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    _THE CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE SERIES._

    EDITED BY HAVELOCK ELLIS.

    APPARITIONS
    AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.




    APPARITIONS

    AND

    THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE:

    _AN EXAMINATION OF THE EVIDENCE
    FOR TELEPATHY_.

    BY

    FRANK PODMORE, M.A.

    _WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS._

    LONDON:
    WALTER SCOTT, LTD.,
    24 WARWICK LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW.
    1894.




CONTENTS.


    CHAPTER I.
                             PAGE

    INTRODUCTORY      1

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


CHAPTER II.

    EXPERIMENTAL TRANSFERENCE OF SIMPLE SENSATIONS
    IN THE NORMAL STATE      18

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


CHAPTER III.

    EXPERIMENTAL TRANSFERENCE OF SIMPLE SENSATIONS
    WITH HYPNOTISED PERCIPIENTS      58

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


CHAPTER IV.

    EXPERIMENTAL PRODUCTION OF MOVEMENTS AND
    OTHER EFFECTS      82

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


CHAPTER V.

    EXPERIMENTAL PRODUCTION OF TELEPATHIC EFFECTS
    AT A DISTANCE      105

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


CHAPTER VI.

    GENERAL CRITICISM OF THE EVIDENCE FOR SPONTANEOUS
    THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE      143

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


CHAPTER VII.

    TRANSFERENCE OF IDEAS AND EMOTIONS      161

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


CHAPTER VIII.

    COINCIDENT DREAMS      185

    Discussion of the evidence for telepathy derivable from
    dreams--Chance-coincidence--Simultaneous dreams, the Misses
    Bidder--Transference of sensation in dreams, Professor Royce, Mrs.
    Harrison--Dreams conveying news of death, etc., Mr. J. T., Mr.
    R. V. Boyle, Captain Campbell, Mr. E. W. Hamilton, Mr. Edward A.
    Goodall--Clairvoyant dream, Mrs. E. J.


CHAPTER IX.

    ON HALLUCINATION IN GENERAL      207

    Common misconceptions--Hypnotic hallucinations, experiments by
    MM. Binet and Féré, Mr. Myers--_Point de repère_--Post-hypnotic
    hallucinations, Professor Liégeois, Edmund Gurney--Spontaneous
    hallucinations, Professor Sidgwick's census--Table showing
    classification of spontaneous hallucinations--Origin of
    hallucinations, sometimes telepathic--Proof of this, calculation of
    chance-coincidence, allowance for defects of memory--Conclusion.


CHAPTER X.

    INDUCED TELEPATHIC HALLUCINATIONS      226

    Possible misconceptions--Accounts of experiments, by Rev. Clarence
    Godfrey, Herr Wesermann, Mr. H. P. Sparks, and A. H. W. Cleave, Mrs
    B----, Dr. von Schrenck-Notzing, Dr. Wiltse, Mr. Kirk.


CHAPTER XI.

    SPONTANEOUS TELEPATHIC HALLUCINATIONS      247

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


CHAPTER XII.

    COLLECTIVE HALLUCINATIONS      268

    Illusions, epidemic hallucinations, illusions of
    memory--Explanations of collective hallucination--Auditory
    hallucinations, Mr. C. H. Cary, Miss Newbold--Visual
    hallucinations, Mrs. Greiffenberg, Mrs. Milman and Miss Campbell,
    Mr. and Mrs. C----, Mr. Falkinburg, Dr. W. O. S., Rev. C. H.
    Jupp--Collective hallucinations with percipients apart, Sister
    Martha and Madame Houdaille, Sir Lawrence Jones and Mr. Herbert
    Jones.


CHAPTER XIII.

    SOME LESS COMMON TYPES OF TELEPATHIC HALLUCINATION      297

    Reciprocal cases, Rev. C. L. Evans and Miss ---- --A misinterpreted
    message, Miss C. L. Hawkins-Dempster--Heteroplastic hallucination,
    Mrs. G----, Frances Reddell, Mr. John Husbands, Mr. J----
    --"Haunted houses," Mrs. Knott and others, Surgeon-Major W. and
    others.


CHAPTER XIV.

    ON CLAIRVOYANCE IN TRANCE      326

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


CHAPTER XV.

    ON CLAIRVOYANCE IN THE NORMAL STATE      351

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


CHAPTER XVI.

    THEORIES AND CONCLUSIONS      371

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




    PREFACE.


    The following pages aim at presenting in brief compass a selection
    of the evidence upon which the hypothesis of thought-transference,
    or telepathy, is based. It is now more than twelve years since
    the Society for Psychical Research was founded, and nearly eight
    since the publication of _Phantasms of the Living_. Both in the
    periodical _Proceedings_ of the Society and in the pages of Edmund
    Gurney's book,[1] a large mass of evidence has been laid before
    the public. But the papers included in the _Proceedings_ are
    interspersed with other matter, some of it too technical for the
    taste of the general reader; whilst the two volumes of _Phantasms
    of the Living_, which have for some time been out of print, were
    too costly for the purse of some, and too bulky for the patience of
    others. The attention which, notwithstanding these drawbacks, that
    work excited on its first appearance, the friendly reception which
    it met with in many quarters, and the fact that a considerable
    edition has been disposed of, encouraged the hope that a book on
    somewhat similar lines, but on a smaller scale, might be of service
    to those--and their number has probably increased within the last
    few years--who take a genuine interest in this inquiry. Accordingly
    in the autumn of 1892 I obtained permission from the Council of the
    Society for Psychical Research to make full use, in the compilation
    of the present work, not merely of the evidence already published
    by us, but of the not inconsiderable mass of unpublished records in
    the possession of the Society.

    It will be seen that the present book has little claim to novelty
    of design; but it is not merely an abridged edition of the larger
    work referred to. On the one hand it has a somewhat wider scope,
    and includes accounts of telepathic clairvoyance and other
    phenomena which did not enter into the scheme of Mr. Gurney's book.
    On the other hand, the bulk of the illustrative cases here quoted
    have been taken from more recent records; and, in particular,
    certain branches of the experimental work have assumed a quite
    new importance within the last few years. Thus the experiments
    conducted by Mrs. Henry Sidgwick at Brighton have strengthened
    the demonstration of thought-transference, and have gone far to
    solve one or two of the problems connected with the subject; and
    the evidence for the experimental production of telepathic effects
    at a distance has been greatly enlarged by the work of MM. Janet
    and Gibert,[2] Richet, Gibotteau, Schrenck-Notzing, and in this
    country by Mr. Kirk and others.[3] It may be added that some of
    the criticisms called forth by _Phantasms of the Living_, and our
    own further researches, have led us to modify our estimate of
    the evidence in some directions, and to strengthen generally the
    precautions taken against the unconscious warping of testimony.

    To say, however, that the following pages owe much to Edmund
    Gurney is but to acknowledge the obligation which all students
    of the subject must recognise to his keen and vigorous intellect
    and his colossal industry. My own debt is a more personal one. To
    have worked under his guidance, and to have been stimulated by his
    example, was an invaluable schooling in the qualities demanded by
    an inquiry of this nature. Of the living, I owe grateful thanks,
    in the first instance, to Professor and Mrs. Henry Sidgwick, who
    have read through the whole of the book in typescript, and have
    given help and counsel throughout. Miss Alice Johnson, Mr. F. W.
    H. Myers, the late Dr. A. T. Myers, Miss Porter, and others have
    also given me welcome help in various directions. In acknowledging
    this assistance, however, it is right to add that, though I trust
    in my estimate of the evidence presented, and in the general tenour
    of the conclusions suggested, to find myself, with few exceptions,
    in substantial agreement with my colleagues, yet I have no claim to
    represent the Society for Psychical Research, nor right to cloak my
    own shortcomings with the authority of others.

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

    FRANK PODMORE.

    _August 1894._

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: The book actually bore on the title-page the names of
Edmund Gurney, F. W. H. Myers, and the present writer. But the division
of authorship, as explained in the Preface, was as follows:--"As
regards the writing and the views expressed, Mr. Myers is solely
responsible for the Introduction, and for the 'Note on a Suggested
Mode of Psychical Interaction;' and Mr. Gurney is solely responsible
for the remainder of the book.... But the collection, examination, and
appraisal of evidence has been a joint labour."]

[Footnote 2: Some account of the earlier experiments by MM. Janet and
Gibert was included in the supplementary chapter at the end of the
second volume of _Phantasms_.]

[Footnote 3: See Chapters V. and X. of the present book.]




APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.




CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY--SPECIAL GROUNDS OF CAUTION.


It is salutary sometimes to reflect how recent is the growth of our
scientific cosmos, and how brief an interval separates it from the
chaos which went before. This may be seen even in Sciences which deal
with matters of common observation. Amongst material phenomena the
facts of Geology are assuredly not least calculated to excite the
curiosity or impress the imagination of men. Yet until the middle of
the last century no serious attempt was made to solve the physical
problems they presented. The origin of the organic remains embedded
in the rocks had indeed formed the subject of speculation ever since
the days of Aristotle. Theophrastus had suggested that they were
formed by the plastic forces of Nature. Mediæval astrologers ascribed
their formation to planetary influences. And these hypotheses, with
the alternative view of the Church, that fossil bones and shells were
relics of the Mosaic Deluge, appear to have satisfied the learned of
Europe until the time of Voltaire, who reinforced the rationalistic
position, as he conceived it, by the suggestion that the shells, at
any rate, had been dropped from the hats of pilgrims returning from
the Holy Land. Yet Werner and Hutton were even then preparing to
elucidate the causes of stratification and the genesis of the igneous
rocks. Cuvier in the next generation was to demonstrate the essential
analogies of the fossils found in the Paris basin with living species;
Agassiz was to investigate the relation of fossil fishes and to show
the true nature of their embedded remains. Nay, even in the middle of
the present century, so slow is the growth and spread of organised
knowledge, it was possible for a pious Scotchman to ascribe the origin
of mountain chains to a cataclysm which, after the fall of Man, had
broken up and distorted the once symmetrical surface of the earth;[4]
for a Dean of York to essay to bring the Mediæval theory up to date and
prove that the whole series of geological strata, with their varied
organic remains, were formed by volcanic eruptions acting in concert
with the Mosaic Deluge;[5] and for another English divine to warn his
readers against any sacrilegious meddling with the arcana of the rocks,
because they represented the tentative essays of the Creator at organic
forms--a concealed storehouse of celestial misfits![6]

The subject-matter of the present inquiry has passed, or is now
passing, through stages closely similar to those above described.
"Ghosts" and warning dreams have been matters of popular belief and
interest since the earliest ages known to history, and are prevalent
amongst even the least advanced races at the present time. The
Specularii and Dr. Dee have familiarised us with clairvoyance and
crystal vision. Many of the alleged marvels of witchcraft were
probably due to the agency of hypnotism, which in later times, under
the various names of mesmerism, electrobiology, animal magnetism, has
attracted the curiosity of the unlettered, and from time to time the
serious interest of the learned. These phenomena indeed were made the
subject of scientific inquiry, first in France and later in England,
during the first half of the present century; have now again, after a
brief period of eclipse, been investigated for the last two decades
by competent observers on the Continent, and are at length winning a
recognised footing in scientific circles in this country. Yet within
the last two or three years we have witnessed the spectacle of more
than one medical man, of some repute in this island, laughing to scorn
all the researches of Charcot and Bernheim, just as their prototypes a
generation or two ago ignored the results of Cuvier and Agassiz, and
held it an insult to the Creator to accept the scientific explanation
of coprolites.

And as regards the other subjects, to which must be added the
alleged marvels of the Spiritualists, there have indeed been one
or two isolated series of observations by competent inquirers, but
for the most part the learned have held themselves free to as