merely subjective hallucinations, sometimes, perhaps, caused by +expectancy. It is, of course, also possible to explain these cases by +the hypothesis we are now discussing. Another class of cases is, +perhaps, worth mentioning in this connection. We have in the collection +two cases of what was believed by the narrators to be a quite peculiar +feeling of discomfort, in houses where concealed and long since +decomposed bodies were subsequently found. Such feelings are seldom +dearly defined enough to have much evidential value, for others, at any +rate, than the percipient; even though mentioned beforehand, and +definitely connected with the place where the skeleton was. But if there +be really any connection between the skeleton and the feeling, it may +possibly be a subtle physical influence such as I am suggesting.--E. M. +S. + +[160] To avoid misconception, I may point out that this view in no way +negatives the possibility that telepathy (or its correlative telergy) +may be in some of its aspects commoner, or more powerful, among savages +than among ourselves. Evolutionary processes are not necessarily +_continuous_. The acquirement by our lowly-organised ancestors of the +sense of _smell_ (for instance) was a step in evolution. But the sense +of smell probably reached its highest energy in races earlier than man; +and it has perceptibly declined even in the short space which separates +civilised man from existing savages. Yet if, with some change in our +environment, the sense of smell again became useful, and we reacquired +it, this would be none the less an evolutionary process because the +evolution had been interrupted. + +[161] I do not wish to assert that _all_ unfamiliar psychical states are +necessarily evolutive or dissolutive in any assignable manner. I should +prefer to suppose that there are states which may better be styled +_allotropic_;--modifications of the arrangements of nervous elements on +which our conscious identity depends, but with no more conspicuous +_superiority_ of the one state over the other than (for instance) +charcoal possesses over graphite or graphite over charcoal. But there +may also be states in which the (metaphorical) carbon becomes +_diamond_;--with so much at least of _advance_ on previous states as is +involved in the substitution of the crystalline for the amorphous +structure. + +[162] See, for instance, _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. i. p. 291. + +[163] _Sensation et Mouvement_, par Ch. Féré. Paris: Alcan, 1887. + +[164] _La Suggestion Mentale_ (see _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. ii. pp. +239 _sqq._). + +[165] See _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. ii. pp. 226-31 [830 A]. + +[166] See Mr. Wilkinson's book _Spirit Drawings: a Personal Narrative_. +But, of course, like other automatic impulses, this impulse to +decorative or symbolical drawing is sometimes seen at its maximum in +insane patients. Some drawings of an insane patient, reproduced in the +_American Journal of Psychology_, June 1888, show a noticeable analogy +(in my view a _predictable_ analogy) with some of the "spirit-drawings" +above discussed. See also the Martian landscapes of Hélène Smith, in +Professor Flournoy's _Des Indes à la planète Mars_. + +[167] An account of recorded instances of Socratic monitions and some +discussion of them is given in the original edition [§ 813, 814]. + +[168] _Du Démon de Socrate_, etc., by L. F. Lélut, Membre de l'Institut. +Nouvelle édition, 1856. + +[169] For other authorities see Mr. Andrew Lang's paper in _Proceedings_ +S.P.R., vol. xi. pp. 198-212. + +[170] On this point, see Mr. Lang's paper referred to above. + +[171] See Plutarch's _De genio Socratis_. + +[172] See _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. i., Chapter VII, _passim_. + +[173] See _Proceedings_ of the American S.P.R., vol. i. p. 397; +_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. ix. pp. 33 and 35 [817 A, B, and C]. + +[174] The case is recorded in _Journal_ S.P.R., vol. v. p. 136 [817 D]. + +[175] For a somewhat similar case, possibly due to hyperæsthesia of +hearing, see _American Journal of Psychology_, vol. iii. p. 435 +(September 1890). + +[176] See _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xi. pp. 419 and 421 [821 A]. + +[177] See _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xi. p. 422 and 423 [§§ 822 and +823]; also a case given in _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. viii. p. 345, +where a lady hurrying up to the door of a lift, is stopped by seeing a +figure of a man standing in front of it, and then finds that the door is +open, leaving the well exposed, so that she would probably have fallen +down it, if she had not been checked by the apparition. + +[178] _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, March 1893, p. 268. + +[179] When the automatic drawings have any telepathic or other +supernormal content, they are usually associated with automatic writing. +Compare the case of Mr. Cameron Grant (_Phantasms of the Living_, vol. +ii. p. 690). + +[180] See James's _Psychology_, vol. i. p. 394: "One curious thing about +trance utterances is their generic similarity in different +individuals.... It seems exactly as if one author composed more than +half of the trance messages, no matter by whom they are uttered. Whether +all sub-conscious selves are peculiarly susceptible to a certain stratum +of the _Zeitgeist_, and get their inspiration from it, I know not." See +the account of automatic and impressional script, by Mr. Sidney Dean, +which Professor James goes on to quote, and which is closely parallel to +(for instance) Miss A.'s case, to be referred to below, although the one +series of messages comes from the hand of a late member of Congress, +"all his life a robust and active journalist, author, and man of +affairs," and the other from a young lady with so different a history +and _entourage_. + +[181] Some other cases of Mr. Smith's will be found in this volume. See +also _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. iii. p. 25 [§ 831] for a case of Prof. +Sidgwick's, and _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. ii. pp. 226-231 for the +complex "Clelia" case. Other cases of imaginary personalities are to be +found in the accounts of possession which have come down to us from the +"Ages of Faith." See for example the autobiography of Sœur Jeanne des +Anges (_Bibliothèque Diabolique_ [collection Bourneville] Paris, 1886). + +[182] For the description of a curious case combining various motor +automatisms in a very unusual way, see _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. ix. p. +182 [§ 833]. + +[183] For Mlle. Smith's later history, see Professor Flournoy's +_Nouvelles Observations sur un cas de Somnambulisme_, Geneva, 1902. + +[184] We have already printed several incidents of this type in our +_Proceedings_ and _Journal_. (See, for instance, _Proceedings_ S.P.R., +vol. viii. p. 344 [818 A].) + +[185] A somewhat similar but less complex set of experiments by Mr. G. +M. Smith is given in the _Journal_ S.P.R., vol. v. pp. 318-320 [843 B]. + +[186] For further cases see _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. iii. pp. 2 and 5 +[§§ 845 and 847]. + +[187] See _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. iii. pp. 8-23 [849 A]. For a series +of experiments on a smaller scale but analogous to these see +_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. ix. (1893), pp. 61-64. + +[188] Mr. Newnham procured for me two autograph letters from +eye-witnesses of some of the experiments, who do not, however, wish +their names to be published. One writer says: "You wrote the question on +a slip of paper and put it under one of the ornaments of the +chimney-piece--no one seeing what you had written. Mrs. Newnham sat +apart at a small table. I recollect you kept a book of the questions +asked and answers given, as you thought some new power might be +discovered, and you read me from it some of the results. I remember +particularly questions and answers relating to the selection of a curate +for B. My wife and her sister saw experiments conducted in this manner. +Mrs. Newnham and you were sitting at different tables." Another +eye-witness writes: "I and my sister were staying at----, and were +present at many of the Planchette experiments of Mr. and Mrs. Newnham. +Mr. and Mrs. Newnham sat at different tables some distance apart, and in +such a position that it was quite impossible Mrs. Newnham could see what +question was written down. The subject of the questions was never +mentioned even in a whisper. Mr. Newnham wrote them down in pencil and +sometimes passed them to me and my sister to see, but not often. Mrs. +Newnham immediately answered the questions. Though not always correct, +they (the answers) always referred to the questions. Mr. Newnham copied +out the pencil questions and answers verbatim each day into a diary." + +[189] For further cases see _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. ix. p. 44 [851 +A]; _ibid._ p. 48 [§ 852]; _ibid._ p. 64 [§ 853]; _ibid._ p. 65 [§ 854]. +Also _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. ii. p. 236; vol. vi. pp. 112-115 [§ 855 +and 856]; vol. xi. pp. 477-481 [852 B]; vol. ix. pp. 67-70 [857 A and +858 A]. + +[190] See _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. ix. (1893) pp. 73-92 [839 A and 625 +C]. + +[191] For another series of messages which afford an interesting field +for the discussion of the rival hypotheses of "cryptomnesia" and +spirit-control, see _Journal_ S.P.R., vol. iv. p. 319; _op. cit._ p. +174; and _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. ix. p. 92 [§§ 860, 861 and 862 A]. + +[192] For further examples see the cases given in _Proceedings_ S.P.R., +vol. vi. pp. 355-57; vol. viii. pp. 242-48; _Journal_ S.P.R., vol. iii. +pp. 216-19; vol. ix. pp. 65-8; vol. ix. pp. 280-84 [868 A and B, 869 A +and B, § 873]. + +[193] See the "Report of Dr. Ira Barrows on the case of Miss Anna +Winsor." An account of Professor James' inquiry into the case will be +found in _Proceedings_ of the American S.P.R., vol. i. p. 552 [237 A]. + +[194] The cases of Swedenborg, Cahagnet's subject, D. D. Home, and +Stainton Moses will be discussed in the course of this chapter. + +[195] _Bibliothèque Diabolique_ (Collection Bourneville). Paris: Aux +Bureaux du Progrès Medical, 1886 [832 B]. + +[196] See Professor Janet's paper in the _Revue Philosophique_, March, +1888. The case is also constantly referred to in his _L'Automatisme +Psychologique_. + +[197] See page 49. + +[198] See page 288. + +[199] One important point of similarity is the concurrence in some +savage ceremonies of utterance through an invading spirit and travelling +clairvoyance exercised meantime by the man whose organism is thus +invaded. The uncouth spirit shouts and bellows, presumably with the +lungs of the medicine-man, hidden from view in profound slumber. Then +the medicine-man awakes,--and tells the listening tribe the news which +his sleep-wanderings, among gods or men, have won. + +If this indeed be thus, it fits in strangely with the experience of our +modern seers,--with the spiritual interchange which takes place when a +discarnate intelligence occupies the organism and meantime the incarnate +intelligence, temporarily freed, awakes to wider percipience,--in this +or in another world. + +[200] See _Modern Spiritualism; a History and a Criticism_, by Frank +Podmore (Methuen and Co., London, 1902). + +[201] In this edition the Synopsis alone is given. See Appendix IX. A. + +[202] The asterisks indicate the end of the part of this chapter which +was consecutively composed by the author. The rest of the chapter +consists chiefly of fragments written by him at different times. + +[203] This as well as the next two cases mentioned are given in Appendix +IX. B. + +[204] See _X + Y = Z; or, The Sleeping Preacher of North Alabama. +Containing an account of most wonderful mysterious mental phenomena, +fully authenticated by living witnesses._ By the Rev. G. W. Mitchell. +(New York: W. C. Smith, 67 John Street, 1876) [934 A]. + +[205] For Kant's evidence in regard to the supernormal powers of +Swedenborg, see "Dreams of a Spirit Seer," by Immanuel Kant, translated +by E. F. Goerwitz; edited by Frank Sewall (London: Swan Sonnenschein & +Co.; New York: The Macmillan Co., 1900) [936 A]. + +[206] See also an account of the "Seeress of Prevorst," translated from +the German by Mrs. Crowe, and published in London in 1845 [936 B]. + +[207] See _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. xi. p. 560 [936 C]. + +[208] The chief sources of information as to D. D. Home's life and +experiences are the following works:-- + +_Incidents in my Life_, by D. D. Home (1st edition, London, 1863; 2nd +edition, 1864; second series, 1872). + +_D. D. Home: His Life and Mission_, by Madame Dunglas Home (London, +1888). + +_The Gift of D. D. Home_, by Madame Dunglas Home (London, 1890). + +_Report on Spiritualism of the Committee of the London Dialectical +Society_ (London, 1871). This contains the evidence of the Master of +Lindsay,--now Earl of Crawford and Balcarres,--and others. + +_Experiences in Spiritualism with Mr. D. D. Home_, by Viscount Adare +(now Lord Dunraven; privately printed). + +_Researches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism_, by William Crookes, +F.R.S. Reprinted from the _Quarterly Journal of Science_ (London, 1874). + +_Notes of Séances with D. D. Home_, by William Crookes, F.R.S. +(_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. vi. p. 98.) + +See also a review by Professor Barrett and the present writer of Madame +Home's first book, _D. D. Home: His Life and Mission_, in the _Journal_ +S.P.R., vol. iv. pp. 101-136; a briefer review of her second book, _The +Gift of D. D. Home_, in the _Journal_ S.P.R., vol. iv. p. 249; and a +note on "The Character of D. D. Home" in the _Journal_ S.P.R., vol. vi. +p. 176; also an article by Mr. Hamilton Aidé, "Was I hypnotised?" in the +_Nineteenth Century_ for April 1890. + +[209] See _Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. vi. pp. 436-659; vol. viii. pp. +1-167; vol. xiii. pp. 284-582; vol. xiv. pp. 6-78; vol. xv. pp. 16-52; +vol. xvi. pp. 1-649. + +[210] For a discussion of Professor Hyslop's report see _Proceedings_ +S.P.R., vol. xvii. pp. 331-388. + +[211] The original unabridged edition was published in two volumes. + +[212] The Synthetic Society, before which these pages were first read as +a paper in March 1899. + +[213] _Enn._ vi. 4, 14. + +[214] _Enn._ iv. 3, 27. + +[215] _Enn._ v. 2-3. The World-Soul is _supra grammaticam_; and Plotinus +sometimes uses a personal, sometimes an impersonal, locution to express +what is infinitely beyond the conception of personality, as it is +infinitely beyond any human conception whatsoever. + +[216] For the fullest account of Félida, see _Hypnotisme_, _Double +Conscience_, etc., par le Dr. Azam. Paris, 1887. + +[217] _Revue Scientifique_, 3e série, xxxii. p. 167. + +[218] An apparent discrepancy between Professor Hilprecht's account and +that of Mrs. Hilprecht calls for explanation. Professor Hilprecht states +that he verified his dream on Sunday morning at the University; Mrs. +Hilprecht that he verified it immediately upon awaking, in his library. +Both statements are correct. He had a working copy in his library which +he examined at once, but hurried to the University next morning to +verify it by comparison with the authorised copy made from the +originals.--W. R. N. + +[219] This appendix has been greatly abridged. + +[220] See _Annales Médico-Psychologiques_, 1882, p. 75, and Dr. Berjon, +_La grande Hystéric chez l'Homme_, Paris, 1886. + +[221] _Annales Médico-Psychologiques_, 1884, vol. ii. p. 289 _seqq._ + +[222] Dr. E. Dufour, médecin en chef de l'asile Saint-Robert (Isère). +See _Annales Médico-Psychologiques_, September 1886, p. 238, and +_Contribution à l'étude de l'hypnotisme_, par le Dr. Dufour, Grenoble, +1887. + +[223] It was not unusual for her to sit in the _salon_ in the evening, +after the day's occupations were over. + +[224] I noted on this narrative at the time I received it: "This account +is entirely concordant with the account written by Mrs. Ramsay before +reading Mrs. Elgee's account in 1888, and abstracted by me for an +article in _Murray's Magazine_. There was this discrepancy between Mrs. +Elgee and Mrs. Ramsay,--that Mrs. Ramsay thought that the figure wore a +beard, whereas Mrs. Elgee saw him as she knew him--with whiskers only. +He certainly had no beard at the time." + +[225] A plan enclosed shows a suite of four rooms, M. Potolof's study, +the ante-room, the drawing-room, and M. Mamtchitch's study, all opening +into one another, the three doors between them being in one straight +line. + +[226] See "Phantasms of the Dead from another point of view," +_Proceedings_ S.P.R., vol. vi. p. 291. + +[227] We have ascertained that this date was a Sunday. + +[228] Some of the correspondence about the case given in the +_Proceedings_ is omitted here for want of space. + +[229] A dream in which a message of somewhat the same kind is given is +recorded in the _Journal_ S.P.R., vol. vii. p. 188. See also the old +case of Dr. Binns, given in his _Anatomy of Sleep_, p. 462. + +[230] An account of this case appeared in an article by Herman Snow in +the _Religio-Philosophical Journal_ for January 31st, 1891, and Mr. Snow +also sent us an earlier article on the subject which he had written in +1881, and of which his second account was a mere repetition. The facts +were related to him by the Unitarian minister of the place where Mrs. +Finney lived; and this third-hand account recorded by Mr. Snow fifteen +years after the event closely coincides with Mrs. Finney's first-hand +one, recorded twenty-five years after the event. + +[231] In this edition the synopsis of the scheme alone is given. + +[232] This appendix was written originally with a special view to the +phenomena alleged to occur in the case of Mr. W. Stainton Moses. + +[233] Mr. Goodall thinks that the mule's sudden fall, otherwise +unexplainable, may have been due to terror at some apparition of the +dying child. + + + +ou il préparait le samovar + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Human Personality and its Survival of +Bodily Death, by Frederick W. H. 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