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THE LAW OF PSYCHIC PHENOMENA




BY DR. HUDSON.


  THE LAW OF PSYCHIC PHENOMENA. 12mo                      $1.50

  A SCIENTIFIC DEMONSTRATION OF THE FUTURE LIFE. 12mo      1.50

  THE DIVINE PEDIGREE OF MAN. 12mo                         1.50

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A.C. MCCLURG & CO.

CHICAGO.




  THE LAW

  OF

  PSYCHIC PHENOMENA

  A Working Hypothesis

  FOR THE

  SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF HYPNOTISM,
  SPIRITISM, MENTAL THERAPEUTICS,
  ETC.

  BY

  THOMSON JAY HUDSON, PH.D., LL.D.

  AUTHOR OF "A SCIENTIFIC DEMONSTRATION OF THE FUTURE LIFE,"
  "THE DIVINE PEDIGREE OF MAN," ETC.

  [Illustration]

  SIXTIETH THOUSAND

  CHICAGO
  A.C. MCCLURG & CO.
  1904




  COPYRIGHT
  BY A.C. MCCLURG AND CO.
  A.D. 1893


  UNIVERSITY PRESS, JOHN WILSON
  AND SON · CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.




TO THE

Honorable Lester L. Bond,

THE COMPANION OF MY YOUTH, THE STEADFAST FRIEND OF MY MANHOOD, MY
MENTOR ALWAYS,

THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED BY

  THE AUTHOR.




PREFACE.


I do not expect this book to stand upon its literary merits; for if it
is unsound in principle, felicity of diction cannot save it, and if
sound, homeliness of expression cannot destroy it. My primary object
in offering it to the public is to assist in bringing Psychology
within the domain of the exact sciences. That this has never been
accomplished is owing to the fact that no successful attempt has been
made to formulate a working hypothesis sufficiently comprehensive to
embrace all psychic phenomena. It has, however, long been felt by the
ablest thinkers of our time that all psychic manifestations of the
human intellect, normal or abnormal, whether designated by the name
of mesmerism, hypnotism, somnambulism, trance, spiritism, demonology,
miracle, mental therapeutics, genius, or insanity, are in some way
related; and consequently, that they are to be referred to some general
principle or law, which, once understood, will simplify and correlate
the whole subject-matter, and possibly remove it from the domain of
the supernatural. The London Society for Psychical Research, whose
ramifications extend all over the civilized world, was organized for
the purpose of making a systematic search for that law. The Society
numbers among its membership many of the ablest scientists now living.
Its methods of investigation are purely scientific, and painstaking
to the last degree, and its field embraces all psychic phenomena. It
has already accumulated and verified a vast array of facts of the most
transcendent interest and importance. In the mean time a large number
of the ablest scientists of Europe and America have been pursuing
independent investigations in the phenomena of hypnotism. They too
have accumulated facts and discovered principles of vast importance,
especially in the field of mental therapeutics,--principles which also
throw a flood of light upon the general subject of Psychology.

This vast array of facts, thus accumulated and verified, and awaiting
scientific classification and analysis, would seem to justify at least
a tentative effort to apply to them the processes of induction, to the
end that the fundamental law of psychic phenomena may be discovered.

In the following pages I have attempted such a classification of
verified phenomena, accounts of which I find in the literature current
on the subject; and I have tentatively formulated a working hypothesis
for the systematic study of all classes of psychic phenomena. It
will be observed that I have availed myself largely of the labors of
others, instead of confining myself to experimental researches of my
own. I have done this for two reasons: _first_, that I might avoid the
accusation of having conducted a series of experiments for the purpose
of sustaining a pet theory of my own; and _second_, because I hold that
substantial progress cannot be made in science until one is ready to
accord due credit to human integrity, and to give due weight to human
testimony.

In conclusion, I desire to say that I claim no credit for this work,
save that which is due to an honest desire to promote the truth for its
own sake. Sincerely believing in the correctness of my hypothesis, I
have not hesitated to follow it to its legitimate conclusion in every
field which I have entered. If at the close of the book I have seemed
to trespass upon the forbidden field of theological discussion, it was
not for the purpose of sustaining any preconceived opinions of my own;
far from it. It was because I was irresistibly led to my conclusions by
the terms of my hypothesis and the inflexible logic of its application.
I cannot but be aware that my conclusions sometimes oppose the
preconceived opinions of others. But no one who accepts my hypothesis
as the true one will be compelled more frequently than I have been to
renounce his former convictions.

  T.J.H.

  WASHINGTON, D.C.
  October 21, 1892.




CONTENTS.


    CHAPTER I.

    INTRODUCTORY.

                                                                      PAGE

    Necessity of a Working Hypothesis.--The Newtonian Hypothesis.--The
    Atomic Theory.--A Psychological Hypothesis
    necessary.--Theories of Hypnotism and Mesmerism.--Spiritism.--Mental
    Therapeutics.--Liébault's Law of Suggestion.--Duality
    of Mind.--A Working Hypothesis for
    Psychology formulated.--Its Three Terms                              19


    CHAPTER II.

    DUALITY AND SUGGESTION.

    The Doctrine of the Trinity of Man.--The Greek Philosophy.--The Early
    Christian Fathers.--Hermetic Philosophy.--Swedenborg.--Duality in
    Modern Philosophy.--"Objective" and "Subjective" Minds.--Their
    Distinctive Differences and Modes of Operation.--The Subjective
    Mind a Distinct Entity.--Illustrations from Hypnotism.--Suggestion.
    --Auto-Suggestion.--Universality of the Law of Suggestion            27


    CHAPTER III.

    REASONING POWERS OF THE TWO MINDS DIFFERENTIATED.

    The Subjective Mind incapable of Inductive Reasoning.--Its
    Processes always Deductive, or Syllogistic.--Its Premises
    the Result of Suggestion.--Illustrations by Hypnotism.--Hypnotic
    Interview with Socrates.--Reasons from an Assumed
    Major Premise.--Interview with a Philosophic Pig.--The
    Pig affirms the Doctrine of Reincarnation.--Dogmatism
    of Subjective Intelligence.--Incapable of Controversial
    Argument.--Persistency in following a Suggested Line of
    Thought                                                              33


    CHAPTER IV.

    PERFECT MEMORY OF THE SUBJECTIVE MIND.

    Confirmed by Hypnotic Phenomena.--Opinions of Psychologists.--Sir
    William Hamilton's Views.--Observations of Dr. Rush.--Talent for
    Poetry and Music developed by Abnormal Conditions.--Talent for Drawing
    evolved by Madness.--Resuscitation of Knowledge in the
    Insane.--Extraordinary Feats of Memory during Illness.--A Forgotten
    Language recovered.--Whole Pages of Greek and Hebrew remembered by
    an Illiterate Servant Girl.--Speaking in Unknown Tongues
    explained.--The Result of the Operations of Natural Law              40


    CHAPTER V.

    SUBJECTIVE MEMORY (_continued_).

    Practical Illustrations.--Reasons for Limitations of Subjective
    Power.--Its Practical Significance.--Its Application to the Solution of
    Problems of Insanity.--The Mental Phenomena of "Genius."--Napoleon
    Bonaparte.--Shakspeare.--Poets.--Artists.--Macaulay's Estimate of Poets
    and Poetry.--Dangers of Subjective Control.--Lord Byron.--Socrates'
    Estimate of Poets.--His Recognition of the Subjective Element in Poetic
    Composition.--Occasional Inconveniences.--Unconscious
    Plagiarism.--Observations of Holmes.--Improvisation.--Solution
    of the Shakspeare-Bacon Problem.--The Subjective in Art.--Madness in
    Art.--Great Orators.--Webster.--Clay.--Patrick
    Henry.--Incidents.--Practical Conclusions                            48


    CHAPTER VI.

    PERCEPTION OF THE FIXED LAWS OF NATURE.

    Three Sub-Classes of Mental Phenomena.--Mathematical
    Prodigies.--Musical Prodigies.--Measurement of Time.--Distinction
    between Results of Objective Education and
    Intuitive Perception.--Zerah Colburn, the Mathematical
    Prodigy.--The Lightning Calculator.--Bl