Psychical Research : 1900 . - 1939 Proceedings of the Societ 356 Mrs. Henry Sidgwick. [PART Psychical Research 19, # 5 I. RICHARD HODGSON IN MEMORIAM. I. By MRS. HENRY SIDGWICK. IN the death of Richard Hodgson, which occurred quite suddenly and unexpectedly on the 20th of December, 1905, the Society for Psychical Research has lost a member who must always occupy a prominent place in its annals. He not only took an important share in its work, but almost from its foundation he determined to give his life to the questions with which it is concerned, regarding this investigation as one of the most important objects to which the human mind and human energy could be devoted, and therefore one to which worldly ambitions should be cheerfully sacrificed. Richard Hodgson was born at Melbourne in Australia in 1855, was educated in the public schools there, and after- wards entered the Melbourne University where he took the degrees of M.A. and LL.D. His intention had been to devote himself to the Law, but he was diverted from this apparently by the study of philosophy and the interest it inspired, and it was probably with a view to pursuing his philosophical studies that he came to England. He entered the University of Cambridge as a student at St. John's College in 1878, and read for the Moral Sciences Tripos, in which he took honours in 1881. It was characteristic of him that, having thus qualified for a degree, his friends had some difficulty in persuading him to take it, because the ceremony involved kneeling to the Vice-Chancellor, and he Pame : Phinograph by A Marshall Arlinoter Street Bos did not wish to bend the knee to any man. After com- pleting his Cambridge course he studied for a time at the University of Jena in Germany, and on returning to England LII.] Richard Hodgson: in Memoriam. 357 took part in University extension lecturing in the North of England. As a student of the Moral Sciences he was naturally brought into contact at Cambridge with Henry Sidgwick, who besides lecturing made a practice of going over his pupils' work with them individually, and thus saw a good deal of them. The friendship and regard for each other first formed between the two men in the relation of teacher and pupil was a lasting one. The philosophic writer in whom Mr. Hodgson felt most interest, and with whom he was most disposed to agree at this time, was Herbert Spencer, on whom he both wrote and later lectured at Cambridge. But he was not consciously a follower of Herbert Spencer or of any other philosopher. Indeed he was always a man of great independence of mind, with an almost inconvenient dislike of following others. It was, I suppose, to give relief to this feeling, and as a symbol of his desire to take an independent line, that he adopted while at Cambridge an evening dress suit of brown cloth instead of the ordinary black one. This becoming but eccen- tric costume he discontinued after some years, realising, doubtless, that it is not worth while expending energy in diverging from custom in unimportant details. Mr. Hodgson's interest in the objects investigated by our Society had already begun in Australia, and at Cambridge he took an active part in an undergraduate society formed to investigate some of them. This society had but a brief existence, and did not obtain any satisfactory results; but it doubtless helped to prepare him for what was ultimately to be his life's work, and when the Society for Psychical Research was founded in 1882 he became one of its earliest members.1 How early he took an active part in its work and its councils I am not quite sure, but in 1884, when a keen interest was being taken in England in Madame Blavatsky and her Theosophical Society, Mr. Hodgson was co-opted as a member of the Committee appointed to investigate the marvels alleged to occur in connection with Theosophy. These phe- nomena were in many respects analogous to those said to occur at spiritualistic séances-c.g. the transportation even through 1 His name appears in the first published list of members. 358 Mrs. Henry Sidgwick. [PART LII.] Richard Hodgson: in Memoriam. 359 solid matter of ponderable objects. Mr. Hodgson was sent what an inspiriting fellow-worker these qualities, together with out by the Committee in November, 1884, to investigate the his vigour and energy and keen interest, made him. phenomena in India, where they chiefly occurred. Before he The Blavatsky investigation proved purely destructive, and started considerable doubt had been thrown by revelations Mr. Hodgson's powers were often afterwards applied to of confederates and otherwise on the genuineness of Madame necessary but destructive work in exposing trickery. But it is Blavatsky's occult powers and on the existence of the Tibetan not for his destructive work that the Society owes him most Mahatmas with whom she professed to work. But this did gratitude. The next important piece of work he undertook- not detract from the merit of Mr. Hodgson's work, which namely, an experimental investigation in conjunction with Mr. included, of course, among other things, an investigation into S. J. Davey into the possibilities of mal-observation and lapse of the trustworthiness of the assertions made by the confederates, memory in connection with phenomena such as those which and which was carried out with much care and acumen, and occur at séances-though from one point of view destructive with a praiseworthy thoroughness patent to all who read is from another constructive, establishing psychological data his report. ¹ The result was that finally he had no doubt of great importance for the estimation of evidence in whatever that the phenomena connected with the Theosophical psychical research. This investigation, of which the results Society were part of a huge fraudulent system worked by are contained in two papers in our Proceedings,2 is probably Madame Blavatsky with the assistance of confederates, and Mr. Hodgson's most original work. It is certainly a contribution of that not a single genuine phenomenon could be found among lasting value to the work of the Society, and one which cannot them all. And this, after receiving Mr. Hodgson's report, was be ignored by any one seriously desiring to estimate evidence the conclusion also of the Committee, though they expressed for phenomena not apparently in accordance with the known it in more guarded language. laws of nature, and in regard to which there is any possibility During this visit to India Mr. Hodgson greatly developed, of conscious or unconscious deception. It was, however, after if he did not actually acquire, the interest in all kinds of he went to America that, through the work he did with Mrs. conjuring performances and ingenious tricks and puzzles which Piper, Mr. Hodgson first added to the positive evidence for became SO characteristic of him, and which on many occasions the reality of supernormal phenomena. served him well in enabling him to unmask trickery in con- In 1887 he was invited to go to the United States of nection with phenomena alleged to be occult. I have still America as secretary to the American Society for Psychical a number of puzzles which he gave me at this time, and Research, and with reluctance made up his mind to leave remember the pleasure he took in making me unravel them. England and his friends here for the purpose. He held the In the course, too, of his investigation into the Theosophical office till in 1890 that Society converted itself into a Branch phenomena he made himself an expert in handwriting, of the English Society, and then retained a similar position applying his skill especially in connection with the so-called as secretary of the Branch. He soon made friends in Koot Hoomi letters, said to have been written and America, and transferring his affections to that country came mysteriously conveyed to the recipients by a Mahatma residing to regard it as his home. Only once did he return to in Tibet, but really for the most part written by Madame England except for brief visits. In 1897 an effort was Blavatsky herself in a disguised hand. Mr. Hodgson was undoubtedly a man of great power of observation and acute 1 E.g. in the case of the greater part of Eusapia Paladino's work at Cambridge in 1895. inference, which he combined with an unusually genial and The Possibilities of Mal-observation and Lapse of Memory from a Practical enthusiastic nature. I was a good deal associated with him Point of View" (Experimental investigation by S. J. Davey, with introduction in the work of investigation at this time, and well remember by R. Hodgson), Proceedings S.P.R., Vol. VI., pp. 381-495; and "Mr. Davey's Imitations by Conjuring of Phenomena sometimes attributed to Spirit Agency," 1 Proceedings S.P.R., Vol. III., pp. 207-380. by R. Hodgson, Proceedings S.P.R., Vol. VIII., pp. 253-310. [PART LII.] 360 Mrs. Henry Sidgwick. Richard Hodgson in Memoriam. 361 made to attach him more completely to the central work the chief "communicators" through Mrs. Piper were "veritably of the Society. He resided in England for a year from the the personalities that they claim to be, that they have autumn of 1897, and served as a member of the Council survived the change we call death, and that they have and Editor of the Proceedings and Journal. But the attraction directly communicated with us whom we call living through of America and of the work in America was too strong. Mrs. Piper's entranced organism." Whether he would have He returned there in 1898, intending that it should be admitted any modification to this statement in later years for a time only ; but he could not tear himself away, and I do not know, but there is no doubt that to the end he when this became evident to him in 1899 he resigned the retained his belief in the broad fact that we have empirical post of Editor. Meanwhile his constant interchange of views evidence of the survival of the dead and of their power with Mr. Myers resulted in a close approximation on theoretical under certain circumstances to communicate with the living, points between them, probably through modifications and and that he held this belief with a strength of conviction developments on both sides and after Mr. Myers died leaving which probably nothing could have shaken. Some of the his book Human Personality only partly in print, it fell to evidence on which the belief was founded is set forth in Mr. Hodgson, in co-operation with Miss Johnson, to complete the above-mentioned report, but, as must almost always happen and edit what was unfinished. in such cases, the evidence that could be published is not the When Mr. Hodgson went to America in 1887 he found whole of what served to convince Mr. Hodgson and others who members of the Society there, especially Professor William knew the deceased persons supposed to be communicating, nor James, already interested in the trance phenomena of Mrs. indeed is the whole of it capable of being put down in writing. Piper. He immediately began work with her, and was soon It is, of course, of great importance that any conclusions SO much interested that the investigation became hence- that may be drawn from Mrs. Piper's trance utterances should forward his most absorbing work, and was only intermitted be supported by investigation into the automatic speaking and during short intervals till his death. It was in consequence writing of other sensitives, and it is to be regretted that of his and Professor James's reports that Mrs. Piper was Mr. Hodgson did not give some of the time devoted in later invited to England in 1889, but though the reports of the years to Mrs. Piper to looking into other cases. We must English sittings were ready for publication first, it will be regret, moreover, that he has left us without bringing into remembered that Mr. Hodgson's report, published in 1892 order the mass of still unpublished material he had collected in (Proceedings S.P.R., Vol. VIII., pp. 1-167), contains records sittings with Mrs. Piper in these later years-material of which of earlier work. It is, of course, only a small proportion of the value is at present unknown. But whatever this material the Piper evidence which seems to require the hypothesis of when examined may reveal, and whether it can be made use communication with the dead for even when the trance- of publicly or not, it is certain that the labours of Mr. Hodgson personality exhibits knowledge which it is difficult to suppose have given to the world an important record of developments otherwise than supernormally acquired, thought-transference of trance speaking and writing observed with Mrs. Piper between living persons will generally suffice to account for through a long series of years. It is certain, too, that this it. It was therefore natural that Mr. Hodgson should only record includes a considerable amount of evidence for the gradually arrive at the momentous conclusion (expressed in acquisition of knowledge in some supernormal manner by the his second report on Mrs. Piper, published in 1898 2 that trance personality; and, more important still, it undoubtedly contains evidence which cannot be ignored, and which Mr. 1 Proceedings S.P.R., Vol. VI., pp. 436-659. 2 Proceedings S.P.R., Vol. XIII., pp. 284-582. Not only Mr. Hodgson's own Hodgson himself regarded as conclusive, for the possibility of papers on Mrs. Piper, but those of Professor W. Romaine Newbold (Proceedings communication between the dead and the living. S.P.R., Vol. XIV., pp. 6-49) and of Professor Hyslop (Proceedings S.P.R., Vol. ] Proceedings Vol. XIII., p. 406. XVI.) are based on evidence obtained largely with Mr. Hodgson's assistance. 362 J. G. Piddington. [PART LII.] Richard Hodgson : in Memoriam. 363 side of his life is natural enough but apart from this it is only right that we should learn all we can of the psychology of the psychologist ; for, if, confining our attention to the mere record of his investigations, we ignore the personal equation of the investigator, we shall have neglected one of the vital 11. elements of the problem. By J. G. PIDDINGTON. What manner of man, then, was Richard Hodgson ? First and foremost he loved life and he played the game Hodgson, to cross the bar is a delightful experience." of life whole-heartedly and joyously. He was a healthy animal, (R.H. I shall meet it with roses and daffodils for love and spring-time.") with an undegenerate appetite for food and exercise and sport " That sounds natural." and open air; an appetite which kept its keen edge to the (Extract from record of sitting with Mrs. Piper, held on January 28th, 1902.) last because he never blunted it by over-indulgence or by unwholesome fare. He died playing a game, and in the circum- RICHARD HODGSON'S life fell roughly into three acts, the scene stance of his death there was nothing inappropriate,-I had of each laid in a different continent, with an interlude in a almost said that it was characteristic. fourth. Some of you may have pictured him to yourselves as the The first 23 years of his life were passed in Australia, the severe recluse absorbed in his metaphysical studies, careless, next 9 in England, and the last 18 in America. For his if not contemptuous, of all that did not belong to the in- own happiness it was probably well that the middle period tellectual or to the spiritual side of life. He was nothing of was the briefest of the three, for it was only in the freer, the sort. He did not breezier social climates of his first and last homes, and especially in 'the large and charitable air" of America, that the real desire in any way nature of the man blossomed forth. In the conventional and To vary from the kindly race of men." reserved atmosphere of England he must often have been ill He was the most sociable of beings. In Dr. Johnson's phrase, at ease, and was certainly not at his best, and he felt he was a clubbable man," and he was fortunate enough to himself, I believe, "cabin'd, cribb'd, confined." find at Boston that rare thing, a clubbable club, where he Partly for this reason, and partly by reason of his long gratified this social instinct to the full. He had rooms in absence, some engaging sides of his character were little, if which he slept and breakfasted and worked, but his real home at all, known to us in England. I have recently been going was the Tavern Club which is not SO much a club as a through a mass of his papers, and have been brought into Happy Family. He was one of the club's most constant contact with his Boston friends. What I have learnt from habitués, and, perhaps, its most popular member. If there these two sources has thrown on Hodgson's character a light was any fun going on-and there is no lack of it at the Tavern new to me, and, as it may be new to others too, I have -Hodgson was sure to be, if not the centre, at least in the attempted to set down here the impressions I have gathered. centre of it. I spoke of his popularity, but a more intimate Mrs. Sidgwick is dealing with Hodgson's work as a word is needed. To the affection in which he was held by psychical researcher. Here I wish to speak only of Richard his fellow Taverners more than one of them spoke in my Hodgson as a man, hearing, in few words indeed, as befits us Anglo-Saxons, but Among the names of those who have devoted themselves in a tone of shy reserve eloquent of sincere emotion. to the study of psychical phenomena his must remain a At the Club he could throw psychical research to the winds prominent one. Interest, therefore, in the purely personal with a clear conscience, for by most of his club friends his 364 J. G. Piddington. [PART LII.] Richard Hodgson in Memoriam. 365 devotion to it was looked upon as an amiable weakness, a more in keeping with his chief pursuit-were a mild sympathy curious streak of crankiness in an otherwise eminently sane with the anti-vaccinationists and an interest in the Baconian character, and as a fit subject for pleasantry and chaff chaff controversy though the latter, I suspect, was traceable rather which Hodgson took with unruffled good humour. And it to his leaning towards everything partaking of the nature of was well in every way that he was thus almost daily led to a puzzle than to any serious doubts about the authorship of avoid for a few hours all reference, or all but joking reference, Shakespeare's works. to a subject from which regular relaxation is essential if sense As I worked my way through his papers, evidence for this of proportion and sanity of judgment are to be retained. penchant for puzzles cropped up at every turn; and I cannot Yet to a congenial audience or to enquirers who had or doubt that it had much to do with determining his career. professed a serious desire to learn Hodgson would expatiate It must in any case have been one of the chief deciding factors. on his own subject with enthusiasm and a singularly retentive Another was, I believe, an innate and abiding religious sense. memory enabled him to illustrate it with a wealth of apposite In early life an earnest and active Nonconformist, he, while and accurate detail. still a young man, cut himself adrift from his first religious Society, in the conventional sense, had no attractions for moorings as soon as he realised that he could no longer him; but each summer found him a delighted and a welcome conscientiously and unreservedly accept all the tenets of his guest among a circle of intimate friends in the Adirondack Church. Later on he became a disciple of Herbert Spencer. Mountains or at Bar Harbor. At Putnam's Camp in the But his soul was always athirst for the water brooks, and Adirondacks especially he could indulge to the full his pleasure it must have been with deep satisfaction and relief that in the companionship of children. He loved children-big he ultimately found in the conclusions which he drew from the and little-and they him. With them he became a boy again. investigations of this Society and chiefly from those he had He led their games, and the first to tire was never Hodgson. himself conducted in America an intellectual sanction for his When he died the first thought of more than one parent was aspirations. not of their own loss, but What will our children do without Genial and kindly though his nature was, it was not without him its roughnesses. In controversy he was apt to deal hard Puzzles of all and every kind, and anything akin thereto- blows in sledge-hammer style, and his own joy in combat conjuring-tricks, conundrums, catches, riddles, anagrams, acrostics, blinded him to the fact that his opponent was not necessarily cryptograms, cyphers-exercised a veritable fascination over him. as insensitive to castigation as himself. All of this sort was fish that came to his net. Once his mind was made up he became constitutionally For poetry he had the same omnivorous appetite, as his unable to appreciate another point of view, and his strong bookshelves testified. Though undoubtedly possessed of true convictions were accompanied by an almost righteous indig- taste, he was a very glutton for anything that had the least nation at the perversity of the other fellow. In other words, pretence to rime or metre. He would not only read but buy though full of fun he was lacking in a sense of humour. He the output of the feeblest of minor poets, rather, I fancy, than was in deadly earnest in whatever he took up. This dis- run the risk of missing one inspired thought or phrase that position made him in his later years impatient of compromise might lie lurking among a ream of rubbish. or control. He was one of those men who, averse from and Nor was poetry his only intellectual recreation. He had unsuited for co-operation, work best alone. been, if not a profound, at least no superficial student of The detective faculty, which served him SO well in the philosophy. He followed with interest the general progress solution of puzzles and usually in his psychical work, would of science, and astronomy had a particular attraction for him. occasionally mislead him in the ordinary relations of life Less orthodox-though, as the outside world might think, into fits of suspiciousness, as comic in their intensity as in 366 J. G. Piddington. [PART LII.] Richard Hodgson: in Memoriam. their object. On those on whom his suspicions fell he vented his sympathy. They came to meet him half way, it his displeasure in no measured terms; and, however groundless but even SO he won their confidence with extraordina his accusations might be shown to be, it was rarely, if ever, pleteness. Many of them poured out their hearts that he would admit himself mistaken. He could pardon, without restraint; and he, though naturally a man frankly and readily enough, as a rule, though sometimes reserve where his innermost emotions were concerned grudgingly and tardily but he found it hard to believe that repaying confidence with confidence, reveal to them his o his flair had been at fault. intimate experiences and convictions, in the hope of The competitive instinct, too, was unduly developed. He lightening the darkness or assuaging the bitterness hated being beaten in a game, and he would not admit despondency. And he won not only their confider defeat in an argument. And in each case I think defeat their gratitude also, and often their affection. was distasteful for the same reason namely, that at bottom His failings, such as they were, were the outcome he was SO firmly convinced that his own side was best that intense carnestness. His virtues were those of 3, no when it was worsted, or in danger of being worsted, he felt of man. a sense of injury because the righteous were not inheriting It was a fine life ; manly, simple, single of purpose the ,earth. The promise of this inheritance to the meek must best of all, perhaps-graced by warm and enduring frie have been to him the hardest of Hard Sayings. Yet if he played, or wrote, or talked for victory with excessive zeal, I do not believe for one moment that egotism was the cause. He knew his side was in the right, and his plain duty was to make that side prevail a refreshing trait in these indifferent days when we lazily incline to hold that there is SO much to be said for any side of a question that it matters little which gains the day. There was something of a strain of Old Testament vin- dictiveness in his make-up. He must, SO it seems to ine. have had his moments when with the Psalmist he might have cried " Of thy goodness slay mine enemies and destroy all them that vex my soul." But, mark you, as with the Psalmist SO with him, his enemies were always the Lord S enemies too though, doubtless, he either was unconscious of the coincidence, or, if he did remark it, was not disturbed by it. Still there was a very tender side to his character, which perhaps came out most fully in his intercourse with those who, raw from some recent bereavement, came for hope or consolation to him, either simply as to one versed in the problem of survival, or, as it were, to the keeper of an authentic door of access to the other world, or even, indeed, as to some Hierophant of the Mysteries of life and death. To such as these he gave lavishly of his time, his counsel and PROF. HYSLOP'S NEW SOCIETY New York Times (1857-Current file); Jun 17, 1906; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 2001) pg. 16 PROF. HYSLOP'S NEW SOCIETY Old Psychical Research Body Breaks Down for Lack of Money Support. The new American Society for Psychical Research, according to its founder, Prof. James H. Hyslop of Columbia University, has no quarrel with its parent, the Amer- ican Branch of the (English) Society for Psychical Research. "The older society has broken down. The new one merely takes its place," said Prof. Hyslop yes- terday. The American Branch of the English Society, which Prof. William James of Harvard and Prof. Minot were active in establishing in 1885, has just announced its dissolution. The headquarters of the society in Boston will be continued only until the beginning of next year. The American Branch has bocome im- possible for two reasons," Prof. Hyslop explained. The branch has never had any definite financial support. Research work Is becoming more and more syste- matic and expensive, We must rely upon something surer than occasional private contributions." Another reason, according to Prof. Hy- 2 slop, is the indifference of the English society toward the American group since the death last year of Prof. Richard Hodgson of Boston. Prof. Hodgson was President of the society in this country. The British psychologists have not ap- proved of any of the Americans suggested to succeed him. The new American Society for Psychical Research will be a branch of the Ameri- can Institute for Scientific Research, and will have Its headquarters in this city. We hope to get an endowment of $1,000.- 000." said Prof. Hyslop. The Psychical Institute in Paris has $800,000.' The council of the new society. which is not yet complete, includes Prof. W. Ro- maine Newbold of the University of Pennsylvania. Prof. H. Norman Gardiner of Smith College, Dr. Weston D. Bayley of Philadelphia, Prof. W. R. Benedict of the University of Cincinnati, and Prof. James H. Hyslop of Columbia University. QUEENS REPUBLICANS SPLIT. Odell Said to Have Defeated Commis- sionership Candidates. The loss of three public places worth about $10,000 each has upset the harmony of the Republican organization in the Bor- ough of Queens. Some of the Republican leaders are saying harsh things about one another, while the men who it was understood were to get the jobs are nurs- ing their disappointment. Tho places were the three Commissionerships to con- demn the land for the Long Island City approach to the Blackwell's Island bridge. It is alleged that Leader B. Faber of Ja- maich, Chairman of the Republican Coun- ty Committee, conveyed to the Justices of the Supreme Court, having charge of the appointments, a list of those whom he would like to have the court designate. Instead of selecting the men recommend- ed by Chairman Faber. the court named ex-Justice Lucius N. Manley, John W. Bennett, and Frederick Bowley, all resi- dents of Long Island City. Mr. Bowley is a Democrat and was the first Borough President of Queens, while Mr. Bennett and ex-Justice Manley are both Repub- licans. Bennett was formerly Chairman of the Republican County Committee, and is an active opponent of Faber. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner Further reproduction prohibited without permission. M9827W GILBERT MURRAY OM 1866-1957 Duncan Wilson ILLER Note: See pages 273 f. for views or psychical research when he served in 1915 as president afte Society for Psychial Research. what degree t association did he have = Wn. James ? Gilbert Murray on his 90th birthday Clarendon Press. Oxford. 1987 268 Chapter XIX would be ripe if Grey wanted to strike- - 'but then he doesn't. '40 Lady Mary displayed both irritation and clear-sightedness about CHAPTER XX Murray's 'participation in all these leadership pourparlers`. She did not consider Grey's pre-1914 policies SO defensible as did Murray Writings and Psychic Powers himself. Grey would never lead, even if he was driven. Neither Grey nor Cecil 'played the game', and both she and Murray considered Asquith 'a roué and a tiresome flirt'. Grey and Cecil were more to 1. Essays and Addresses by GM 1921. her taste personally than Asquith and his family, but did not 'lose 2. Psychic gifts -telepathy or hyperaesthesia. themselves in the cause, as Asquith does' 41 Over the next two years social meetings between Murray and 1 Asquith continued, and general talk about politics; but any prospect of the Liberals' return to power under Grey or Asquith had faded. THE impression conveyed by the foregoing chapter may be that In the mean time in March 1919 there had occurred a further Murray had lost a sense of the main purpose of his life, that he vacancy for one of the Oxford University parliamentary seats, when was dissipating his energies rather wildly. This would be a false one of the two members was raised to the peerage. Murray stood impression. At the end of his life he could say that he had never again - and again without success, though he got a fair number of wavered in the pursuit of his main objectives- - an understanding of votes. He stood four more times for Oxford University-i in the ancient Greece and the achieving of peace between nations. It was elections of November 1922, in 1923, 1924, and 1929 - in 1924 because he had a sure sense of purpose, because there was an as an Independent candidate, but otherwise as a Liberal. He came unmoved spiritual centre, that he was able to take on so many nearest to success in 1923 and it was only the peculiar university comparatively minor tasks without being overwhelmed by them. voting system which kept him out of the second seat. 42 Much of the central core of Murray's mind is illustrated by what He was also twice invited by the Liberals of Glasgow University is perhaps the most unjustly neglected of his major books, Essays to stand for the Rectorship. He accepted on both occasions- it and Addresses, published in 1921. This is a collection of articles, was an honour he would have valued: in 1919 he was defeated by speeches, and lectures delivered or written originally between 1901 Bonar Law, but the margin, 1073 votes to 726 was not over- and 1920. Whatever the title of each piece, the collection has a certain whelming-Bertrand Russell only got 80 votes. 43 In 1931 he was unity and deals with the borderlands between literature-particularly beaten by Compton Mackenzie, and wrote philosophically that this ancient Greek literature-and philosophy, politics, and religion. The was 'just one more instance of a world epidemic of Nationalism' 44 treatment of the main themes, and even more some of the incidental Liberalism for Murray was a question of principle and of passionate arguments, illustrates the essence of Murray's mind; the book is a interest, but never a career. sort of mental and spiritual autobiography. A complete recapitulation is unnecessary; two of the essays-those on 'National Ideals (1901) and 'The Bacchae of Euripides' (1902) have been mentioned at some length already, and that on the 'Stoic Philosophy' (1905) develops themes later to be found in Five Stages of Greek Religion (1912). Of the others, 'Aristophanes and the War Party' (1919), with its parallels between the Peloponnesian War of the late fifth century BC, and the recently concluded World War, should be allowed, in Murray's own words, 'only to amuse our reflections, not to distort our judgments'. The final essay on 'Mandates' (1921) concerns Murray's work for the League of Nations. During 1919-20 Murray and the LNU were busy drafting suggestions for inclusion in the mandates eventually 270 Chapter XX Writings and Psychic Powers 271 to be issued by the League, not least to the British for the adminis- tration of Mesopotamia (Iraq). 1 Murray had been informed by soul carrying the corpse had found it too heavy and was letting it lie, or perhaps roll, while the soul itself fell half asleep. 4 Arnold Toynbee how the British had bombed Iraq's villages in order to put down an Arab rebellion. His essay includes some sharp Murray goes on to consider those who have been inspired by their criticism of British colonial realpolitik and this had led him into a 'souls' to stand against the obvious course of events, the Belgians, brisk correspondence with Gertrude Bell who strongly defended the Serbs, and Poles during the war, and who knows 'how many followers of Liebknecht in Germany itself British action. In the same essay he wrote that he looked forward The great bulk of the argument is devoted to two individual cases. First there is Gandhi to the maximum use of the new Mandates Commission, and to the (Murray had met him in 1914) and his triumph of 1913 on behalf transformation of Western Imperialism under the auspices of the League. Murray accepted in 1920, as he had done in 1888, that there of the Indians of South Africa, won by passive resistance and by were more or less developed races, that the Western Europeans 'simply doing no wrong'. More directly within Murray's personal experience was the case of Stephen Hobhouse, which he rehearsed belonged to the former category, and that they had at least a in detail. He himself thought conscription on balance was right, and temporary responsibility, involving imperial rule, towards the latter. The new and hopeful element in the situation, he thought, was that recognized that conscientious objection to it could be humbug; but Hobhouse was an eminent example of the mandatory principle had been enunciated, by 'divine inadvertence' as he put it, and had been accepted by the Assembly of the League the actual working of the soul in shaping a man's life, and sometimes bringing as a whole, when individual member governments would never have him into conflict, not only with his own apparent interest, but with the accepted it on their own. 'The world has not yet sounded or measured general stress of will in the society around him A wise ruler will be circumspect the immense power of mere publicity', wrote Murray. It was the only before challenging the lowliest of human souls to battle on the soul's own ground. weapon possessed by the League of Nations, but it could be the most powerful of all. And finally, those whose lives have been spared in the war must keep There remain four essays, dating from 1917 to 1919, in which their own spirit from falling into the power of the 'corpus' and ensure the constant elements of Murray's innermost mind seem to be that 'the soul within us shall not die.' revealed. The first and slightest of them is entitled 'Literature as 'Satanism and the World Order' (1919) expounds the faith behind Revelation'. In it Murray restates his deeply held view that the Murray's efforts to establish a new order of international relations. ultimate mark of great literature is the moral message which it In it he contrasts the attitude to this world of the persecuted early conveys. A great poet 'ought to and does save souls'. To a man who Christians with that of 'almost all great moral philosophers'. For the has once read himself into Shelley, 'the world never looks the same author of the book of Revelations, this world is the realm of Satan, again'. The revelation of literature lies never in the field of fact but where evil and lies reign exclusively; in contrast to this view, Murray 'in directing attention towards a particular part of life, concerned states cautiously enough the case for active efforts to improve the with the uncharted parts of our voyage.' However, Murray rather world as it is. Some progress has been made, if we take a long enough uncomfortably finds a place for that very undidactic poet, Keats, view, and it is worth striving for more. perhaps with some memory of the Berensons' 'golden Urn'; Keats Almost every element for success has been put into the hands of those now 'enables a living man to rise above himself and to see beauty governing the world, except, as an old Stoic would say, the things we must and wonder in places where he had hitherto seen nothing.' provide ourselves A resolute will seems lacking; the people blame their 'The Soul As It Is and How to Deal With It' (1918) is the most rulers for lack of it, and the rulers explain that they dare not offend their directly religious in content of the collection. This is a meditation peoples. based on a text of Bergson, who The exception, even in 1919, seemed very important; but Murray and many others were animated by a sober faith which inspired them has for middle-aged men added a new terror to life. He makes you watch to undertake an extraordinary burden of work. Elsewhere in the yourself becoming mechanical; moving in conformity with outside stimulus; growing more and more dependent on your surroundings- as if the little collection Murray expressed the same faith and sense of duty. At the end of his preface he wrote that the last 'half-desperate' pages 272 Chapter XX Writings and Psychic Powers 273 of the essay on 'National Ideals' seem almost like a 'conscious importance of the Greek and Latin traditions to Western European argument for the foundation of the League of Nations' and he literature can hardly be denied. The love and care which has gone concluded 'Aristophanes and the War Party' with words which had into the tradition (in its literal sense of 'passing on') should be little to do with the subject of the essay: preserved. The classical scholar's love of Greek can coexist with all sorts of other loves and traditions-not least that of scientific Our war has ended right; and we have such an opportunity as no generation of mankind has ever had of building out of those ruins a better international scholarship. The real clash is not between the classics and science, life and concomitantly a better life within each nation by some spirit but between the classics and indifference-slavery to the present and of sobriety in public and private things, and surely by some self-consecration to casual circumstance. to the great hope for which those who loved us gave their lives.7 Murray finally sounds a severely ascetic note in writing of the self- What Murray explicitly called a 'Confession of Faith', covering discipline required of the dedicated scholar. It would be a fine thing if all men of science and letters were bound, like some medieval his scholarly as well as his political activities, is contained in his Presidential address to the Classical Association (January 1918), monastic order, by a vow of renunciation or poverty. The service of the body blunts or binds the spirit. The enemy is he reprinted in Essays and Addresses under the title 'Religio Grammatici' (a scholar's religion). He was not sorry to have studied Greek even who puts always the body before the spirit, the dead before the living, the if in future knowledge of it would probably be regarded as proof avayxaion before the xadov; who makes things only in order to sell them; of 'either a reactionary or an unusually feckless temper'. The greater who has forgotten that there is such a thing as truth.8 part of a man's life was over exposed to and determined Another ascetic to whom such doctrine appealed was President by circumstances: Wilson, who found Essays and Addresses delightful and 'fragrant What we call a man's religion is, to a great extent, the thing that offers him throughout with memories of a friendship which I greatly value." a secret and permanent escape from that prison, a breaking of the prison walls which leaves him standing of course in the present, but in a present SO enlarged and enfranchised that it becomes not a prison but a free world 2 A scholar secures his freedom by keeping hold always of the past and The faith expressed in the essays was the centre of Murray's thinking treasuring up the best out of it. and practical activity. He had long been proud to call himself a He can keep the past alive and pass it on to the others, and in so rationalist. However, he was also well aware that one of the prime doing attains the most compelling desire of every human being, a functions of reason is to discern what are the limits of the rational work in life which it is worth living for, and which is not cut short process. These limits are of two kinds, both well described by Murray by the accident of his own death. himself. There is 'the enormous dominion of those forces in man But, it may be asked, has not the thought of the ancients been of which he is normally unconscious the blind powers beneath satisfactorily absorbed into the wisdom of our time? Murray answers the threshold'; and, not necessarily connected with these, is the that, whereas the use of the telephone gives us no share in the glory 'Uncharted which surrounds us on every side'. In our relation with of having invented it, the glory of, for example, Romeo and Juliet it, we must follow the guidance of reason, SO far as it will go; but can be recaptured and shared by one who reads it with scholarly when this ceases, we must use our 'fainter powers of apprehension attention and imaginative effort; SO much of the best early work in and surmise and sensitiveness. 11 SO many fields is in Greek, and the imaginative scholar can share Murray possessed some of these 'fainter powers' in marked degree. in the glory of the original writers by keeping it alive. His use of them was much discussed by those devoted to the study All very well, says Murray's imaginary critic; but this is all of psychical research) and was of great interest to others who knew traditional superstition and will disappear after one or two Greekless him well in his lifetime, including two of his most famous friends, generations; to which the answer is securus judicavit orbis terrarum. Smuts and Henri Bergson. No attempt to describe the essence of There has been a consensus of sound judgement up till now on the Murray's character can be complete without attention to his extra- value of Greek studies, and it is unlikely to have been wrong. The ordinary powers of apprehension. 274 Chapter XX Writings and Psychic Powers 275 It is impossible to say exactly when or how Murray became taking my daughter's hand and then, if I have luck, describe in detail what seriously concerned with extra-sensory perception, to use a com- she has thought of. The least disturbance of our customary method, change paratively modern and inclusive term. His interest in Buddhism, of time or place, presence of stranger, controversy and especially noise, is which he linked with current forms of spiritualism, probably dates apt to make things go wrong. from 1887-9. 12 In 1895, writing to Archer about his second play, Leaves of the Sibyl, he mentioned an acquaintance with a lady The words 'and especially noise' are important. They suggested who used a planchette. 13 Slightly later, while Murray was still at to Murray himself, and even more strongly to critics of his own Glasgow, an unidentified correspondent wrote to him of a meeting account and analysis of his experiments, that his success at 'guessing' at which they had 'compared telepathic notes'; and he himself wrote was due to a sort of sub-conscious hyperdevelopment of the sense to Lady Mary of his deep interest in such things and 'desire to follow of hearing, which became abnormally acute when the 'game' was them up more'. 14 in progress; 16 and that noises other than those of the main group Most probably it was Murray's growing friendship with Arthur talking to each other, out of his normal earshot, would prevent him Verrall which increased his interest in 'spiritualistic' experiments. The from subconsciously hearing them. two men became intimate in the last years of the nineteenth century. In 1916, shortly after Murray's Presidential Address, Helen Verrall, Margaret Verrall, Arthur's wife, was a deeply committed member (daughter of Arthur and Margaret). published in the SPR Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, which was formed in 1882; a detailed analysis of a selection of Murray's experiments. These it was probably she who induced Murray to join the Society early were very numerous and were recorded from 1910 onwards. The in the twentieth century. He reported to Lady Mary a session of table- experiments continued with diminishing frequency until 1935, and turning with the Verralls at Cambridge in 1903, when strangely very occasionally until 1946, when Murray was 80. The whole body accurate messages were transmitted about the movements of the of recorded experiments was listed in 1972 by E. H. Dodds, Murray's Storr family. 15 While in Glasgow Murray had evolved, for the successor as the Oxford Professor of Greek and a subsequent amusement of his daughter Rosalind, a sort of bedtime game that President of the SPR. 17 A few illustrative examples may here be involved guessing what she was thinking: and this game was later quoted from this and the previously printed records. 18 developed into the series of experiments in 'thought-transference' (a) 10 September 1916: which became famous from 1915 onwards. At an early age Rosalind W. MELLOR (agent): I'm thinking of the operating theatre in the nursing had found herself protesting, 'But, Dad, how do you know?' He was home in which I was operated. just as surprised as she was! Murray had not at first been an active member of the Society for GM: I get an impression of a theatre. No. I can't get it. I'm now guessing- Psychical Research, but he knew a number of eminent men who were Covent Garden and Oedipus. interested in psychic phenomena, among them Arthur and Gerald (Lord) Balfour, Andrew Lang, and Oliver Lodge, who had all been (b) 14 July 1918: Presidents of the Society. Some details of his own 'guessing game' P. MAIN: Sir Francis Drake drinking the health of Doughty before he was led out to be hanged. experiments had become known within the Society, thanks to William Archer, who also had a strong interest in 'the uncharted'. GM: Is this a [?] No. I've a faint feeling of Arabia or desert. In 1915 Murray became President, and in his Presidential Address he gave a good account of how his 'game' had grown. (c) 30 May 1920: The experiments took place within a small, usually family, circle ROSALIND: Grandmother (Lady Carlisle) sitting on a merry-go-round that at Murray's home (82 Woodstock Road, Oxford, at this time): plays on Kew Bridge. GM: That's very funny - it's something I had almost forgotten. It's you and I go out of the room and of course out of earshot. Someone in the room, Denis in fits of laughter-your old joke about Grandmother on the usually my eldest daughter, thinks of a scene or an incident or anything she Highway Board. She's on a merry-go-round-can't get the place, should likes, and says it aloud. It is written down, and I am called. I come in, usually say it's somewhere the Lakes. 276 Chapter XX Writings and Psychic Powers 277 (d) 30 May 1920: The experiments, together with Murray's own comments upon ROSAL IND: Julian Sorel trying to deal with the ladder outside a lady's them, have given rise to considerable controversy among those window. concerned with experiments in telepathy or other forms of extra- GM: This is a book and rather pretentious-French book. Oh, I know sensory perception. The main issue is whether Murray's results what it is - a scene you once told me about- - a young man stole in (which were totally or partially successful in over two-thirds of the through a lady's window and they did not know what to do with the cases recorded from 1920 to 1946) depended on hyperaesthesia- ladder. abnormally acute hearing in this case - or could be classed as genuine (e) 31 May 1920: thought transference. Professor Dodds thought that the evidence for ROSALIND: The people at the ford giving Dad strong tea when he was lost the latter was very strong. Dr Eric Dingwall, who criticized Dodds's in the bush. findings in volume 56 of the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research (1973) did not regard the case as made. The records cited GM: I should say it was Australian. It's got something to do with the time above have been chosen to illustrate both sides of the controversy, when I got lost in the Bush at Southey's. Is it the people giving me tea? which it is impossible here to cover at all fully. (f) Murray's own mind was open to both possible explanations- ROSALIND: Cleopatra's needle being tugged along across the sea. telepathy and hyperaesthesia. He had written appreciatively of the GM: Got a sort of splashing feeling- not the Boat-race and not the Bradford Stoics who believed in the pervading forethought of the divine mind, ship [an educational ship talked of during the evening] It's rather and in the TWV olwv- Sympathy of all Creation, like the Bradford ship dragging something long and heavy. I'm not clear whereby whatever happens to one part, however remote and insig- about the thing. Oh, didn't a ship bring Cleopatra's needle, dragging it nificant, affects all the rest. 20 behind? He was also acutely aware of the importance of semi-conscious (g) 17 November 1924: or unconscious perception: MM: A scene in a book by Aksakoff where the children are taken to their We perceive virtually (SUVÁUEL) many more things than we perceive actually grandparents and the little boy sees and hears his mother kneeling beside ("eyw) and the part that our body plays is that of shutting out from the sofa where his father is lying, lamenting at having to leave them. the field of our consciousness all that is of no practical interest to us GM: I should say this was Russian. I think it's a book I haven't read May there not be round our normal perception a fringe of perception, most somebody's remembrances of childhood or something and a family often unconscious ? Hyperaesthesia [involves] making the most of travelling, I think the children and father and mother. I should think they extremely faint sense-impressions or of sense-impressions too faint to be were going to cross the Volga. I don't think I can get it more accurately; consciously perceived at all sense perception can occur without reference the children are watching their parents or seeing something about their to the special organs of sense by a curious sense of propinquity. You parents. I should think Aksakoff. They are going to see their grandmother. know you are coming to a wall it may be some strange sense-perception which makes one feel hostility on the other side of the room. 21 On this, the note-taker commented: This is noteworthy because in the book there is a great deal about the family Murray's own first verdict on his own experiments stated in his crossing big rivers on their journey to see the grandparents. Murray himself Presidential Address to the Society for Psychical Research in 1915 commented more precisely: 'They did just afterwards have to cross the Volga, was that and Rosalind said she had been thinking of it, though she did not mention it.') 's the basis of these telepathic impressions is unconscious sense-perception; but we must be prepared for the possibility that this sense-perception is not (h) 1 March 1946: confined to the canonical five channels of sight, sound, smell, taste, touch. ROSALIND: Well this is two things. It's the Curé d'Ars, first hiding from the army and later being buffeted by the Devil. His own faculty would thus, as he thought at the time, be a form of hyperaesthesia. According to J. J. Thomson, Murray thought that GM: It seems rather medieval- a priest. He seems to be hiding somehow. his hearing became so acute while the 'game' was in progress that But it's confused: he seems also to be fighting with the Devil. he heard something of the conversation between the thinkers as they 278 Chapter XX Writings and Psychic Powers 279 settled on the subject - not the distinct words, but enough to suggest in jest, 'I am naturally ashamed of [my gift] and keep it hidden something of the theme. 22 However, another non-professional as far as possible. A German has already written a little treatise commentator, Aldous Huxley, who himself participated in a session comparing me with Nostradamus a well-known charlatan in of March 1915, had no doubt that Murray's powers were telepathic the 17th century.' Or as Helen Salter (formerly Verrall) wrote in and was impressed by the fact that Murray came very near to guessing 1935, 'any suggestion that the faculties of a perfectly respectable a subject chosen by Huxley himself, a comparative stranger (the Professor of Greek might have a supernormal taint is confessedly Master of Balliol listening to an essay on Meredith's Egoist, which he repugnant to him. '26 had not read). 23 Among the observers who were more professionally Yet for all the 'mild unpleasantness of the experiments to conscious interested in psychical research, Helen Verrall and Eleanor Sidgwick and sub-conscious mind alike', Murray had taken part in no less than did not regard hyperaesthesia as a sufficient explanation of the results 505 of them by the time that Mrs Verrall analysed a selection in achieved by Murray, and they seem to have convinced him that they 1916. A further selection from 171 experiments between 1916 and were right. 24 1929 was analysed by Mrs Sidgwick, and in the series extending from If we turn to the selected evidence quoted above, instances (a) and 1920 to 1946, 128 more were noted. Obviously they were a popular (b) point to confusion by Murray due to mishearing-in (b) for occupation within the family circle. example he could have heard the name 'Doughty' and thought of Another point calling for explanation was Murray's reluctance to G. M. Doughty, author of Arabia Deserta. This supports the idea have the experiments conducted by the strictest possible scientific that at least at the time of the experiments he had unusually acute standards, which might have determined the limits of normal or hearing. The others are prima facie more easily explained (at least abnormal hearing at Murray's home and elsewhere. There was a to the mind of a layman) on the theory of some kind of telepathic good deal of correspondence about Murray's experiments in 1924-5, power; this hypothesis seems to apply particularly to instance (g), after Mrs Sidgwick had published her analysis. Henri Bergson found where the subject was taken from a book which Murray had not them extremely convincing, and wrote to Murray: 'Jamais on n'avait read, and he guessed an important detail which was not part of expérimenté dans cette direction d'une manière aussi méthodique, Lady Mary's description, though it occurred in the book and was ni avec tant de sûreté, ni avec des résultats aussi probants. ¹27 in the thoughts of his daughter Rosalind. Then too Murray's general Others with something like a professional interest in the subject method of homing in on a subject, distinguishing between scenes were less satisfied. W. R. H. Thouless, for example, then a lecturer from real life, from books, and fantastic subjects, or between for in Experimental Psychology at Manchester, asked for details of example an Australian or a Russian atmosphere, seems to correspond Murray's experiments after reading a summary account of them better with the exercise of some telepathic power than with that of in the Manchester Guardian. In reply Murray expressed his own temporarily hyper-acute hearing. This conclusion was certainly opinion in favour of hyperaesthesia as against telepathy, and made favoured by Dodds, a comparatively expert witness, and by Bowra it clear that his experiments had not been scientifically designed (who was involved at least once in the guessing-game); and Bowra to discriminate between these alternative possibilities. Thouless also mentions Murray's 'almost telepathic' power of grasping in suggested further experiments with this end in view. 'It might be easy normal conversation what was in the mind of his companion. 25 to find out whether increase in the distance between the reader and However, the evidence for the telepathic theory was not regarded the subject does or does not cause a rapid increase in the percentage as conclusive by those who favoured the hyperaesthetic explanation, of error.' Murray refused, evidently on the ground of being too busy, or indeed by those who wished to apply the highest scientific and Thouless could only express polite regret that a 'subject with standards to Murray's experiments. such interesting powers should happen to be a particularly busy man. '28 Murray's attitude to his own experiments was rather ambiguous. With the conscious part of his mind he seemed to be embarrassed. A lively debate continued in the correspondence columns of The He was 'as sceptical a person as you will find," and 'found the whole Times between the proponents of the theory of telepathy (especially business rather unpleasant.' It was 'a sort of joke that Nature has Gerald Balfour) and scientific critics of it. Murray absolutely refused played upon me I don't like these vague things.' Again, more to join in. Lady Mary noted her own reply to a request from the 280 Chapter XX Writings and Psychic Powers 281 New York International Magazine for an interview: 'I'm afraid Lady Mary were interested in experiments with 'media' through he [GM] does not wish to take any part in publicity about his whom they might communicate with a spirit world, though Archer thought-transference.19 at least was sceptical. He died at the end of 1924, but there In the address which Murray gave to the Society for Psychical are further suggestions that Lady Mary's interest in this form of Research when he became President again in 1952, he made light spiritualism continued. 33 In these circumstances Murray might of the question of 'control'. His experiments, he said, were little more perhaps have preferred not to encourage completely rationalist than a parlour game, belonging to the pre-statistical stage of psychical explanations of the 'guessing-game', and so indirectly to shake her research. In any case he did not see that there could have been 'any belief in the possibilities of communicating with a spiritual world. significant failure in control however slippery the behaviour of This is pure conjecture, and there may be simpler explanations. my sub-conscious, too many respectable people would have had to He was spiritually aloof and probably cared little whether or not be its accomplices.' other people believed that he had telepathic powers. He also always This attitude, even after Murray's death, continued to provoke disliked 'fuss' and there would have been a good deal of fuss involved argument among the members of the SPR. In 1972 Professor Dodds, in becoming the centre of further controversy on a subject which who knew Murray well, personally speculated that his reluctance he did not reckon to be of the first importance in his extremely busy to participate in very strictly controlled experiments arose from the life. He seems to have felt that his experiments were already subject sense that they would not confirm the comparatively rationalist to the sort of controls appropriate to their very informal nature. theory of hyperaesthesia, and from unwillingness to be more firmly Any attempt to intensify controls might have made it difficult or associated with the hypothesis of telepathy. 30 This attitude seems impossible for him to exercise powers which were clearly at their hardly consistent with Murray's generally open-minded attitude to height in a purely family atmosphere. the Great Unknown, or with the conclusion of his second Presidential And what in the end could strictly scientific investigation prove? address to the Society for Psychical Research in which he admitted Those who pursued it could establish that Murray was not a conscious that the theory of 'hyperaesthesia' now seemed to him an inadequate, fraud (and he could be forgiven for thinking this unnecessary). By or at least not the most simple, explanation of the results which he an examination of the exact distances between Murray and those had attained in his 'guessing-game'. who set him the subjects to be guessed, and of the acoustic properties In reply to Dodds, Dr Dingwall in 1973 wrote severely about of the house, they could determine the limits of normal and of, SO Murray's statement on controls in his second Presidential address, to speak, normally hyper-acute hearing in the circumstances. Many and argued powerfully for hyperaesthesia as against telepathy. He members of the Society for Psychical Research would have regarded suggested that Murray had unconscious reasons for refusing to it as useful to establish more precisely the limits within which Murray submit his experiments to more severe tests. Many of Murray's exercised his gift, and perhaps to moderate the extreme public claims friends believed passionately in telepathy, and he may have had some of those who supported either the hyperaesthetic or the telepathic 'deep-seated, perhaps to some extent unconscious, wish to convince hypothesis. Perhaps he was something less than a fully conscientious himself that telepathy and all that it implied was true. '31 member of the Society for Psychical Research in refusing to submit Murray may have had more reasons than were cited by Dr Dingwall to more thorough experiments. But could any experiments have to hope that the possibilities of extra-sensory communication should determined what, for example, he himself heard subconsciously in not be explained away in rational terms, or to spare the sensibilities circumstances which stimulated his hearing to an unusual degree, of those who did SO hope. The appalling casualties of the First World or what was the interaction between his unconscious hearing and War had led to a widespread interest in the possibility of communi- some telepathic faculty? He may well have persuaded himself that cating with the dead through mediums. William Archer's son Tom SO much 'fuss' would not have been worth while. (whom Murray had coached privately in Greek) had been killed in Murray talked much in his later years with his granddaughter Ann, France in 1917; the Murrays had suffered themselves a grievous blow Basil's elder girl. It was to her he confided the story of the lady on with the death of their daughter Agnes in 1922. From Murray's the steamer in 1877 who held his father's ring and then told him correspondence with William Archer it appears that both Archer and things about his father which 'she couldn't possibly have known'. 282 Chapter XX Murray said to Ann that he had in the end shied away from further psychic experiments as it was attracting cheap publicity and was CHAPTER XXI damaging his work for Greek and Peace. This has the ring of truth. 34 The League of Nations 1920-1924 Murray s final attitude to the mysteries of telepathy was expressed in his Presidential address of 1952 to the Society for Psychical Research: 1. The LN formally constituted Jan. 1920 - first Assembly of the LN Nov. 1920-Cecil - delegate for South Africa. Our whole range of sensitivity has been SO widely increased by our possession 2. Second Assembly 1921 - Murray also appointed of such tools as hands and language. We cannot see like a hawk or track delegate for South Africa - member of Commission I like a dog or hear like a hunted deer; but we can see a Rembrandt picture (Amendments to Covenant) and II (Humanitarian) and feel the thrill of a Beethoven sonata or a great poem. And surely it is first speech on minorities-French obstruction of noteworthy that just here our sensitivity passes beyond the reason of mere opium control. observation into that of feeling; beyond the facts that you observe there is 3. Murray on personalities. a sense of other things, not fully known, which have value and importance 4. Murray South African delegate to third Assembly Our faculty of telepathy, such as it is, seems to operate best in just these 1922 - -attends fourth Assembly as rapporteur to spheres where our normal instrument, language, either fails or works with Commission V (minorities) 1923 - British delegate to difficulty. fifth Assembly 1924 - achieves Greco-Bulgar Agree- ment but it is repudiated by FO. 5. Madariaga contrasts Murray's skill in Committee with Cecil's 'thrusting intolerance'. 1 THE League of Nations was officially born on 10 January 1920. For some time its importance on the international scene was far from clear. The League Council was mainly occupied with setting up its own machinery or with minor political problems. On more important international disputes it had as yet no locus standi. The Allied Supreme Council continued to meet in Paris until 1923 and was at first the only body which could deal effectively with the practical problems of post-war reconstruction. In the humanitarian field there was all too much scope for action in 1920. Hundreds of thousands of prisoners had not yet returned home. A typhus epidemic was raging in Eastern Europe and there was widespread starvation. But for the moment immediate steps to meet these needs had to be taken by the Red Cross, the Quakers, and other voluntary bodies. (In this work the Murray family were very much concerned, as is told elsewhere. An international Secretariat for the League had been set up in the summer of 1919 under the British diplomat Sir Eric Drummond. The Council of the League met ten times in Paris during 1920, but the first Assembly did not meet till November in Geneva. The British official delegates to the Assembly were H. A. L. Fisher (still President 440 Notes Notes 441 23 9 466 78, 98, 138, Apr.-May 1922. 44 54, Woodrow Wilson/GM, 6 Dec. 1921. 24 lb., 146, 17 July 1922. 10 568 46, GM/RT, 25 Jan. 1919. 25 11 lb., 159, 5 Aug. 1922. Five Stages of Greek Religion (1935), p. 171. 26 45 167, 188, 30 Aug. and 10 Oct. 1922. 568 63, GM/RT, 7 Jan. 1922. 13 27 Letter from Stephen Murray to Lady Wilson, 1984. He also told her that Adds 1 40, GM/WA, 16 June and 1 July 1895. 14 GM, strangely, did not attend Agnes's funeral. 4 83, J. E. Gary [?]/GM, 11 July 1896; 453 20, GM/MM, 4 Apr. 1898. 28 15 Testament of Youth (1980 edn.) p. 558. 456 239, GM/MM, 10 Sept. 1903. 29 42 206, A. D. Hunt/GM, 23 Nov. 1920. 16 Dingwall, op. cit., p. 24, argues that GM's hearing was abnormally acute 30 Adds 46476, MM/Lord Gladstone, 3 June 1921. at any time, and that he was 'able to hear a fly crawl over a piece of crisp paper, 31 466 14, MM/GM, 6 Mar. 1922. but thought that anyone would have heard it'. I have not been able to identify 32 189 41, Nansen/GM, 6 Feb. 1922; George Schuster, Private Work and the source of the statement. Public Causes (1979), p. 37. 17 Dodds, op. cit., p. 396. 18 33 477 186, GM/Rosalind Carlisle, 18 Feb. 1919. The first two instances are quoted by Dingwall, op. cit., from Mrs 34 R. Cecil, op. cit., p. 115; 45 45, Gladstone/GM, 20 Apr. 1921. Sidgwick's account of experiments 1916-24. Proceedings XXXIV (1925). 35 A. J. P. Taylor, op. cit., p. 155. 19 GM's comment occurs in his second Presidential address to the SPR. 36 43 4, James E. MacDonald/GM, 3 Dec. 1920. 20 The Stoic Philosophy (1915), pp. 28-9. 37 465 64, GM/MM, 16 Aug. 1920. 21 GM, first Presidential Address to SPR. 38 43 149, Gladstone/GM, 22 Apr. 1921. 22 J. J. Thomson, Recollections and Reflections (1936), p. 156. 39 187 205, 207, R. Cecil/GM, 9 and 11 Apr. 1921. 23 A. Huxley, Letters (1969), p. 196. 40 Adds 46476 18, GM/Gladstone, 29 June 1921. 24 Dodds, op. cit., p. 398. 41 25 466 86, 89, 135, MM/GM, 13 and 14 Apr. and 6 May 1922. C. M. Bowra, Memories (1966) pp. 214-15. 42 47 213, 13 Dec. 1923; 48 16, A. W. Pickard-Cambridge/GM, 5 Nov. 26 The sources of these quotations are (1) and (3) Journal of American 1924. Society of Psychical Research XXIII (1929); (2) GM, Presidential Address to 43 40 65, 67, 85. SPR (1915); (4) 487 189, GM/Miss Wace (BBC) 21 Oct. 1933; (5) Mrs W. H. 44 58 115, 128; 59 159, GM/T. R. M. Naughton correspondence, Apr.- Salter in Essays in Honour of Gilbert Murray (1936), p. 266. 27 Oct. 1931. 267 6, Bergson/GM, 19 July 1925. 28 487 77, R. H. Thouless/GM, 28 Dec. 1924; and letter to the author, 10 May 1983. Chapter XX 29 Ib., 74, a letter of 1 Jan. 1925. The chief sources for this chapter are for section 1: GM's Essays and Addresses 30 Dodds, op. cit. (1921); for section 2: volumes of the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical 31 Dingwall, op. cit., p. 37. Research Vol. XXIX, GM's Presidential Address in 1915 and Mrs Verrall's 32 Adds 6 43, 44, 46, 47, 60, 61, 74 correspondence mainly WA/GM, analysis of select experiments in which GM was involved down to 1916; Mar.-Sept. 1919; 16 104-5, 107 n.d. [1919]. Vol. XXXIV, Mrs Henry Sidgwick's account (1925) of further experiments 33 468 180, 12 July 1928, ref. seance MM/Mr Brittain; also papers in the down to 1924; Vol. XLIX, GM's second Presidential Address in 1952; (new possession of Stephen Murray. Mainly undated, and referring to the years numerations of proceedings) 55, E. R. Dodds's analysis (1972) of experiments immediately following the death of Agnes Murray (1922). 1920-46 based on the notes preserved in the Murray papers, 488 95-196); 56, 34 Told to Lady Wilson in Nov. 1984 by Ann Paludan (née Murray). E. J. Dingwall's critique (1973) of Dodds's analysis (this article also refers to an unpublished account by the neurologist and psychotherapist, Dr J. A. Hadfield, of experiments carried out with GM in 1919). There is a good account of Chapter XXI Murray's own evidence in Rosalind Heywood, Sixth Sense (1959), pp. 132-40. 1 186 92. I 183 130, 148; 184 4, 17, 21; undated LNU drafts. 2 Essays in Honour of Gilbert Murray (1936), pp. 27-9 (H. A. L. Fisher). 3 2 41 70, 191, G. Bell/GM 28 Apr. and 17 July 1921. 465 191, GM/MM, 5 Sept. 1921. 4 3 Essays and Addresses, p. 127. For 'Golden Urn' see Ch. VIII, sect. 4. Ib., 198, 6 Sept. 1921. 5 4 Ib., p. 147; the phrase 'The little soul carrying the corpse' is translated from Ib., 214, 12 Sept. 1921. 6 Marcus Aurelius. Ib., 207, 9 Sept. 1921. 7 5 lb., p. 158. lb., 224, 16 Sept. 1921. 8 6 lb., p. 221. 188 65, GM/Smuts, 8 Oct. 1921. 9 7 Ib., p. 54. 465 231, 18 Sept. 1921. 8 10 lb., p. 30. Ib., 219, 15 Sept. 1921. Report on Mrs. Piper's Hodgson-Control Note: Thy much-cited report of a The Oldfarm Series. Oldfarm is the name of Mr. George B. Dorr's place at Bar Har- 6/5/1906 investigation by G.B.DoRR. bor, Maine, where R.H. had often been a summer guest. Mrs. Piper at the time of these sittings had never been at Bar Harbor; Source: William James. Essays in and although she had had many interviews, as well with Mr. Dorr as with Mr. Dorr's mother before the latter's death, it is unlikely Psychical Research (Cambridge that many of the small veridical details in what follows had been communicated to her at those interviews. At Mr. Dorr's sitting of June 5th, 1906, he asks the R.H.-control for his reminiscences of Harvard U.P., 1986). Oldfarm: "Do you remember your visits to us there?" Certainly I do. One night we stayed out too long and your mother got very nervous, do you remember? Minna was there. We stayed out much too long. I felt it was a great breach of etiquette but we couldn't help it! I fear as guests we were bad [laughs]. [R.H.'s sitting out with "Minna" and others "much too long" and "their being bad as guests" seems excellent. In old days they used often to sit up hopelessly late into the night, when the nights were pleasant, out on the piazza, talking in the dark; and my mother's half- real and half-humorous exasperation over it, expressed in her own vivid way, and R.H.'s boyish delight in doing it and at the scoldings they all used to get for it next day, would naturally be one of the first things he would recall, associated as those evenings were with people whom he cared for. D And do you remember the discussion I had with Jack, when he got impatient? You were much amused! [His recollection of his discussion with Jack, who used, together with M., to be at our house with him a great deal in the old days, is char- acteristic. I do not myself remember the special occasion to which he refers, but the incident, including my own amusement at the heat they used to get into in their talk, falls in most naturally with all my own recollections of that time. D And 1 remember your mother's calling me out one Sunday morning to see the servants go to church in a buckboard. [1 cannot now recall my mother taking R.H. out to see the servants off on any special day, but he was with us many Sundays, and I have no doubt that his memory of this is absolutely accurate, nor is it any- thing of which Mrs. Piper might know, it is not the sort of thing that 2. Report on Mrs. Piper's Hodgson-Control Essays in Psychical Research G.B.D. There was another sister, who used to walk oftenest with us Or was it at your place, George. [Difficulty in reading this sentence, can you recall her name? When read successfully, G.B.D. says "yes." [R.11. makes one or two ineffectual attempts, giving wrong names. Your mother used to have it, and I was surprised to see it there as I thought it the best of it. As 1 thought it the best part of it. The best G.B.D. Now, Hodgson, can't you tell me something about the lady part of it. No one would ever think of this thing 1 know. you were interested in, whose letters you asked Piddington to find? Miss B. You mean you think you got this at Mr. Dorr's? This was Huldah Densmore. Think! I know. I think so, yes. I think George's mother used to have G.B.D. But there is no Huldah in the family, that I know, nor can it and I never got it anywhere but there. we learn of any. We have asked her sister, and she has never heard the name of Huldah. G.B.D., who did not at first recall what is meant, then remem- Wait a moment. Let me think. It is most difficult to get earthly meme bers and says "Good." He appends the following note: ories. They go from one, but I find that they come back to me as I think of things. She married -[[name of nationality given cor- [We used to have a bunch or two of raw celery, when we grew our own, rectly]. If you will write to her, you will find I am right. Write to hert placed on the table as a hors d'œuvre, and served whole, with the up- G.B.D. Did you want to marry her? per portion of the root left on it in the French fashion. This part of the root is very good eating, but it is not usually served in America; Yes, I did. And I remember what a disappointment it was to me. and though I have no clear remembrance now of special talk about G.B.D. Was she out of sympathy with your work? this with R.H., I remember quite well his talking at our table late one fall about these autumn vegetables and think that what is spoken She wanted me to give it up-it was a subject she did not care to have of is this. D, to do with. [Correct as to the lady's animus.-W.J.] G.B.D. Was it at our house you met her? On July 2nd, 1906, Mr. Dorr had a spoken sitting alone, taking (the short-hand record himself. and asked again for Oldfarm recol- I met her there, at Bar Harbor. Your mother ought to remember it lections:- well. She introduced us to each other. [Correct.-D). G.B.D. But my mother is on your side. G.B.D. Can you give me any names connected with Bar Harbor, or Oh yes, I had forgotten. It has troubled me over here, thinking of the mountains there which you used to climb, or of the people to might have left her letters among my papers. So I spoke to Piddington whose houses you used to go with me, or any others that you can recall? about it. No, I can't recall any names now I will think it over and try. G.B.D. I think you must have destroyed them. We didn't find any. G.B.D. Can you recall four sisters whom we used to walk with, and I think I must have destroyed them-1 hope I did. be much with, a number of years ago? [This "Huldah" episode is treated in a separate section of Part I of I remember Minna and Gemma. [Names known to the medium in this report, see above, PP. 270-275.-W.J.] former trances, but pertinent as a reply.] I recall the pansies your mother used to place over the table. 1 remem- G.B.D. I will give you the name of the sisters, and see if that recalls ber that well-delightful to see them! I can see them now. anything to you. It was the Minturns. [My mother used to have pansies spread loosely over the tablecloth, Oh! the Minturns! [repeated eagerly and emphatically]. There was when she had people to dine or sup with us at Bar Harbor, where we Gertrude and Robert, a brother named Robert-and Mary. They had it large bed of them planted near the house so that we could get lived in New York. I remember them well. [Correct, save that Mary them freely for this purpose. The custom is not common enough to should have been May.] 291 290 Essays in Psychical Research 3. Report on Mys. Piper's Hodgson-Control let H.'s statement pass for a happy guess, nor do I think it likely he would have spoken of it to Mrs. Piper, either awake or in trance. loss in possibly referring to this incident to her spirit at nances, It came out quite suddenly also, and with a positiveness which made after M. died, Hodgson would have been most unlikely to speak of it me feel that it was a true recollection, something seen at the moment to others,-certainly not to Mrs. Piper, either in france or awake. in a mental picture.-D.] -D.] G.B.D. Do you remember where you went with John Rich when you G.B.D., endeavoring to extract Bar Harbor names from R.I.I., went fishing with him-Oh I forgotl I did not mean to give you his again tries to get that of the man who occupied the farmhouse at namel which R.H. used generally to sleep when at Oldfarm. He was not John Rich, John, that is his namel But I am sorry you gave it to me able to give that, but gave the name of the gardener, Miller. "It is too-it might have come to me. We got a boat and went over to an possible," Mr. Dorr writes, "that Mrs. Piper may have heard of island. Coming back we had some difficulty in getting our fish in. Miller's name as that of the manager of my plant-nurseries at Bar We had poor luck in catching them, and then we lost them. Ask him, Harbor. I remember I once meant to send her some plants from the he will remember it, I think. nurseries for her garden, and think it probable they went. It is also possible that the name may have come up at the trance in my own [R.H.'s recollection of going off with Rich seems to be good, as 1 think it over. That he should go off with Rich only and neither alone past sittings." nor with me or other guests, is exactly what happened,-and yet not what might have been expected to happen. His going to an island is I remember a beautiful road, a bicycle-road you made, going through descriptive also.-D.] the woods. A dozen years ago I made a bicycle-road on my own back-land, which Do you remember what you used to put over your back that had a ran through the woods beneath a mountain over which we often used cup in it? And there was a little brook where we used to stop and to walk. It was a pleasant and familiar feature in our summer life drink. And then I used to stop and light my pipe-the whole scene is there, and it would naturally be one of the pictures that would come as vivid to me! If I could only express it to you! back to R. H. in thinking of the place-like the view from my mother's I used to carry a little canvass bag slung over my shoulder, and a balcony of which he spoke at the former sitting. But it is not a thing cup in it, when we went on long tramps. This may be what R.H. re- of which either he or I would have spoken to Mrs. Piper, whether in fers to, though I think that he was rather apt to carry it folding trance or awake.-D.] leather cup of his own in his pocket. The whole recollection is rather vague in my memory, going back a number of years. The picture is a G.B.D. then tries again to get the name of the man who occupied good one of just what used to happen when we were off on our tramps the farmhouse, describing him to R.H. without mentioning his together, though of course what he describes would be always apt to name. happen on walks through woods and over mountains. The picture of the little brook we used to stop and drink at is good can see it Oh yes, I remember him well-I remember going off with him once now. D fishing-going down the shore in a boat. I remember one evening, and it impressed me so vividly because your mother did not like it, After some talk about the Tavern Club, about Australia, and and I felt we had done wrong and hurt her-M. and I were smoking about the state of things in the other world-some of which will be together and we talked too late, and she felt it was time to retire- noticed later, R.H. goes on as follows:- [This would be remarkably good if the incident should prove not to have come up already in R.H.'s own sittings after M. died. She Do you remember one summer there was a gentleman at your house used to smoke cigarettes occasionally, and was the only person of the who had a violin. I had some interesting talks with him about these feminine sex whom I now recall as having done so at our house. Un- things, and I liked to hear him play his violin. A little gentleman- I remember him very well. 202 and 4. Essays in Psychical Research [This describes a man named von G., who was an excellent violinist and who also talked interestingly on psychical-research matters, in which he professed to have some faculty. As R.H. himself was also fond of the violin, it seems natural that some memory of von G. should stand out now. That Mrs. Piper should have any knowledge of this gentleman seems most improbable.-D.] My earthly memories come only in fragments. I remember quite well this little gentleman and how interested I was in talking with him about psychics, and in his instrument as well. I remember a man Royce visiting you. [Prof. Royce says that he has been at Oldfarm along with Hodgson, but adds that that might be a natural association in Mrs. Piper's mind, since he thinks that the only time he ever saw her was at the Dorrs' in Boston.-W.J.] This is, I think, the whole of the matter relative to Oldfarm which the R.H.-control has given. The number of items mentioned is not great, and some inability to answer questions appears. But there are almost no mistakes of fact, and it is hardly possible that all the veridical points should have been known to Mrs. Piper normally. Some of them indeed were likely a priori; others may have been chance-hits; but for the mass, it seems to me that either reading of Mr. Dorr's mind, or spirit-return, is the least improb- able explanation. The fewness of the items may seem strange to some critics. But if we assume a spirit to be actually there, trying to reach us, and if at the same time we imagine that his situation with regard to the transaction is similar to our own, the surprise vanishes. I have been struck over and over again, both when at sittings myself and when reading the records, at the paralyzing effect on one's ready wit and conversational flow, which the strangeness of the conditions brings with it. Constraint and numbness take the place of genial expansiveness. We 'don't know what to say, and it may also be SO 'on the other side. Few persons, I fancy, if suddenly challenged to prove their identity through the telephone, would quickly produce a large number of facts appropriate to the pur- pose. They would be more perplexed, and waste more time than they imagine. I next pass to what I will call 204 William James Selected Unpublished Correspondence 1885-1910 1986 Edited by FREDERICK J. DOWN SCOTT Ohio State University Press . Columbus Proc. ASPR IV, 1910 , PP. 721-722 for Psychical Research. A Record and Discussion of Mediumistic Experiments. 721 1.) Tell Bennie Judah's father that he is all right. Watching er little grains of sand make over him. :le tests go to make a large Got any Hodgson. eep you in his holy keeping. Mary I am with you. Myers Annie going where? Too bad Goodbye. engine? [part not read] why Let me have the boy. I came to try. [Mrs. Piper looks at something.] Subliminal I. ;land.) Where have they gone. A beautiful place. and it. [Looking at J. H.] Muddy. It's awful. [Smiles.] Window. Dr Dr. Hyslop. [superposed on farewell.'} Who's Bennie Judah? Mr. Hodgson took him by the shoul- ders and pulled him up in the window and made me try to say something. th the hand twisting about And Robert. I don't know him. who Robert is. k control.] Hear my head snap? You are Professor Hyslop [long sound igs of God rest on you. + of y.'] I thought I was a long way off. Another snap. You looked moments after dropping the as if I saw you through the small end of an opera glass. ) and down as if some re- The following is a letter from Mr. Dorr, with messages g place.] given to him through Mrs. Piper, sent to me in reply to in- quiries and relevant to the messages in the previous sitting.] son. yes, yes. Boston, November 22nd, 1906. quick. I am Hodgson. My dear Professor Hyslop, I went out with a sitter on October 1st and at that sitting 1rly implied in a third case and asked about your coming. The appointment which you after- 740). The fact was entirely un- ward-kept was made then, and the Control went on to speak of its propriety. It was ultimately t. No one but ourselves knew you and said: keeper knew what was contem- Hyslop will accomplish a good deal in the world-life.- that woman with the children" How determined he is :-I told him I had tried to reach him the kind was contemplated and through a light. I thought it sounded like Van-and I also mentioned Funk. I thought I saw the personality of Dr Funk ASPR 722 Proceedings of American Society for Psychical Research. with Hyslop. I shall see him as soon as possible. I want to ask him- in order to be sure of what I see-verify what I see I am not going to fill Rector's place - I tried to say this (i. e. what follows) [to Hyslop]- I shall reach you at every opportunity-when the opportunity presents itself. I ap- prove of your undertaking and shall help you all I can." There were three, and in fact, four at the time. One Funk, one Hyslop, and one perhaps Funk's son. I follow Hyslop whenever I can. I am trying to prepare him to receive my messages through other lights. I have tried two or three times to reach him through the other light. The sitting was a voice sitting and as no stenographer was present at it my notes of it are fragmentary and imperfect-I can tell you nothing more than I do now, nor whether the personality speaking at the moment was Rector or R. H. Yours sincerely, G. B. DORR. Part VI. SITTINGS WITH MRS. CHENOWETH. Introduction. I left Mrs. Piper in Arlington Heights without any knowl- edge on her part in her normal state that I had any intention of trying sittings elsewhere. I said nothing to Mrs. Cheno- weth about my having been elsewhere. She could easily have guessed it and it was a most natural thing to guess. My notes are not absolutely accurate. I had to abbreviate very much and as it was impossible to copy the notes immediately there are cases where I have forgotten some words that I would have remembered affecting the sense. But on the whole the record is fairly accurate. I had my mind alert for A.T. haird I70 RICHARD HODGSON London bic Press Ltd. 7 1949. RICHARD HODGSON I7I and put together, gave a coherent idea in each instance. When Mrs. Piper returned to England in 1906 Miss Alice Johnson, Research Officer of the this visit was mainly devoted to the cross- S.P.R., was first to observe the connection. Here la correspondence tests, in which Mrs. Verrall and Miss a simple example of Cross-Correspondence. In Mrs. Verrall also participated. The success of these tests Forbes' script purporting to come from her son may be judged by the reports in the Proceedings, Talbot he stated he must now leave her since he S.P.R., Vols. XXII to XXVII. The Latin Message was now looking for a sensitive who wrote auto. In particular would require a book to itself, and matically, in order that she might obtain corrobora readers intending to pursue the subject further will tion of her own writing. Mrs. Verrall on the same find valuable material in +Mr. J. G. Piddington's day wrote of a fir tree planted in a garden and the skilfully handled and detailed report and Miss script was signed with a sword and suspended Alice Johnson's interesting paper. bugle. The latter was part of the badge of the In 1907 Mrs. Sidgwick obtained good identity regiment to which Talbot Forbes belonged, and Mrs. proofs through Mrs. Piper by Mrs. Verrall, on her Forbes had in her garden some fir trees, grown from behalf, asking some questions to which she did not seed sent to her by her son. These facts were know the answer and receiving correct replies unknown to Mrs. Verrall. regarding the last conversation that had taken place Miss Johnson was of the view that these corres between Mrs. Sidgwick and Myers. Many other pondences were more than coincidence. *** It has impressive indications of his surviving self were every appearance," she wrote, 'of being an element found in cross-correspondences; especially during imported from the outside; it suggests an indepen Mrs. Piper's second visit to England; in fact, the dent invention, an active intelligence constantly at whole system of cross-correspondence appears to work in the present, not a mere echo or remnant of have been elaborated by him, and the wealth of individualities of the past ", and that active intelli classical knowledge displayed in the connected gence was believed to be F. W. H. Myers. fragments, given by several mediums, raised a Many of the cases were very complicated strong presumption that they have emanated from requiring all the ingenuity of those who attempted Myers' mind. The most striking of this nature was to solve them-men of classical and scientific obtained after Mrs. Piper's return to America by education. Mr. G. B. Dorr in 1908, SO strong that Frank *Proc., S.P.R., Vol. XXI, p. 337. Proc., S.P.R., Vol. XXII. Proc., S.P.R., Vol. XXVII. 270 RICHARD HODGSON RICHARD HODGSON 27I -the said H.B. weighing nearly 200 lb. At this friend's sitting of 30th January, 1906, find that no one but myself of those who were Hodgson p. suddenly said: "Do you remember probably present remember this. The incident a story I told you and how you laughed, about the was very distinct in my memory, but it soums man and the woman praying?" The sitter replied, to survive in no one else's. I was hoping foi " Oh, and the devil was in it. Of course I do another answer, about a certain pitfall, and " Yes," answered Hodgson p., "the devil, they this one was a surprise.) told him it was the Lord who sent it if the devil THE PECUNIARY MESSAGES brought it About the food that was given to The American Branch had never fully paid if them I want you to know who is speaking." expenses, and, although the Secretary's salary had That sitter felt quite certain that no one but himself always been very small, Dr. Hodgson had, after know of the correspondence and regarded the the first years, been reluctant to have any part of II Incident as a good test of Dr. Hodgson's continued charged to the Mother Country. The result had existence. occasionally been pecuniary embarrassment on his Of the other pecuniary message no written part. During his last visit to England, shortly records existed, but a sitter acquainted Prof. after Myers' death, this embarrassment had been William James with the following incident:- extreme, but an American friend, divining it in the To assure Dr. Hodgson a salary, Mr. G. B. Dorr nick of time, rescued him by an impulsive and had acquainted a certain wealthy friend (who wholly unexpected remittance. To this remittance believed in the cause and in the value of the he replied by a letter which contained some banter, Secretary's work) with the situation of the Branch, and, among other things, cited the story of a and Dr. Hodgson's reasons for not wishing to be starving couple who were overheard by an athelat indebted to the parent Society. This friend had who was passing the house to pray aloud to God agreed to pay into the Branch treasury the amount for food. The atheist climbed the roof and dropped of deficit in the yearly salary account, provided some bread down the chimney, and heard them that the operation should remain anonymous and thank God for the miracle. He then went to the Dr. Hodgson asked no questions. Dr. Hodgson door and revealed himself as its author. The old agreed to this. At the first sitting which this friend woman replied to him, "Well, the Lord sent it, had after the death of Dr. Hodgson the matter was even if the devil brought it ". immediately referred to by Hodgson p., who *Proc., S.P.R., Vol. XXIII, p. 26-27 thanked him warmly for the support given. The 26 J. G. Piddington. [PART LX.] Supplementary Notes on "Concordant Automatisms." 27 in her script the names, Lukos, Euripides and Philemon. But, wants Myersp to tell him about the story of Atlas. The if this is the true explanation, I would remark that her next reference to the subject was as follows : retention and reproduction of these three names were singularly fortunate; for they seem nicely calculated to fix the precise Extract from record of sitting with Mrs. Piper held on April reference which was required to bring about a complex 22, 1908. cross-correspondence. Euripides and Philemon without Lukos would have suggested the two Greek dramatists of those names, (Present G. B. Dorr.) rather than Browning's Aristophanes' Apology. Philemon and (G. B. D. goes through the list of cross-correspondences Lukos alone without Euripides, while suggesting Browning, that have been arranged, and on coming to "Atlas" re- would not have produced. the triple cross-correspondence on the minds Myers. that the story of Atlas is still to be told name Euripides. Euripides and Lukos alone without Philemon, him.) while fixing the reference to Euripides' Hercules Furens, would (Myersp communicating.) not have brought in Browning's verse-translation of the Hercules He Furens; whereas part of the complexity, as I think, of the cross-correspondence, consisted in the fact of one script G.B.D. Best not take it up now; it would interfere with the referring to Euripides' play and of another script referring to messages. Browning's translation of the play. Oh yes it's partly myth. Mrs. Verrall has written a few verses from Browning which On April 22, 1908, a year after the allusion to Browning's I, Myers, gave her recently from Euripides. Where she Aristophanes' Apology in Mrs. Holland's script, came what has selected the verses, the words appeal to me and must, I think, be admitted to be an allusion to the same poem describe one of our messages here. in Mrs. Piper's trance by Myersp. In order to show what G. B. Can you tell me what play it was from which Mrs. Verrall's led up to the allusion a few extracts from sittings previous to verses were taken? that of April 22, 1908, must first be quoted :- Let me think it over-. Pallas Pedestal hair. G.B.D. You had best not try and tell me now, but take more time Extract from record of sitting with Mrs. Piper held on about it. [G. B. D. apparently thought that "Pallas April 13, 1908. Pedestal hair" was an attempt to explain which play the verses were taken from. But they are really an unmis- (Present: G. B. Dorr.) takable recurrence to subjects mentioned at the sitting G.B.D. Then another [cross-corresponding] message, which I will of April 13, 1908. Note by J. G. P.] speak of now to prepare you for it, is "Atlas." No, I am only telling you- Globe (Hand draws circles.) Globe. (G.B.D. interrupts, and reads a few lines here and there G. B. D. Good. I see you remember. See if you can also recall from Browning's translation of the Hercules Furens. On the tale of Hercules and Atlas, and tell it to me later. his reading the lines where Hercules' plucking of the golden apples in the garden of the Hesperides is described, (Hand makes gesture of assent.) the hand wrote:) On April 14 and 21, 1908, Mr. Dorr reminds Myersp that I am listening carefully-Apple-correct. She [i.e. Mrs. " Atlas" is be given as a cross-correspondence, and that he Verrall] quoted it in answer to apple. 1For an account of Mr. Dorr's sittings see papers below, passim. (G. B. D. finishes his reading from the Browning translation.) Source: Proceedings of the American Socrety of Psyahical Research XXIV (1910) 2 28 J. G. Piddington. [PART Lx.] Supplementary Notes on "Concordant Automatisms." 29 Mr. Dorr's contemporaneous note on this incident is as of May 4, 1908 when the name only was uttered discon- follows: "The reference to a translation by Browning from nectedly. And out of some 70 or 80 cross-correspondences Euripides, or from the Greek plays at all in fact, is interest- arranged for at Mr. Dorr's sittings Myersp claimed to have ing, for I did not know that he had made any such until I given Mrs. Verrall only one other quotation from Browning, looked it up at the sitting in the book of Greek Ode and that was on May 8, 1908, when he said he had given translations which I had brought with me to it. Finding her "Grow old along with me," which is a line from Rabbi there a translation by Browning from the Hercules Furens I ben Ezra (see Miss Johnson's paper below, p. 223). glanced it through, and read a few lines here and there to That Myersp should have brought up the subject of Brown- see if the control would identify the ones referred to; but ing's translation of the Hercules Furens just after Mr. nothing was identified, unless it were the lines in which Dorr had made a reference to Hercules and Atlas is, I think, Hercules' coming to the Hesperides and the plucking of the interesting in view of the suggestion put forward in my paper golden apples is described." (Proc. Vol. XXII. pp. 257-8), that Atlas might be impli- Myersp, it will be noticed, said that the lines from Brown- cated in the references to Hercules and Prometheus in Mrs. ing, written by Mrs. Verrall, "describe one of our messages Verrall's "Euripides" and "Hercules Furens" scripts. here"; and then identified the lines as those referring to the apples plucked by Hercules in the garden of the Hesperides; I know that some people, who have no doubts as to the and added, "She quoted it in answer to apple". reality of telepathy, nevertheless hold that, though an idea Now this was all quite consistent, for on March 23, 1908, may be impressed from outside on an automatist's mind, the Myersp had chosen "apple" as a cross-correspondence, and on form in which it is expressed in the automatist's script is April 6, 1908, had claimed to have given "apple" to Mrs. not determined by the external agency, but solely by the and Miss Verrall. ¹ automatist's own peculiar mental habits. Thus, in the first of We find then that, while in April, 1907, Mrs. Holland's these two cases, while they would readily agree that the script completes and elaborates a triple-correspondence on the abstract idea underlying the references to Leah and Rachel, subject of Euripides and the Hercules Furens by an allusion to and Martha and Mary, was impressed on Mrs. Holland's mind Browning's Aristophanes' Apology; in April, 1908, Myersp by the agency which impressed cognate ideas on Mrs. Piper's claims to have brought about a cross-correspondence on the and Mrs. Verrall's minds, they would argue that the form in subject of "apple" by making Mrs. Verrall write "a few verses which Mrs. Holland's script clothed it was determined by Mrs. from Browning which I gave her from Euripides"; the con- Holland's own recollections of two Dante passages. That the text showing that he meant thereby Browning's translation of form in which an idea is expressed in a script is very often the Hercules Furens, which is embodied in Aristophanes' thus determined, I do not for a moment doubt; but I see no Apology. Neither Mr. Dorr nor Mrs. Piper was in any normal grounds whatever for supposing that it invariably is. If tele- way aware that "Euripides" or the "Hercules Furens" was the pathy is a fact, what is to prevent a percipient receiving an subject of a cross-correspondence; and neither had seen or idea in a particular concrete form hitherto unknown to him, been told about Mrs. Verrall's scripts of March 4 and 25, provided that this novel form can be communicated by means 1907, or Mrs. Holland's script of April 16, 1907. of a combination of words or other symbols already familiar Libraries > Archives > The Hall Collection Archives and Special Collections Home Archives Special Collections Rare Books Robert H. Goddard Goddard Exhibit Room Contact Information Site Search Collection Overview Dr. G. Stanley Hall Collection Biographical Note Abstract: Summer Office Hours Scope & Contents Psychologist and Clark's first president (1888 - 1920). It Wednesday and Thursday Series Descriptions includes correspondence with other well known psychologists, 9:30am 4:00pm including Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, former students, and by appointment Content List including Lewis Terman and Arnold Gesell, and faculty Closed Holidays and Weekends including, Franz Boaz, George Blakeslee, and Albert A. Michelson. Other material includes speeches, articles and It is recommended that you contact our photographs. office prior to traveling to the library. Printable Format Additional Resources Collection Overview Dr. Wallace W. Atwood Collection Dr. G. Stanley Hall Collection Dr. Robert H. Goddard Collection Creator: Hall, Granville Stanley, b. 1844 G. H. Blakeslee Collection The Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung Title: G. Stanley Hall Finding Aid Lectures at Clark University Jonas Clark Biography Quantity: 56 boxes (18.8 linear feet) Clark University Presidents Presidents or Chairmen of the Clark University Board of Trustees Location: Archives and Special Collections You may also be interested in: Robert H. Goddard Library Robert H. Goddard Library Clark University Other Web Sites about Archives and Worcester, MA Special Collections © 2009 Clark University. Privacy Policy http://www.clarku.edu/research/archives/hall/ 8/6/2009 *6SHE G.Stanley Hall Publication / Presentations on Piper exp. 1909-1910-1911 Box 27, Folder 9: Psychic Phenomena - Materials Relating to Mrs. Piper, 1907-1914. 1. G.W. Cheney to GSH, Clear Lake, Washington, Sept. 3, 1907. ALS. 2. [GSH] to James H. Hyslon, [Norcester], May 14, 1909. typed copy. 3. [GSH] to Rupert Hughes, [Worcester], Nov. 14, 1908. typed copy. 4. Oliver Lodge to GSH, Marienont, Edgbaston, Eng., Apr. 1, 1909. ALS. 5. George B. Dorr to GSH, Boston, Apr. 14, 1909. TLS. [istentry] 6. [GSH] to George 3. Door, [Norcester], Apr. 16, 1909. typed copy. 7. George 3. Dorr to GSH, Boston, Apr. 17, 1909. TLS. 3. George B. Dorr to GSH, Boston, Apr. 25, 1909. ALS. 9. Oliver Lodge to GSH, Birmingham, Eng., Apr. 30, 1909. ALS. 10. James II. Hyslop to George B. Dorr, New York, May 3, 1909. TLS. + 11. [GSH] to George 3. Dorr, [Horcester], May 4, 1909. typed copy. 12. George 8. Dorr to GSH, Philadelphia, May 7, 1909. ALS. 13. George B. Dorr to GSH, Philadelphia, [May 9, 1909]. ALS. 14. James H. Hyslop to George B..Dorr, New York, May 9, 1909. orig. telegram. 15. James H. Hyslop to George B. Dorr, New York, May 15, 1909. ALS. 16. George 3. Dorr to GSH, Boston, May 16, 1909. ALS. 17. [GSH] to George 3. Dorr, [Norcester], May 17, 1909. typed copy. 13. Alta L. Piper to George B. Dorr, [Boston], n.d. [ca. May 19, 1909]. ALS. 19. [GSH] to 'irs. Piper, [Vorcester], May 18, 1909. typed copy. 20. George B. Dorm to GSH, Boston, May 19, 1309. ALS. 22. Mrs. Piper to GSH, Boston, May 20, 1909. ALS. 22. George 3. Dorr to [GSH], Bar Harbor, May 21, [1900]. ALS. + 23. [GSH] to George 3. Dorr, [Worcester], May 29, 1909. typed copy. [Final Entry 24. Oliver Lodge to GSH, Mariement, Edgbaston, Eng., Sept. 27, 1909. ALS. 25. [GSH] TO Oliver lodge, [Norcestar], Oct. 15, 1909. typed copy. 36. James 1. Hyper to GSM, New York, Nov. 3, 1309. TLS. Flatter A THE SURVIVAL OF MAN A Study in Unrecognized Human Faculty BY WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR SIR OLIVER LODGE, F.R.S. MODERN VIEWS OF ELECTRICITY. LIFE AND MATTER. PIONEERS OF SCIENCE (Illustrated). SCHOOL TEACHING AND SCHOOL REFORM. EASY MATHEMATICS, ARITHMETIC, etc. ELEMENTARY MECHANICS. SIGNALLING WITHOUT WIRES. NON-IN MODERN VIEWS ON MATTER. FERIOR ACEQV THE SUBSTANCE OF FAITH. ENZES ELECTRONS. THE ETHER OF SPACE. SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY. NEW YORK MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY 1909 THE SURVIVAL OF MAN CHAPTER I THE ORIGIN OF THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH UZZLING and weird occurrences have been vouched P for among all nations and in every age. It is possible to relegate a good many asserted occurrences to the domain of superstition, but it is not possible thus to eliminate all. Nor is it likely that in the present stage of natural knowledge we are acquainted with all the workings of the human spirit and have reduced them to such simplicity that everything capable of happening in the mental and psychical region is of a nature readily and familiarly to be understood by all. Yet there are many who seem prac- tically to believe in this improbability; for although they are constrained from time to time to accept novel and sur- prising discoveries in biology, in chemistry, and in physical science generally, they seem tacitly to assume that these are the only parts of the universe in which fundamental dis- covery is possible, all the rest being too well known. It is a simple faith, and does credit to the capacity for belief of those who hold it - belief unfounded upon knowl- edge, and tenable only in the teeth of a great mass of evi- dence to the contrary. It is not easy to unsettle minds thus fortified against the intrusion of unwelcome facts; and their strong faith is I AUTOMATISM AND LUCIDITY RECENT PIPER SITTINGS 262 263 In the old days the going into trance seemed rather a was insufficient air in the room, or if the cushions slipped SO painful process, or at least a process involving muscular as to make the attitude uncomfortable, the hand wrote effort; there was some amount of contortion of the face, and "something wrong with the machine," or "attend to- the sometimes a slight tearing of the hair; and the same actions light," or something of that sort; and the experimenter accompanied the return of consciousness. Now the trance amended the arrangements before the writing went on. seems nothing more than an exceptionally heavy sleep, en- The whole thing was as sensible and easy as possible, as tered into without effort - a sleep with the superficial ap- soon as the circumstances and conditions were understood. pearance of that induced by chloroform; and the return to Each experimenter, of course, handed down all the informa- consciousness, though slow and for a time accompanied by tion and Hodgsonian tradition of this kind to the next, SO confusion, is easy and natural. that all the conditions to which Mrs. Piper was accustomed A sitting used to last only about an hour; and on the rare could be supplied beforehand, and SO that no injury would occasions when there is a voice sitting now, an hour is the happen to her bodily health. limit; but a writing sitting seems less of a strain, and was The following illustrates the care taken of the physical often allowed to last as much as two hours, though not conditions and the way they are spoken of. It is an extract from a sitting held by Mr. Dorr at Boston in 1906. more. In the old days, when sittings were more frequent, there (Rector interrupting a "Hodgson" communication.) Friend, you were degrees of intensity about them. Occasionally, though will have to change the conditions a moment. rarely, trance declined to come on at all; and sometimes, even [At the beginning of the sitting only one of the two windows in the when it did, the loss of consciousness seemed less than com- room was open a very little way. A few moments previous plete. Under present conditions the trance is undoubtedly to this time H. J. Jr. noticing that the room was a little profound, and the suspension of normal consciousness un- close had opened the other window, and B. D. had nearly mistakably complete. Once, but only once in my recent ex- closed it again.] perience, the trance refused to come on, and the attempt at G.B.D. What is wrong with the conditions? Do you want more a sitting had to be abandoned till next day. air or less? Usually after purposely placing herself under the familiar Well, there will have to be a change in the surroundings, there conditions to which she is accustomed, Mrs. Piper is able will have to be more strength, what is it, air, yes, air. And to let herself go off, without trouble or delay. a good deal more just now. Hodgson takes a good deal of strength when he comes, but he is all right, he under- Great care was taken of the body of the medium, both stands the methods of operation very well. (The window now and previously, by the operating intelligence. She was was now opened wide.) That is better. Now the light spoken of usually as " the light," sometimes as " the begins to get clear. All right, friend. machine," though the word "machine" commonly signified only the pencil. As the time drew near to the two-hour limit, which has If anything went wrong with the breathing, or if there been set as a period beyond which it is undesirable to persist, AUTOMATISM AND LUCIDITY oise. [probably something going on outside.] They were talking to me. I came in on a cord, a silver cord. They were trying to tell me something about the children in the body. Lovely place. CHAPTER XXI Buzzing in my head. Another snap. Miss Thompson. I thought you were small. Looking GENERAL REMARKS ON THE PIPER SITTINGS through opera glasses at wrong end. You grew larger. Did you hear my head snap? It breaks. forgot where we were sitting. F OR a further account of these sittings my paper in vol. xxiii. of the Proceedings of the Society for Why Mrs. Thompson, I didn't know you were there. My Psychical Research must be referred to. It would cold." take too much space to quote further here. I must be Mrs. Piper was troubled with a cold at this time. Her satisfied with a few comments. intelligence was now normal.] It is noteworthy how natural it is for a sitter to ignore all the normal knowledge which Mrs. Piper must un- urther illustration of the waking stage, showing how doubtedly possess, and to treat her as a separate individual it was in 1906 to what it is now, and as a further when in the trance state. Her controls exhibit the same tion of the curious "snap" sensation, I subjoin an tendency; and, while of course nothing evidential can be : from the termination of a sitting with Henry James, made to depend upon the supposition, it does appear to be and Mr. Dorr in America in 1906. really true that that knowledge has little or no influence on the knowledge shown by the controls. I thought you were a stranger. I surmised this at an earlier stage - as recorded on page Well, did you hear my head snap? 206, and subsequent experience has only confirmed the im- r. No. pression. Didn't hear it? It is a funny sound. Don't you hear it at all? Sounds like wheels clicking together and then snaps. As a minor instance of this fact may be mentioned the There it is again. surprise and eagerness shown by the Isaac Thompson con- D. Now you are really back. trol when after some delay he was told that Mrs. Isaac Thompson was present at the first sitting subsequently held in her house in Liverpool. For of course Mrs. Piper had known perfectly well the people likely to be present at the sitting, and had seen them assemble; it was no news to her. But indeed everything tends to show that during thorough trance the normal consciousness is in abeyance. And, al- though it is true that we cannot claim anything as evidential 281 282 AUTOMATISM AND LUCIDITY GENERAL REMARKS 283 when it comes out in the trance if it had ever been known was conducting the sitting and speaking the remark labelled to Mrs. Piper, I myself am unable to trace much, if any, G.B.D. connexion between the trance knowledge and her normal knowledge. For instance, a sitter introduced by name is no G.B.D. We are anxious that the light in the future should not go more likely to have his name mentioned during a sitting than adrift and astray, and anxious that past relations should one who is introduced as an anonymous stranger. I make a not be wholly interrupted by any change of environment general statement of this kind believing that careful analysis or other. Well, no one could be more anxious about will bear it out, and as a challenge to anyone who will be- these things or more concerned than we ourselves are, stow time and labour upon the work of analysing the records and it hath disturbed us not a little to see the conditions from this point of view. It seems to me a desirable piece on the earthly side. We are not quite pleased with them, of work for someone to undertake. because the light cannot know itself, it cannot under- stand itself. It is shut off from communication with us Of course a sceptic may say that this kind of kenosis is on our side and it must remain in ignorance of the meth- due to mere cunning; but the time for suspicion of that kind ods which we pursue in our endeavours to reach the mor- is over with most of us investigators. It is a genuine piece tals on the earthly side. of psychological information that we now desire, not any- D. But through the daughter, Alta, I have felt that you might thing analogous to detective work. Detective work is neces- in a sense reach her. sary in its proper time and place, but there are cases which Yes, that is the only way. have run that gauntlet, and require more advanced treatment. I do not adduce this as evidence, but as illustrative of The Piper case is one of them. When I speak of "Mrs. Piper's normal knowledge," I how the phenomenon represents itself; for when it does SO mean of course knowledge acquired in her ordinary state. consistently it is reasonable to suppose that something true is indicated. Knowledge acquired while in the trance state is certainly It will be observed in many of the records how natural reproducible when in that state, but it appears not to be ac- cessible in her ordinary state; and vice versa. I do not call it is for a sitter, or for the experimenter in charge, to that " normal knowledge." challenge a "control" to furnish some evidence of his The controls themselves feel that they have no direct identity, or to demand from him a sudden answer to a access to the normal Mrs. Piper; so, if they want to com- specific question. municate with her, they must utilise some other agency,- It is quite natural, and I suppose inevitable: but that it also is to some extent unreasonable, must be admitted. for instance, they send messages through her own daughter, Trivial domestic incidents are not constantly in one's with whom they occasionally communicate during trance. To illustrate this, I extract a small fragment from a quantity thoughts, and only when in a reminiscent and holiday mood, or under the stimulus of friendly chat, does any vivid of serious conversation which took place between them and Dr. Hodgson's executors soon after his death. Mr. Dorr recollection of such incidents normally occur. It is a common experience that characteristic touches, 316 AUTOMATISM AND LUCIDITY MYERS AND HODGSON CONTROLS 317 sometimes became rather markedly ' religious." This can H. J. Jr. Very well. be illustrated by the following close of an American Voice- Hello, George! Sitting in 1906, reported to me by Mr. Dorr Why, I feel as though I was one among you. Hello George! (" Hodgson" terminating his communication) G. B. D. Hello! Well, I will be off. Good-bye for the present. You people don't appreciate my spirit of fun! But I am (Rector resumes.) All right. That is first-rate. Took him Hodgson, and I shall be Hodgson to the end of all a long time to turn round and get out. He dislikes to go eternity, and you cannot change me no matter what you more than anybody I ever saw. The last moment he kept do. talking to me and talking to me. He could not give it up. H. J. Jr. I think we appreciate it, Mr. Hodgson. Well, I hope you do - if you don't, you have lost some- PRAYER thing, because I am what I am, and I shall never be Father, in Thy kindness guide Thy children of earth, bestow anything else, and of all the joyous moments of my Thy blessings on them, teach them with Thy presence and whole existence, the most joyful is when I meet you Thy power to receive suffering, pain, illness and sorrow, all. teach them to know that Thy presence is always with them. May Thy grace and everlasting love be and abide with them This sort of thing is of course, not in the least evidential, now and evermore. and yet if I were asked to invent some scheme of salutation Farewell. We depart, friends, and may the blessings of God more natural and characteristic of Hodgson's personality be bestowed on you. Farewell. I should not be able to improve upon it. To illustrate the manner of the Hodgson control in my MANNER OF THE HODGSON CONTROL own experience, the following brief extract must serve:- The atmosphere of a sitting is always serious, but only At the Eighth Sitting on 23 Nov. 1906 (present O. J. L. occasionally is it solemn - usually it is of an even tenor, alone), "Isaac Thompson" wrote a good deal, but and sometimes it is hearty and jovial. The following is the following came from Hodgson:- a characteristic Hodgson greeting extracted from a sitting I am Hodgson, but I cannot take Rector's place to-day. with Mr. Dorr and Henry James, Jr., at Boston in 1906:- However I will make a poor attempt to speak through him. Ha! Well, I did not expect to see you so soon. O.J.L. Very glad to see you. Good morning, Harry ! Here's ditto. Do I understand that Mrs. Piper is in Eng- I am delighted to see you. land? H. J. Jr. Is that you, Mr. Hodgson? O.J.L. Yes, she is, and is staying in my house. Yes, it is a great delight to me to see your face once more. Capital. If I were in the body it would not be so. How is everything with you, first rate? However I am glad it is so. 6/7/06 In Vol- 11 (ppp. 247-248) of The Correspondence of Wm. James WJ will to ma. deleiseff Home (7/14/06) that he has be fronth tears y Howe's memoir of R Hodgron following his death "A tiver, better, hearteer they could not pooring be written ." Work head at the Tower Club le my 1906 A published I the llub. hoth Have + Hodgin were Towerners. PROF. JAMES BETS 'TWAS DR. HODGSON New York Times 1857-Current; Jul 8, 1909; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 2001) pg. 1 PROF. JAMES BETS 'TWAS DR. HODGSON- Reports Inability to Prove Spirit Messages Were Real, but Will Take the Risk. IT'S A NAKED WORLD BEYOND 'R. H." Says That Certainly They Live in Houses, but as for Clothing, Oh, No! -Lapses in Spook Talk. Prof. William James of Harvard has written a long report on the alleged com- munications of the spirit of the late Dr. Richard Hodgson, who died on Dec. 20, 1905, to many persons, through Mrs. Piper, the medium. The report takes up more than a hundred pages of the number of the Proceedings of the American So- ciety for Psychical Research," about to be issued, and contains extensive ver- batim records of the communications. One of the longer records is that of a conversation" carried on between Prof. James himself and what is believed by Dr. James H. Hyslop, Secretary of the society. and others, to be the spirit of Dr. Hodgson. Prof. James is loath to commit himself to a positive belief in this so-called spirit communication. He says: But if asked whether the will to communicate be Hodgson's or be some were spirit-coun- terfeit of Hodgson, I remain uncertain and await more facts. facts which may not point clearly to a conclusion for fifty or a hundred years." Varying Wills in Contact. Earlier in his chapter on conclusions Note One year before drawn from the records, however, he says: But it is possible to complicate the the death of Wm. James, hypothesis. Extraneous wills to com- municate may contribute to the results he not only. inspired this as well as a will to personate." and the two kinds of will may be destined in entity, though capable of helping each NYTarticle but wrote other out. The will to communicate, in our present instance, would be, on the an appreciative note to prima facie view of it, the will of Hodg- son's surviving spirit; and a natural way Mark A. DeWolf House of representing the process would be to suppose the spirit to have found that by about his memoir of pressing. so to speak, against the light,' It can make fragmentary gleams and flashes of what it wishes to say mix with the rubbish, of the trance-talk on this side. Richard Hodgson The two wills might thus strike up a sort of partnership and stir each other See Helen Howe. The up. It might even be that the will to personate would be inert unless it were aroused to activity by the other will. We might imagine the relation to be Gentle Americans, page 89 analogous to that of two physical bodies, from neither of which, when alone, me- chanical, thermal, or electrical effects and 142f can proceed: but if the other body ha Reproduced with permission of the copynght owner Further reproduction prohibited without permission present. and show a difference of po- tential, action starts up and goes on 2. apace. Conceptions such as these seem to connect in schematic form the various elements in the case. Its essential fac- tors are done justice to, and, by changing the relative amounts in which the rub- bish-making and the truth-telling will contribute to the resultant, we can draw up a table in which every type of mani- festation, from silly planchet-writing up to Rector's best utterances, finds its proper place. Personally I must say that. although I have to confess that no crucial proof of the presence of the will to communi- cate seems to me yielded by the Hodg- son control taken alone, and in the sit- tings to which I have had access, yet the total effect in the way of dramatic prob- ability of the whole mass of similar phe- nomena on my mind is to make me be- lieve that a will to communicate' is in some shape there. I cannot demonstrate it, but practically I am inclined to go in for it, to bet on it, and take the risks." Talk with Spook Land. Here are some selections from the Rich- ard Hodgson control's utterances from one of two voice sittings which Prof. James had himself. The words in paren- theses are either the remarks by Prof. James or Mrs. James, as indicated. Those without parenthesec are the so-called üf- terances of Dr. Hodgson: Well, well, well, well! Well, well, well, that is here 1 am. Good morning, good morning. Alice. (By Mrs. J.: Good morning. Mr. Hodgson.) I am right here. Well, well, well! I am delighted. (By Prof. J.: Hurrah! R. H.! Give us your hand!) Hurrah, William! God bless you. How are you? (By Prof. J.: First rate.) Well. I am delighted to see you. Well, have you solved those problems yet." (By Prof. J.: Which problems do you refer to?) Did you get my messages? (By Prof. J.: I got some messages about your going to converture.) Did you hear about that argument that I had? You asked me what I had been doing all those years. and what it amounted to? (By Prof. J.: Yes.) Well, It has amounted to this-that I have learned by experience that there is more truth than error in what I have been study- ing. (By Prof. J.: Good.) I am so delighted to see you to-day that words fall me. Following this rather tedious conversa. tion there was a long series of questions and answers in the endeavor to get evi- dential material as to Dr. Hodgson's identity. Here is another sample: (By Prof. J.: Why can't you tell me more about the other life?) That is part of my work. I intend to give you a better idea of this life than has ever been given. (By Prof. J.: I hope so.) It is not a vague fartasey, but a reality. (By Prof. J.: Hodgson, do you live as we do. as men do?) What does she say? (By Prof. J.: Do you live as men do?) (By Mrs. J.: Do you wear clothing and live in houses?) Oh! yes, houses, but not clothing. No, that is absurd. (By Prof. J.: The clothing, or the state- ment made about it?) Just wait a moment. I am going to get out. (By Prof. J.: You will come back again?) Yes. When "R. H." did come back. how ever, he. at once began to talk of some- thing else. Here is an incident which Prof. James admits startled him: By Prof. J.: Do you recall any incidents about your playing with the children up in the Adirondacks at the Putnam Camp? Do you remember-what is that name- Elizabeth Putnam? She came in and I was sitting in a chair before the fire, reading, crept up behind me. put her hands over my eyes, and said Who is it? And do you remember what my answer was? By Prof. J.: Let me see If you remember it as I do. I said: Well, it feels like Elizabeth Put- nam. but-1 sounds like-'' By Prof. J.: I know who you mean. Prof. James then gives this explana- tion: R. H. quite startled me here because what he said reminded me of an incident which I well remembered. One day at breakfast Martha Putnam (as I recall the fact) had climbed on Hodgson's back. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner Further reproduction prohibited without permission sitting on his shoulders, and clasped`her hands over his eyes, saying: 4 Who am I?' To which R. H., laughing. had re- sponded: 'It sounds like Martha. but it feels like Henry Bowditch -the said Henry Bowditch weighing nearly 200 pounds. I find that no one but myself of those who probably were present remem- bers this incident." A moment later in the conversation, "R. H." gave the name Bowditch further to identify the incident. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. chapter14 Page 1 of 12 ONLINE LIBRARY Homepage Book: "The Survival of Man" (1909) About Us Author: Sir Oliver Lodge FRS Availability: Out of Print Latest News & Events Contents / Previous Chapter / Next Chapter $1 Million Challenge Investigators - Section Four - Articles Automatism and Lucidity Experiments Photographs Chapter 14 Theory Professor William James's Testimony to Mrs. Piper Links Recommended Books ALTHOUGH Mrs. Piper was brought by the Society to England in the Contact and Feedback autumn of 1889, she was of course known to members of the Society in America before then and, so far as we were concerned, may be said have Campaigns been "discovered" by Professor William James in 1885. His early experience of her sittings, and his testimony as to the way in which his initial scepticism was broken down, are very interesting; and I shall here make a few quotations from a short paper of his which was included in the Proceedings of the Society along with my first Report of the Piper Case. Professor William James's Statement "I made Mrs. Piper's acquaintance in the autumn of 1885. My wife's mother, Mrs. Gibbens, had been told of her by a friend, during the previous summer, and, never having seen a medium before, had paid her a visit out of curiosity. She returned with the statement that Mrs. P. had given her a long string of names of members of the family, mostly Christian names, together with facts about the persons mentioned and their relations to each other, the knowledge of which on her part was incomprehensible without supernormal powers. My sister-in-law went the next day, with still better results, as she related them. Amongst other things, the medium had accurately described the circumstances of the writer of a letter which she held against her forehead, after Miss G. had given it to her. The letter was in Italian, and its writer was known to but two persons in this country. "I may add that on a later occasion my wife and I took another letter from this same person to Mrs. P., who went on to speak of him in way which identified him unmistakahly again http://www.survivalafterdeath.org/books/lodge/survival/chapter14.htm 3/23/2004 chapter 14 Page 9 of 12 Lodge - 2 little from Myers. [To W. J., Jr.] What discourages you about your art? [W. J., Jr., was studying painting.] Oh what good times we had, fishing! Believe, Billy, wherever you go, whatever you do, there is a God. So much for Hodgson's first appearances, which were characteristic enough in manner, however incomplete. Mr. G. B. Dorr of Boston had later sittings with Mrs. Piper, at which he encouraged Hodgson to give all sorts of reminiscences, as evidence of survival of memory, and as tending towards proof of identity. I only quote a small portion from the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, vol. xxiii., page 44, selecting a portion which contains true reminiscences; and adding Mr. Dorr's annotations, without which to us in England they would be useless. The remarks at the end are quoted from the Report by William James in Proceedings S.P.R., vol. xxiii. I recall the pansies your mother used to place over the table. I remember that well-delightful to see them! I can see them now. (My mother used to have pansies spread loosely over the tablecloth, when she had people to dine or sup with us at Bar Harbor, where we had a large bed of them planted near the house so that we could get them freely for this purpose. The custom is not common enough to let H.'s statement pass for a happy guess, nor do I think it likely he would have spoken of it to Mrs. Piper, either awake or in trance. It came out quite suddenly also, and with a positive-ness which made me feel that it was a true recollection, something seen at the moment in a mental picture. D.) I remember a beautiful road, a bicycle-road you made, going through the woods. (A dozen years ago I made a bicycle-road on my own backland, which ran through the woods beneath a mountain over which we often used to walk. It was a pleasant and familiar feature in our summer life there, and it would naturally be one of the pictures that would come back to R. H. in thinking of the place, - like the view from my mother's balcony of which he spoke at the former sitting. But it is not a thing of which either he or I would have spoken to Mrs. Piper, whether in trance or awake. - D.) G. B. D. then tries again to get the name of the man who occupied the farmhouse, describing him to R. H. without mentioning his name. Oh yes, / remember him well - / remember going off with him once fishing-going down the shore in a boat. / remember one evening, and it impressed me so vividly because your mother did not like it. and / felt we had done wrona and hurt her - M. and / htp://www.survivalafterdeath.org/books/lodge/survival/chapter14.htm 3/23/2004 chapter14 Page 10 of 12 Lodge-3 were smoking together and we talked too late, and she felt it was time to retire [This would be remarkably good if the incident should prove not to have come up already in R. H.'s own sittings after M. died. She used to smoke cigarettes occasionally, and was the only person of the feminine sex whom I now recall as having done so at our house. Unless in possibly referring to this incident to her 'spirit' at trances, after M. died, Hodgson would have been most unlikely to speak of it to others, certainly not to Mrs. Piper, either in trance or awake. - D.] G.B.D: Do you remember where you went with John Rich when you went fishing with him - Oh I forgot! I did not mean to give you his name! John Rich, John, that is his name] But / am sorry you gave it to me too-it might have come to me. We got a boat and went over to an island. Coming back we had some difficulty in getting our fish in. We had poor luck in catching them, and then we lost them. Ask him, he will remember it, / think. [R. H.'s recollection of going off with Rich seems to be good, as I think it over. That he should go off with Rich only and neither alone nor with me or other guests, is exactly what happened, - and yet not what might have been expected to happen. His going to an island is descriptive also. - D.) Do you remember what you used to put over your back that had a cup in it? And there was a little brook where we used to stop and drink. And then / used to stop and light my pipe-the whole scene is as vivid to me! If / could only express it to you! [I used to carry a little canvas bag slung over my shoulder and a cup in it, when we went on long tramps. This may be what R. H. refers to, though I think that he was rather apt to carry a folding leather cup of his own in his pocket. The whole recollection is rather vague in my memory, going back a number of years. The picture is a good one of just what used to happen when we were off on our tramps together, though of course what he describes would be always apt to happen on walks through woods and over mountains. The picture of the little brook we used to stop and drink at is good - I can see it now. - D.] After some talk about the Tavern Club, about Australia, and about the state of things in the other world, R. H. goes on as follows:- Do you remember one summer there was a gentleman at your house who had a violin. I had some interesting talks with him htp://www.survivalafterdeath.org/books/lodge/survival/chapter14.htm 3/23/2004 chapter] Page 11 of 12 Ladge 4 avout mest unnys, anu likeu to meal 111111 play 1115 gentleman - I remember him very well. [This describes a man named von G., who was an excellent violinist and who also talked interestingly on psychical research matters, in which he professed to have some faculty. As R. H. himself was also fond of the violin, it seems natural that some memory of von G. should stand out now. That Mrs. Piper should have any knowledge of this gentleman seems most improbable. D.] My earthly memories come only in fragments. / remember quite well this little gentleman -and how interested / was in talking with him about psychics, and in his instrument as well. / remember a man Royce visiting you. [Prof. Royce says that he has been at Oldfarm along with Hodgson, but adds that that might be a natural association in Mrs. Piper's mind, since he thinks that the only time he ever saw her was at the Dorrs' in Boston. - W. J.] This is, I think, the whole of the matter relative to Oldfarm which the R. Control has given. The number of items mentioned is not great, and some inability to answer questions appears. But there are almost no mistakes of fact, and it is hardly possible that all the veridical points should have been known to Mrs. Piper normally. Some of them indeed were likely a priori; others may have been chance-hits; but for the mass, it seems to me that either reading of Mr. Dorr's mind, or spirit-return, is the least improbable explanation. The fewness of the items may seem strange to some critics. But if we assume a spirit to be actually there, trying to reach us, and if at the same time we imagine that his situation with regard to the transaction is similar to our own, the surprise vanishes. I have been struck over and over again, both when at sittings myself and when reading the records, at the paralyzing effect on one's ready wit and conversational flow, which the strangeness of the conditions brings with it. Constraint and numbness take the place of genial expansiveness. We "don't know what to say," and it may also be so "on the other side." Few persons, I fancy, if suddenly challenged to prove their identity through the telephone, would quickly produce a large number of facts appropriate to the purpose. They would be more perplexed, and waste more time than they imagine. Chapters Contents/Preface / Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6 / Chapter 7 / Chapter 8 / Chapter 9 / Chapter 10 / Chapter 11 / Chapter 12 / Chapter 13 / Chapter 14 / Chapter 15 / Chapter 16 / Chapter / Chapter 18 / Chapter 19 / Chapter 20 / Chapter 21 / Chapter 22 / Chapter 23 / Chapter 24 / Chapter 25 htp://www.survivalafterdeath.org/books/lodge/survival/chapter14.htm 3/23/2004 (1.910) 744 Index to Vol. XXIV, [PARTS LX.-LXI.] Index to Vol. XXIV. 745 Cross-Correspondence, Indications of the Presence of a Third Intelligence, Dramatic Characteristics of Trance Personalities. See the Hodgson, 32-34, 80, 91 (footnote), 92 (footnote), 98-104, 111-113, Myers, and Sidgwick Controls and the Junot Sittings. 115-133, 149, 155-156, 222, 256-58, 261-63, 319-326 Dresser, Mrs. Julius, and the Christian Science Movement- 696 " Identity of the Intelligence, question of 32-34, 80, Dryden's Translation of the Aeneid, references to 73, 74, 76, 77 91 (footnote), 123-133, 155-156, 256-258, 261-263- Dubois, Professor, on The Psychic Treatment of Nervous Disorders Knowledge of the Subject-Matter on the part 671-73, 691, 696 " of the Automatists or Sitters, Question of 19, 23, Dwarf. See Giant and Dwarf. 24, 29, 30, 42, 43, 98-104, 114 (footnote), 121-135, 138-144, 158, 165, 233, 234, 237, 240, 275-76, 280 (footnote), 284, 286, 319-326 E. Phrases indicating 21, 22, 183 (footnote), 189 (foot- " ECHO and Narcissus (Lethe Incident) - 36, 81, 104-6, 115-120 note), 203-4, 207-8, 211, 213, 223, 224 (footnote), 225, Eddy, Mrs., and the Christian Science Movement 695-697 239, 242, 245, 257, 267-68 Education and Suggestion - 670-686 See also the Scripts of Mrs. Frith, "Mrs. Holland," and Mrs. and Will, reinforcement of the, by - " " 678, 684, 685 Miss Verrall, The Mac Script, and the Trance Phenomena of Eidolon, references to 3, 17 Mrs. Home and Mrs. Piper. Elliotson, Dr., Researches in Mesmerism, reference to 692 Crossing the Bar, Cross-Correspondeuce, reference to 17, 82 Essays, by F. W. H. Myers, Script reminiscences of Cup, Cross-Correspondence, reference to 220 19, 87, 128, 155, 188 (footnote) Cyclops, Centaurs, etc., allusions to 37,54,55 Eumenides, See Greek Procession. Euripides, Cross-Correspondence, further details 25-30, 125, 127-8, 192, 220 D. Eurydice. See Orpheus and Eurydice. Daemon of Socrates, F. W. H. Myers on 17 Evans, Mr., Control (Mac Script) 265, 270, 309, 310 Daffodils, Cross-Correspondence, reference to 137 Exile and Moore, Cross-Correspondence - 19, 35-7, 186-189, 194 Dandy. See Don. " See also Mrs. H. Sidgwick on. Dante, references, in earlier scripts 23, 24, 124, 134 (footnote), 137 Experimenters, A New Group of, by Mrs. A. W. Verrall (The Mac in the Sevens Cross-Correspondence Script) 264-318 " " 226-34, 236-7, 245, 255, 256, 290-91 D'Arc, Jeanne. See Arrow, Cross-Correspondence. Davis, Andrew Jackson, reference to 695 F. de Lys. See Arrow, Cross-Correspondence. De Morgan, Prof. W., Preface to From Matter to Spirit, reference to 339-341 FAITH Healing 672, 673 Déjerine, Method of Treating Fatigue States 671 See also Christian Science, and Suggestion. reference to 696 Fall on the Ice Incident (Junot Sittings) 442, 480 " " " " Dekker, T., Patient Grissell, Script reference to - 324 Faria, Abbé, Doctrine of Suggestion introduced by 692 Deleuze, Researches in Animal Magnetism, reference to 691, 694 Fludd, reference to writings of - 689 Diana, Cross-Correspondence, reference to 220 " Forbes, Mrs.," Script references to 210 Don (Dandy), references to (Junot Sittings) 392, 418, 419, 420, 431, 432, 435 Fragments of Prose and Poetry, by F. W. H. Myers, Script remiuis- Dorr, G. B., Sittings with Mrs. Piper (Series of 1908), 22, 26, 31-200, 327, 328 cences of - 21, 87, 129, 131-133, 167, 168, 177, 178, 204 Discussion of, by Mrs. H. Sidgwick, Mrs. A. W. Verrall, Francis and Ignatius, Cross-Correspondence, reference to 220 " and J. G. Piddington -31-200- Franz-Joseph and September 21, Cross-Correspondence 204,208 Notes and Comments referring to 26-30, 42, 43, 86, 88, 91, 92, French Commissions on Animal Magnetism, reference to -690-91 " 98-104, 111-114, 142, 152, 158, 162 Freud, Professor, Methods of Psycho-analysis, 673-678 Letters read at Sittings 86, 136 Frith, Mrs., Script of, The Sevens Cross-Correspondence " Sitter's Knowledge of Subject-Matter, Question of 234, 239, 252, 254, 255, 256 " 42, 43 (footnotes), 102-4, 114 (footnote), 141-2, 158 8/23/2021 A famously open mind - The Boston Globe boston.com Arts & Entertainment your connection to The Boston Globe GREATER BOSTON SEARCH BETA Home News A&E Business Sports Travel Your Life Cars Jobs Real Estate Yellow Pages Movies Restaurants Food Calendar Music Theater/Arts TV Books Celebrity news Games LATEST A&E NEWS HOME > A&E 'Idol' drama begins and BOOKS ends with Abdul GALLERIES: Examining the A famously open mind (1842-1910) The Boston Globe fascination with decoration, The education of the protean William James is the focus of a new detail BOOK REVIEW: Krugman biography makes a timely 'Return' William James (right), with brother Henry, circa 1899 was "alarmingly open to new DINING OUT: Comfort food experiences," writes Richardson. (Bettmann/Corbis) with a twist More A&E news By Glenn C. Altschuler December 24, 2006 BOSTON.COM'S MOST E- William James: In the Maelstrom of American Modernism MAILED SEARCH THE ARCHIVES By Robert D. Richardson Houghton Mifflin, 622 pp., illustrated, $30 GO In a characteristically candid self-portrait, William James confessed that he raced around too much in a state of inner tension, preparing to engage and resist external stimuli: "left the present Today (free) act inattentively done because I was pre-occupied with the next act, failed to listen etc. because I was too eager to speak, kept up when I ought to have kept down, been jerky, angular, rapid, Yesterday (free) precipitate, let my mind run ahead of my body etc. etc." Despite -- or because of -- this "buzzing Past 30 days blooming confusion," James, that "adorable genius," made dazzling contributions to psychology, Last 12 months philosophy, and the study of religion. Advanced search / Historic Archives Since his death, in 1910, James has not been forgotten. Along with brother Henry and sister ADVERTISEMENT Alice, James has been hailed as a member of America's premier intellectual family. His great books -- "The Principles of Psychology," "Pragmatism," "The Will to Believe," and "Varieties of Religious Experience" -- continue to be read. For his contributions to the structure of philosophy, Alfred North Whitehead ranked him with Plato, Aristotle and Leibni z. James remains a patron saint of anti-imperialism. Howard Feinstein, R. Laurence Moore, and Louis Menand have written brilliant books about James's decision to abandon art for a career in science, his interest in religion and parapsychology, and his membership in Cambridge's Metaphysical Club. But no full- length narrative biography of him has appeared in a generation. In "William James," Robert Richardson, whose previous subjects were Thoreau and Emerson, seeks to understand James's "life through his work, not the other way around." Richardson presents no new interpretations of James's theories of pragmatism and pluralism. Nor does he attempt to critique them. But he has a knack for explaining complex ideas clearly and elegantly and for bringing to life a fascinating character. Various William Jameses, Richardson suggests, lived inside the man: As he willed himself into optimism, he was often sad, irritable, and depressed. But the "central" or "essential" James was an apostle of activity, spontaneity, doubt, chance, and chaos, "astonishingly, even alarmingly open to new experiences," including a headlong plunge into the maelstrom of American modernism. In his personal as well as his professional life, Richardson points out, James was an irrepressible experimenter. He smoked opium and recorded his responses to it in his diary. He climbed mountains, even after he was diagnosed with angina. He invited W.E.B. DuBois, a graduate student at Harvard, to his home, when few professors had social relations with African- Americans. And he was a "natural philanderer who refused to conceal his crushes from his wife. How did he get this way? Although neither he nor anyone else can penetrate the mysteries of temperament, Richardson stresses James's "uncanny ability to pick up redemptive ideas from his reading " In 1870, when James's vocational plans were still unsettled, his first cousin, with whom he had fallen in love, died. James descended into a morbid depression. An essay on free will by Charles Renouvier, a French philosopher, he claimed, helped resolve the greatest crisis of archive.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2006/12/24/a_famously_open_mind 1/3 8/23/2021 A famously open mind - The Boston Globe his life: "My first act of free will shall be to believe in free will." James decided to cultivate moral freedom "by reading books favorable to it." Stimulated perhaps by the legendary "Renouvier rescue," Richardson has combed through the books James read. While the ideas of others surely had an impact on him, tracing that impact is difficult. Thinkers great and small are often silent about their intellectual debts. And sometimes they use the work of others like a drunk uses a lamp post, for support and not illumination. Richardson adds little but length to "William James" when he provides page after page of book titles, telling us, for example, what James read in 1870 and 1871. In any event, whether by temperament, conviction, or force of will, James became a radical empiricist, content to regard even his "more assured conclusions concerning matters of fact as hypotheses liable to modification in the course of future experience." Richardson explains how this perspective informed his foundational work in psychology, philosophy, and religion. Without denying that physical forces acted on consciousness, James claimed that the mind can and does form, discard, and re-form habits. Defining consciousness as a stream, not a discrete set of ideas, he insisted that "cognition is incomplete until discharged in act James's pragmatism builds on these principles, hailing change, chance, uncertainty, and the idea of "maybe" as spurs to assimilate, test, and validate ideas in the "real" world by measuring "conduct consequent upon the fact." The "truth" of ideas, he suggested, changes as circumstances change. Among the first to study religious feelings (rather than theology or institutions), James saw that they worked, more effectively than reason, to help "sick souls" escape apprehension and alienation. Risking ridicule, James was open as well to the possible existence of supernormal powers of cognition and immortality. A member of the American Society for Psychical Research, he emphasized that if you wish to upset the law that all crows are black, you musn't seek to show that no crows are; it is enough if you prove one single crow to be white." Mrs. Leonora Piper, a medium from Boston, was his white crow. Richardson seems a bit embarrassed by James's alliance with the invisible world. James, he insists, unpersuasively, staked out a middle ground on spiritualism. He wanted to believe, Richardson concludes, but despite "his extravagant investment of time and energy in psychic research when it came down to it, he simply couldn't cross the line. Maybe. But then again, like it or not, wouldn't it have been in character for the apostle of "maybe" to keep the door open, just a crack? Glenn C. Altschuler is the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies at Cornell University. © Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company. 12 More: Globe Living/Arts stories A&E section Latest entertainment news Globe front page Boston.com Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail Breaking News Alerts Printer friendly Single page E-mail to a friend Books RSS feed Available RSS feeds Most e-mailed R Reprints & Licensing Share on Facebook Save this article powered by Del.icio.us feedback form I help I site index I globe archives I rss rchive.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2006/12/24/a_famously_open_mind/ 2/3 JASTR V, 1003 Many 1911, FP 141-170 VOL. V.-No. 3. MARCH 1911. JOURNAL OF THE American Society for Psychical Research CONTENTS PAGE PAGE GENERAL ARTICLES: EDITORIAL 217 A Review of Recent English Proceed- BOOK REVIEW ings 224 141 A REVIEW OF RECENT ENGLISH PROCEEDINGS. By James H. Hyslop. The Proceedings of the English Society issued last March contain some Supplementary notes on the first Report on Mrs. Holland's automatic writing. by Miss Alice Johnson, some similar notes on the Concordant Automatisms published by Mr. Piddington. in both cases adding to their scientific value and significance. and further interesting experiments with Mrs. Piper together with additional cross correspond- ences of unusual interest. The experiments conducted by Mr. Dorr under the direction of the English Society represent one of the most interesting and instructive of all the attempts to determine the meaning of the problem which confronts the psychic researcher. and various of the members have taken an assigned part in studying and reporting on the facts connected therewith. > It will be necessary to summarize the whole report for the importance of its facts. but the larger part of the discussion must turn upon the interest is the experiments of Mr. DorDand Miss Johnson. attaching In Miss Johnson's notes there are Note: Thisarticle provides the fullest example of Dorr's methods for psychial research, under the dir ection of the English Society," providing international standing! JASPR, 1912, pp 296 296 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research. sittings were held at which he appeared until I had a number in June following, but apparently Mr. Podmore had tried. 2. Incidents of Mrs. Chenoweth. Just a month after the death of Professor James I had my first sitting with Mrs. Chenoweth who knew a little more about him than Mrs. Smead, but not enough to affect most of the material that purported to come from him. Her own statement of what she knew about him will be found in the Proceedings published simultaneously (p. 162). At the first sitting on September 26th, 1910, Professor James did not try to communicate. He apparently wrote his name William at the end of the automatic writing, after G. P. and Dr. Hodgson had alluded to him in various ways. There was the proper appreciation of the point of view which his death created, but this could have no importance owing to the knowledge of his death and the manner in which the public had treated it and his possible return. G. P., however, alluded to the fact that he would give me a sign, a circumstance that had some significance in the fact that a similar allusion had been made through Mrs. Smead ac- companied with the sign, Omega, as we have seen above, and wholly unknown to Mrs. Chenoweth. I had not known this at the time of this sitting with Mrs. Chenoweth because I had not looked at the original of Mr. Smead's record. He also made a very pertinent reference to Mr. Dorr who had been a warm friend of Professor James, a fact which it hap- pened, Mrs. Chenoweth did not know. In the communica- tions of Dr. Hodgson, with reference to him, there were al- lusions to his own failure in a somewhat chaffing vein that would be natural when the two old friends met. Dr. Hodgson said for him, however, that some papers marked for the two Societies would be found, but nothing of the kind has turned up among his papers. An allusion to his fear of a "phantom existence was relevant, as he had made comparisons of this kind in his life not known to the psychic, and also to a conver- sation that I had with him on this subject which it is not pos- sible for Mrs. Chenoweth to have known, tho conversation ABPR JASPR V ) (912, P. 299 : Society for Psychical Research. Summary of Experiments. 299 S not the result of any special the idea was so intimate a part of his personal life as could Mrs. Chenoweth tho she had op not be known without a more or less careful reading of his [uire it. The description of Dr writing on this subject; and Mrs. Chenoweth had only seen S as 'jerky and disjointed was a part of his Report on the Hodgson communications, and it sely connected with it a reference is possible that this may have conveyed knowledge enough rated personality' was very strik. to account for the reference here, tho the modified language pinion he had of such communica in which the allusions appear is not at all in the familiar a had always been discouraged by conceptions of the psychic. On the next day Imperator and character of the communications Whirlwind took up the time. speak tolerantly of them until Dr. On the 22nd, after preliminary writing that was not evi- n theory to account for the con- dential, reference was made to a group of family pictures laracter of the messages. There taken long ago, the date 1868 being named, but good as this reference to the use of the word might have been as evidence of the supernormal, no one e of the Imperator group to use it knows of any such pictures. Also the statement was made Chenoweth knew nothing of this that he had tried at another place to communicate, saying characteristically discussed here, that the medium was a lady. She could not otherwise be hasized it because Imperator had identified. But during the writing he mentioned the names aracteristic to ask me to get Mrs. Wright and Lewis which resulted later in good evidence of all she knew of him, this being identity, less perhaps of himself than of the two persons ith Mrs. Piper when there was no named. But they were both acquaintances of his in life. lusion of normally acquired know- The Lewis was the first and Christian name of Dr. Janes, an cidents. He then gave the sign old friend. The name Wright later got confused with Car- 5. roll D. Wright whom he seems not to have known personally. till October 20th when they were A hint later tends to show that it was Chauncey Wright e wrote again. No distinct inci- whom he had known as a colleague. Mrs. Chenoweth seems show by its environment that it never to have heard of either of the men, so that the names ource, but most of the communi- are apparently good evidence. ouches. The description of the Another allusion was made to Mr. Dorr and the hurried entific men was very like the au- last meeting they had. which was not recalled by Mr. Dorr. GSD pologetic tone and a conception But in connection with the allusion to his father and mother ere far from. the natural feelings came the name Eliza, which I ascertained by inquiry was the rence was made to his own dis- name of Mrs. James' mother, the name being probably not been able to finish a certain work known by Mrs. Chenoweth. ich I found by inquiry to be true All that came on October 27th was a reference to his chic. Allusion was made to the watch in a manner that was almost evidential and to relatives as he had understood them in life in New York which was a fact probably not known to Mrs. explain them, but he did not get Chenoweth. These came, however, through G. P. as inter- ing. However he did succeed in mediary. On October 28th Dr. Hodgson mentioned that the what they had seemed in life and family had looked forward to some years of quiet for him JSTOR: International Journal of Ethics: Vol. 23, No. 2, p. 239 Page 2 of 3 BOOK REVIEWS. 239 to God we should substitute social and cosmic loyalty. It would seem, then, that the best thing man can do with such a God is to ignore his existence. It is hard to see why man "should bear himself as a free helper" towards a being with whom he can enter into no conceivable personal ethical or spiritual relation. We are compelled to conclude that the book is overconfident and superficial in its treatment of great themes. To this, we must add that it is insular in its whole outlook. For example: "Scriptures read in churches should be mainly historical,- the famous lives and deeds of great Englishmen, with a sparing admixture of alien history" (p. 304). The italies are ours, and comment is needless. If the hut of the Galilean fisherman is very far from the Temple of Humanity, we fear that Mr. Sturt's "Free Church" is even further away. S. H. MELLONE. Manchester, England. PSYCHICAL RESEARCH. By W. F. Barrett, F. R. S. London : Williams & Norgate, 1911. (Home University Library Series.) Pp. viii, 255. Among the various achievements of scientifie progress, for which the last years of the nineteenth and the first years of the twentieth centuries will hereafter be noted, not the least notable are to be found in the field of experimental psychology and psychical research. Some thirty years ago, psychical research, regarded as a science, can hardly be said to have existed; now, in spite of much lingering obseurity and confusion, and although opinions may differ widely as to the conclusions to be drawn from the available evidence, no one, who has given the subject his unprejudiced consideration, will deny that it offers a legiti- mate field for scientific inquiry. There are many signs that a serious interest in psychical research is increasing, and amongst them may be reckoned the inclusion of a volume on this subject, treated from a scientific standpoint, in a series intended- to make a wide, popular appeal. It is obviously impossible to compress into the scope of such a volume the large mass of detailed evidence now on record in the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, and to these records the student must eventually turn; but he will (Previous Page Next Page p. 239 of 239-240 (1st of 2 pages) Select Another Page Previous Item in Journal Next Item in Journal http://www.jstor.org/view/1526422x/di994621/99p0368t/0?currentResult=1526422x%2bdi99462. 3/21/2005 JSTOR: International Journal of Ethics: Vol. 23, No. 2, p. 240 Page 2 of 3 240 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ETHICS. be able to form from Sir William Barrett's summary a good general idea as to the nature of the problems with which re- searchers have been faced and the progress that has been made toward their solution. All the various phenomena, with which psychical research has concerned itself, are here past in review: hypnotism, dowsing, telepathy, and the more elusive and dubious manifestations of clairvoyance, poltergeists, and the "physical phenomena of spiritualism." In his last chapters Sir William Barrett deals with recent experiments in automatic writing, including "cross- correspondences." These suffer more than the rest from the necessity for condensation: the evidence must be studied in ex- tenso, before any adequate basis for an opinion can be obtained. But this limitation is inherent in the nature of the subject and detracts in no way from the value of Sir William Barrett's book, which is excellently adapted to its purpose. The reader will find in it a clear, careful account of some of the main achievements of psychical research by one who has himself taken part in these achievements and speaks to a large extent from personal knowledge and observation. London, England. HELEN DE G. VERRALL LA SOLIDARITÉ SOCIALE. Annales de l'Institut International de Sociologie. Volumes XII and XIII, containing the proceed- ings of the Seventh Congress of the Institute. Paris: V. Giard and E. Briè, 1910. Pp. 324, 326. The guiding thought in the preparation of the program of this congress was expressed in the words of one of the Ameri- can delegates, Lester F. Ward: "From a general point of view all sociological problems may be grouped in two great classes, one called social conflict, and the other social solidarity." To the discussion of social conflict were given the labors of the sixth congress of this learned society in 1906; to social soli- darity the seventh congress was devoted. Of the volumes con- taining the report of the latter congress, the first contains papers on social solidarity in time and space, being the history of solidarity and an account of the various institutions of coop- eration and mutual helpfulness in the leading countries of the world; the second volume deals with the forms, principles, and limits of solidarity. Previous Page Next Page p. 240 of 239-240 (2nd of 2 pages) Select Another Page Previous Item in Journal Next Item in Journal http://www.jstor.org/view/1526422x/di994621/99p0368t/1?searchUrl=http%3a//www.jstor.org/se.. 3/21/2005 1911 524 Index to Vol. XXV. [PARTS LXII.-LXIV.] Index to Vol. XXV. 525 Davenport, R. B., Death-blow to Spiritualism, reference to - 417 (foot-note) Exile and Moore, Crose-Correspondence Davey, S. J., Experiments in Slate-Writing, references to 106, 426, 440, 441 149, 155, 156, 186, 209, 210, 212, 223, 262, 264, 265, 269-271, 286 Davies, Emma. See The Wem Disturbances. Davis, W. S., Report on Sittings with Eusapia Palladino, reference to 57, 59, 61 F. Dawn. See "The One-Horse Dawn Experiment. FAY, MRS. Eva, Alleged Mediumship of, reference to 418 (foot-note) Derrygonnelly Disturbances, the 390 Fechner, Panpsychic View of the Universe, reference to 27 Devereux, Owen, Evidence as to the Enniscorthy Disturbances - 385 Feilding, the Hon. Everard, and W. Marriott, Report on a Further Diamond Island Incident 293 Series of Sittings with Eusapia Palla- Diana, Cross-Correspondence, reference to 105 dino at Naples 57 Dickinson, G. Lowes, A Case of Emergence of a Latent Memory under " " Baggally, W. W., Note on 69 Hypnosis, by 455 " Control, the Question of Didier, Alexis, Case of, reference to 76 57, 58, 60-63, 64-67, 69 Divining Rod. See Dowsing Experiments. " " Detailed Account of the Table-Lifting Documentary Evidence, Contemporary, Extant - 115, 116, 472, 473 Incident 63, 64, 65-67 Donaldson, Theatre of the Greeks, reference to 273, 274 " " Fraud, Question of 58, 59, 61 Door Dorr) and Key and Lethe-Dorr Cross-Correspondence " " Negative Conclusions, 58, 59 121-30, 191, 193-204, 219, 222, 226, 229, 234, 239, 250, 285 " " Petrovo-Solovovo, Count Perovsky, 203 Statement and Note by 59, 64 " Summary of Dorr, G. B., Sittings with Mrs. Piper: series of 1908 ; chief refer- " " Countess Solovovo, Note by 65 Comment on, by Miss Alice Johnson 67 ences to 80, 84, 95, 104-105,1116 120, 121, 150-156, 158-166, 176-217, " " " 218-229, 231-237, 245, 251-53, 258, 260-62, 264, 269, 272, 273, 276, 279, " " Previous Series of Sittings, reference to 299-301, 317 373, 420, 427, 445, 446 Fire Test, Alleged Phenomena of 75, 422, 442 See also Door ( = Dorr) and Key and Lethe-Dorr, Cross-Corre- Firth, J. B., The Minstrelsy of Isis, edited by, reference to 251 spondence, and the Willett Script. FitzGerald, E., Translation of Omar Khayyam, Script reference to 262 Doves. See Golden Bough (Doves and). 365 Cup, Cross-Correspondence and 306, 313-319 " Dowsing, Barrett, Prof. W.F., on, reference to - 268 (foot-note) See also Door ( = Dorr) and Key, Cross-Correspondence. Dreams, Mental Activity during, Poem composed in Flavicomata Incident - 149, 160-163, 192 See also Premonitions and Telepathy. Flournoy, Professor Th., Esprits et Médiums by, Review by the Rev. Dublin University Magazine, The Demons of Derrygonnelly, Prof. W. F. M. A. Bayfield 468 Barrett on, in, 390 Forbes (Talbot) Control 199, 201 Dufferin, Lady, Script reference to song by, The Bay of Dublin 263 (foot-note) Forbes, Mrs.," Door and Key, Cross-Correspondence 191, 193, 199-204, 222, 250 E. Fox-Jencken, Mrs., Alleged Mediumship of 415 (foot-note), 416, 417, 419 Fox-Kane, Mrs., Alleged Mediumship of 416,417,419 Echo and Narcissus, Cross-Correspondence Freer. See Goodrich-Freer, Miss A. 160, 222, 226, 228, 231, 232, 244, 245, 253, 271, 285, 286 236 Freud, Professor S., Methods of Psycho-Analysis, reference to - 347-349 Eheu fugaces, Cross-Correspondence, reference to Eglinton, W., Alleged Mediumship of 439, 440 Ellis, Professor Robinson, The Tenth Declamation of (Pseudo) Quin- G. tilian, by, Review of, by F. C. S. Schiller 361 G., Dr., Hypnotie experiments of 455 Elongation and Contraction of Mediums alleged (D. D. Home) - 75, 422 Ganymede Incident 149, 160, 192 Euniscorthy Disturbances, the 380 Gasparin, Comte de, Researches of, reference to - 441 Euripides, Cross-Correspondence, reference to 52, 280, 281 Gautier, Théophile, The Hugo-Gautier-Montenaeken Cross-Corre- Eurydice. See Orpheus and Eurydice. spondence, Mrs. A. W. Verrall on 320-337 2L ames. , ad Studies VIII FINAL IMPRESSIONS OF A ngmans, Green, t Co., PSYCHICAL RESEARCHER THE late Professor Henry Sidgwick was 1912. celebrated for the rare mixture of ardor and critical judgment which his character exhib- ited. The liberal heart which he possessed had to work with an intellect which acted destructively on almost every particular ob- ject of belief that was offered to its acceptance. A quarter of a century ago, scandalized by the chaotic state of opinion regarding the phe- nomena now called by the rather ridiculous name of "psychic" - phenomena, of which the supply reported seems inexhaustible, but which scientifically trained minds mostly re- 1 Published under the title "Confidences of a Psychical Researcher" in the American Magazine, October, 1909. For a more complete and less popular statement of some theories suggested in this article see the last pages of a "Report on Mrs. Piper's Hodgson- Control" in Proceedings of the [Eng.] Society for Psych- ical Research, 1909, 470; also printed in Proc. of Am. Soc. for Psychical Research for the same year. 173 MEMORIES AND STUDIES PSYCHICAL RESEARCH fuse to look at - he established, along with ought to have spent) in witnessing (or trying Professor Barrett, Frederic Myers and Ed- to witness) phenomena. Yet I am theoreti- mund Gurney, the Society for Psychical Re- cally no "further" than I was at the beginning; search. These men hoped that if the material and I confess that at times I have been tempted were treated rigorously, and, as far as possible, to believe that the Creator has eternally in- experimentally, objective truth would be elic- tended this department of nature to remain ited, and the subject rescued from sentimental- baffing, to prompt our curiosities and hopes ism on the one side and dogmatizing ignorance and suspicions all in equal measure, SO that, on the other. Like all founders, Sidgwick although ghosts and clairvoyances, and raps hoped for a certain promptitude of result; and messages from spirits, are always seeming and I heard him say, the year before his to exist and can never be fully explained away, death, that if anyone had told him at the out- they also can never be susceptible of full set that after twenty years he would be in the corroboration. same identical state of doubt and balance that The peculiarity of the case is just that there he started with, he would have deemed the are SO many sources of possible deception in prophecy incredible. It appeared impossible most of the observations that the whole lot of that that amount of handling evidence should them may be worthless, and yet that in com- bring SO little finality of decision. paratively few cases can aught more fatal than My own experience has been similar to this vague general possibility of error be Sidgwick's. For twenty-five years I have pleaded against the record. Science mean- been in touch with the literature of psychical while needs something more than bare possi- research, and have had acquaintance with bilities to build upon; SO your genuinely numerous "researchers." I have also spent a scientific inquirer - I don't mean your ig- good many hours (though far fewer than I noramus "scientist" - has to remain unsatis- 174 175 MEMORIES AND STUDIES PSYCHICAL RESEARCH fied. It is hard to believe, however, that the were the first scientific men to be converted by Creator has really put any big array of phe- her performances. Since then innumerable nomena into the world merely to defy and mock men of scientific standing have seen her, in- our scientific tendencies; SO my deeper belief is cluding many "psychic" experts. Every one that wepsychical researchers have been too pre- agrees that she cheats in the most barefaced cipitate with our hopes, and that we must expect manner whenever she gets an opportunity. to mark progress not by quarter-centuries, but The Cambridge experts, with the Sidgwicks by half-centuries or whole centuries. and Richard Hodgson at their head, rejected I am strengthened in this belief by my im- her in toto on that account. Yet her credit pression that just at this moment a faint but has steadily risen, and now her last converts distinct step forward is being taken by compe- are the eminent psychiatrist, Morselli, the tent opinion in these matters. "Physical eminent physiologist, Botazzi, and our own phenomena" (movements of matter without psychical researcher, Carrington, whose book contact, lights, hands and faces "material- on "The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism" lized," etc.) have been one of the most baffling (against them rather!) makes his conquest regions of the general field (or perhaps one of strategically important. If Mr. Podmore, the least baffling prima facie, SO certain and hitherto the prosecuting attorney of the S. P. great has been the part played by fraud in their R., SO far as physical phenomena are concerned production); yet even here the balance of becomes converted also, we may indeed sit up testimony seems slowly to be inclining towards and look around us. Getting a good health admitting the supernaturalist view. Eusapia bill from "Science," Eusapia will then throw Paladino, the Neapolitan medium, has been retrospective credit on Home and Stainton under observation for twenty years or more. Moses, Florence Cook (Prof. Crookes' me- Schiaparelli, the astronomer, and Lombroso dium), and all similar wonder-workers. The 176 177 MEMORIES AND STUDIES PSYCHICAL RESEARCH balance of presumptions will be changed in were these things offered us SO voluminously, favor of genuineness being possible at least, and never in such authentic-seeming shape or in all reports of this particularly crass and low with such good credentials. The tide seems type of supernatural phenomena. steadily to be rising, in spite of all the expedi- ents of scientific orthodoxy. It is hard not to Not long after Darwin's "Origin of Species" suspect that here may be something different appeared I was studying with that excellent from a mere chapter in human gullibility. It anatomist and man, Jeffries Wyman, at Har- may be a genuine realm of natural phenomena. vard. He was a convert, yet SO far a half- Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus, once a cheat, hesitating one, to Darwin's views; but I always a cheat, such has been the motto of the heard him make a remark that applies well to English psychical researchers in dealing with the subject I now write about. When, he mediums. I am disposed to think that, as a said, a theory gets propounded over and over matter of policy, it has been wise. Tactically, it again, coming up afresh after each time ortho- is far better to believe much too little than a dox criticism has buried it, and each time seem- little too much; and the exceptional credit at- ing solider and harder to abolish, you may be taching to the row of volumes of the S. P. R.' S sure that there is truth in it. Oken and La- Proceedings, is due to the fixed intention of the marck and Chambers had been triumphantly editors to proceed very slowly. Better a little despatched and buried, but here was Darwin belief tied fast, better a small investment salted making the very same heresy seem only more down, than a mass of comparative insecurity. plausible. How often has "Science" killed But, however wise as a policy the S. P. R.'s off all spook philosophy, and laid ghosts and maxim may have been, as a test of truth, I be- raps and "telepathy" away underground as lieve it to be almost irrelevant. In most things SO much popular delusion. Yet never before human the accusation of deliberate fraud 178 179 MEMORIES AND STUDIES PSYCHICAL RESEARCH and falsehood is grossly superficial. Man's To compare small men with great, I have character is too sophistically mixed for the myself cheated shamelessly. In the early alternative of "honest or dishonest " to be days of the Sanders Theater at Harvard, I a sharp one. Scientific men themselves will once had charge of a heart on the physiology of cheat - at public lectures - rather than let which Professor Newell Martin was giving a experiments obey their well-known tendency popular lecture. This heart, which belonged towards failure. I have heard of a lecturer on to a turtle, supported an index-straw which physics, who had taken over the apparatus of threw a moving shadow, greatly enlarged, the previous incumbent, consulting him about upon the screen, while the heart pulsated. a certain machine intended to show that, how- When certain nerves were stimulated, the lec- ever the peripheral parts of it might be turer said, the heart would act in certain ways agitated, its centre of gravity remained im- which he described. But the poor heart was movable. "It will wobble," he complained. too far gone and, although it stopped duly "Well," said the predecessor, apologetically, when the nerve of arrest was excited, that was "to tell the truth, whenever I used that ma- the final end of its life's tether. Presiding over chine I found it advisable to drive a nail the performance, I was terrified at the fiasco, through the centre of gravity." I once saw a and found myself suddenly acting like one of distinguished physiologist, now dead, cheat those military geniuses who on the field of most shamelessly at a public lecture, at the battle convert disaster into victory. There expense of a poor rabbit, and all for the sake was no time for deliberation; so, with my of being able to make a cheap joke about its forefinger under a part of the straw that cast being an "American rabbit" for no other, no shadow, I found myself impulsively and he said, could survive such a wound as he pre- automatically imitating the rhythmical move- tended to have given it. ments which my colleague had prophesied the 180 181 MEMORIES AND STUDIES PSYCHICAL RESEARCH heart would undergo. I kept the experiment me feel charitable towards all mediums who from failing; and not only saved my colleague make phenomena come in one way when they (and the turtle) from a humiliation that but won't come easily in another. On the for my presence of mind would have been their principles of the S. P. R., my conduct on lot, but I established in the audience the true that one occasion ought to discredit every- view of the subject. The lecturer was stating thing I ever do, everything, for example, I this; and the misconduct of one half-dead may write in this article, - a manifestly specimen of heart ought not to destroy the unjust conclusion. impression of his words. "There is no worse Fraud, conscious or unconscious, seems ubi- lie than a truth misunderstood," is a maxim quitous throughout the range of physical which I have heard ascribed to a former ven- phenomena of spiritism, and false pretence, erated President of Harvard. The heart's prevarication and fishing for clues are ubiqui- failure would have been misunderstood by the tous in the mental manifestations of mediums. audience and given the lie to the lecturer. It If it be not everywhere fraud simulating real- was hard enough to make them understand ity, one is tempted to say, then the reality (if the subject anyhow; SO that even now as I any reality there be) has the bad luck of being write in cool blood I am tempted to think fated everywhere to simulate fraud. The sug- that I acted quite correctly. I was acting for gestion of humbug seldom stops, and mixes it- the larger truth, at any rate, however auto- self with the best manifestations. Mrs. Piper's matically; and my sense of this was probably control, "Rector," is a most impressive per- what prevented the more pedantic and literal sonage, who discerns in an extraordinary part of my conscience from checking the action degree his sitter's inner needs, and is capable of my sympathetic finger. To this day the of giving elevated counsel to fastidious and memory of that critical emergency has made critical minds. Yet in many respects he is an 183 182 MEMORIES AND STUDIES PSYCHICAL RESEARCH arrant humbug - such he seems to me at least posite sentimentalisms divide opinion between pretending to a knowledge and power to them! A good expression of the "scientific" which he has no title, nonplussed by contra- state of mind occurs in Huxley's "Life and diction, yielding to suggestion, and covering Letters": his tracks with plausible excuses. Now the "I regret," he writes, "that I am unable to non-"researching" mind looks upon such phe- accept the invitation of the Committee of the nomena simply according to their face-pre- Dialectical Society. I take no interest in tension and never thinks of asking what the subject. The only case of Spiritualism' they may signify below the surface. Since I have ever had the opportunity of examining they profess for the most part to be revealers into for myself was as gross an imposture as of spirit life, it is either as being absolutely ever came under my notice. But supposing that, or as being absolute frauds, that they are these phenomena to be genuine - they do not judged. The result is an inconceivably shallow interest me. If anybody would endow me with state of public opinion on the subject. One set the faculty of listening to the chatter of old of persons, emotionally touched at hearing the women and curates in the nearest provincial names of their loved ones given, and consoled town, I should decline the privilege, having by assurances that they are "happy," ac- better things to do. And if the folk in the cept the revelation, and consider spiritualism spiritual world do not talk more wisely and "beautiful." More hard-headed subjects, dis- sensibly than their friends report them to do, gusted by the revelation's contemptible con- I put them in the same category. The only tents, outraged by the fraud, and prejudiced good that I can see in the demonstration of beforehand against all "spirits," high or low, the 'Truth of Spiritualism' is to furnish an avert their minds from what they call such additional argument against suicide. Better "rot" or "bosh" entirely. Thus do two op- live a crossing-sweeper, than die and be made 184 185 MEMORIES AND STUDIES PSYCHICAL RESEARCH to talk twaddle by a 'medium' hired at a it. The causal factors must be carefully dis- guinea a Seance." 1 tinguished and traced through series, from Obviously the mind of the excellent Huxley their simplest to their strongest forms, before has here but two whole-souled categories, we can begin to understand the various result- namely revelation or imposture, to apperceive ants in which they issue. Myers and Gurney the case by. Sentimental reasons bar revela- began this work, the one by his serial study tion out, for the messages, he thinks, are not of the various sorts of "automatism," sensory romantic enough for that; fraud exists any- and motor, the other by his experimental how; therefore the whole thing is nothing but proofs that a split-off consciousness may imposture. The odd point is that SO few of abide after a post-hypnotic suggestion has those who talk in this way realize that they and been given. Here we have subjective factors; the spiritists are using the same major premise but are not transsubjective or objective forces and differing only in the minor. The major also at work? Veridical messages, apparitions, premise is: "Any spirit-revelation must be movements without contact, seem prima facie romantic." The minor of the spiritist is: to be such. It was a good stroke on Gurney's "This is romantic"; that of the Huxleyan is: part to construct a theory of apparitions which "this is dingy twaddle" - whence their op- brought the subjective and the objective fac- posite conclusions! tors into harmonious co-operation. I doubt Meanwhile the first thing that anyone learns whether this telepathic theory of Gurney's will who attends seriously to these phenomena is hold along the whole line of apparitions to that their causation is far too complex for our which he applied it, but it is unquestionable feelings about what is or is not romantic that some theory of that mixed type is re- enough to be spiritual to throw any light upon quired for the explanation of all mediumistic 1 T. H. Huxley, 'Life and Letters," I, 240. phenomena; and that when all the psycho- 186 187 MEMORIES AND STUDIES PSYCHICAL RESEARCH logical factors and elements involved have been normal knowledge on the part of the subject told off - and they are many - the question have been noted, and skill in "fishing and still forces itself upon us: Are these all, or are following clues unwittingly furnished by the there indications of any residual forces acting voice or face of bystanders have been counted on the subject from beyond, or of any "meta- in, those who have the fullest acquaintance psychic faculty (to use Richet's useful term), with the phenomena admit that in good me- exerted by him? This is the problem that re- diums there is a residuum of knowledge dis- quires real expertness, and this is where the played that can only be called supernormal: simple sentimentalisms of the spiritist and the medium taps some source of information scientist leave us in the lurch completely. not open to ordinary people. Myers used the "Psychics " form indeed a special branch of word "telepathy" to indicate that the sitter's education, in which experts are only gradually own thoughts or feelings may be thus directly becoming developed. The phenomena are as tapped. Mrs. Sidgwick has suggested that if massive and wide-spread as is anything in living minds can be thus tapped telepathically, Nature, and the study of them is as tedious, SO possibly may the minds of spirits be simi- repellent and undignified. To reject it for its larly tapped - if spirits there be. On this unromantic character is like rejecting bacteri- view we should have one distinct theory of the ology because penicillium glaucum grows on performances of a typical test-medium. They horse-dung and bacterium termo lives in putre- would be all originally due to an odd tendency faction. Scientific men have long ago ceased to personate, found in her dream life as it ex- to think of the dignity of the materials they presses itself in trance. [Most of us reveal such work in. When imposture has been checked a tendency whenever we handle a "ouija- off as far as possible, when chance coincidence board " or a "planchet," or let ourselves write has been allowed for, when opportunities for automatically with a pencil.] The result is a 188 189 MEMORIES AND STUDIES PSYCHICAL RESEARCH "control," who purports to be speaking; and moment one looks at the facts in their com- all the resources of the automatist, including plexity and turns one's back on the naive his or her trance-faculty of telepathy, are alternative of "revelation or imposture," called into play in building this fictitious per- which is as far as either spiritist ,thought or sonage out plausibly. On such a view of the ordinary scientist thought goes. The phe- control, the medium's will to personate runs the nomena are endlessly complex in their factors, whole show; and if spirits be involved in it at and they are SO little understood as yet that all, they are passive beings, stray bits of whose off-hand judgments, whether of "spirits" or memory she is able to seize and use for her pur- of "bosh" are the one as silly as the other. poses, without the spirit being any more aware When we complicate the subject still farther of it than the sitter is aware of it when his own by considering what connection such things as mind is similarly tapped. rappings, apparitions, poltergeists, spirit-pho- This is one possible way of interpreting a tographs, and materializations may have with certain type of psychical phenomenon. It it, the bosh end of the scale gets heavily uses psychological as well as "spiritual" fac- loaded, it is true, but your genuine inquirer tors, and quite obviously it throws open for us still is loath to give up. He lets the data col- far more questions than it answers, questions lect, and bides his time. He believes that about our subconscious constitution and its "bosh" is no more an ultimate element in curious tendency to humbug, about the tele- Nature, or a really explanatory category in pathic faculty, and about the possibility of an human life than "dirt" is in chemistry. Every existent spirit-world. kind of "bosh" hasitsown factors and laws; and I do not instance this theory to defend it, patient study will bring them definitely to light. but simply to show what complicated hy- The only way to rescue the "pure bosh" potheses one is inevitably led to consider, the view of the matter is one which has sometimes 190 191 MEMORIES AND STUDIES PSYCHICAL RESEARCH appealed to my own fancy, but which I world. On such a view, these phenomena imagine few readers will seriously adopt. If, ought to remain "pure bosh" forever, that is, namely, one takes the theory of evolution they ought to be forever intractable to intel- radically, one ought to apply it not only to lectual methods, because they should not yet the rock-strata, the animals and the plants, be organized enough in themselves to follow but to the stars, to the chemical elements, and any laws. Wisps and shreds of the original to the laws of nature. There must have been chaos, they would be connected enough with a far-off antiquity, one is then tempted to the cosmos to affect its periphery every now suppose, when things were really chaotic. and then, as by a momentary whiff or touch or Little by little, out of all the haphazard possi- gleam, but not enough ever to be followed up bilities of that time, a few connected things and hunted down and bagged. Their relation and habits arose, and the rudiments of regular to the cosmos would be tangential solely. performance began. Every variation in the Looked at dramatically, most occult phe- way of law and order added itself to this nu- nomena make just this sort of impression. cleus, which inevitably grew more consider- They are inwardly as incoherent as they are able as history went on; while the aberrant outwardly wayward and fitful. If they ex- and inconstant variations, not being similarly press anything, it is pure "bosh," pure dis- preserved, disappeared from being, wandered continuity, accident, and disturbance, with no off as unrelated vagrants, or else remained SO law apparent but to interrupt, and no purpose imperfectly connected with the part of the but to baffle. They seem like stray vestiges world that had grown regular as only to mani- of that primordial irrationality, from which all fest their existence by occasional lawless intru- our rationalities have been evolved. sions, like those which "psychic" phenomena To settle dogmatically into this bosh-view now make into our scientifically organized would save labor, but it would go against too 192 193 MEMORIES AND STUDIES PSYCHICAL RESEARCH many intellectual prepossessions to be adopted ies. Brought up on literature and sentiment, save as a last resort of despair. Your psychi- something of a courtier, passionate, disdainful, cal researcher therefore bates no jot of hope, and impatient naturally, he was made over and has faith that when we get our data num- again from the day when he took up psychi- erous enough, some sort of rational treatment cal research seriously. He became learned in of them will succeed. science, circumspect, democratic in sympathy, When I hear good people say (as they often endlessly patient, and above all, happy. The say, not without show of reason), that dab- fortitude of his last hours touched the heroic, bling in such phenomena reduces us to a sort SO completely were the atrocious sufferings of of jelly, disintegrates the critical faculties, his body cast into insignificance by his interest liquifies the character, and makes of one a in the cause he lived for. When a man's gobe-mouche generally, I console myself by pursuit gradually makes his face shine and thinking of my friends Frederic Myers and grow handsome, you may be sure it is a Richard Hodgson. These men lived exclu- worthy one. Both Hodgson and Myers kept sively for psychical research, and it converted growing ever handsomer and stronger-looking. both to spiritism. Hodgson would have been Such personal examples will convert no one, a man among men anywhere; but I doubt and of course they ought not to. Nor do I whether under any other baptism he would seek at all in this article to convert any one to have been that happy, sober and righteous my belief that psychical research is an import- form of energy which his face proclaimed ant branch of science. To do that, I should him in his later years, when heart and head have to quote evidence; and those for whom alike were wholly satisfied by his occupation. the volumes of S. P. R. "Proceedings" already Myers' character also grew stronger in every published count for nothing would remain in particular for his devotion to the same inquir- their dogmatic slumber, though one rose from 194 195 MEMORIES AND STUDIES PSYCHICAL RESEARCH the dead. No, not to convert readers, but gots; and when the stories fall into consistent simply to put my own state of mind upon record sorts that point each in a definite direction, one publicly is the purpose of my present writ- gets a sense of being in presence of genuinely ing. Some one said to me a short time ago, natural types of phenomena. As to there being that after my twenty-five years of dabbling such real natural types of phenomena ignored in "Psychics," it would be rather shameful by orthodox science, I am not baffled at all, were I unable to state any definite conclu- for I am fully convinced of it. One cannot sions whatever as a consequence. I had to get demonstrative proof here. One has to agree; SO I now proceed to take up the chal- follow one's personal sense, which, of course, is lenge and express such convictions as have liable to err, of the dramatic probabilities of been engendered in me by that length of ex- nature. Our critics here obey their sense of perience, be the same true or false ones. I may dramatic probability as much as we do. Take be dooming myself to the pit in the eyes of "raps" for example, and the whole business of better-judging posterity; I may be raising my- objects moving without contact. "Nature," self to honor; I am willing to take the risk, for thinks the scientific man, is not SO unutter- what I shall write is my truth, as I now see it. ably silly. The cabinet, the darkness, the tying, suggest a sort of human rat-hole life ex- I began this article by confessing myself clusively and "swindling" is for him the dra- baffled. I am baffled, as to spirit-return, and matically sufficient explanation. It probably as to many other special problems. I am also is, in an indefinite majority of instances; yet constantly baffled as to what to think of this it is to me dramatically improbable that the or that particular story, for the sources of swindling should not have accreted round error in any one observation are seldom fully some originally genuine nucleus. If we look knowable. But weak sticks make strong fag- at human imposture as a historic phenom- 196 197 MEMORIES AND STUDIES PSYCHICAL RESEARCH enon, we find it always imitative. One bility, as cordially as I do, to pertain to both swindler imitates a previous swindler, but of us. the first swindler of that kind imitated some I fear I look on Nature generally with more one who was honest. You can no more create charitable eyes than his, though perhaps he an absolutely new trick than you can create a would pause if he realized as I do, how vast new word without any previous basis. - You the fraudulency is which in consistency he don't know how to go about it. Try, reader, must attribute to her. Nature is brutal yourself, to invent an unprecedented kind enough, Heaven knows; but no one yet has of "physical phenomenon of spiritualism." held her non-human side to be dishonest, and When I try, I find myself mentally turning even in the human sphere deliberate deceit is over the regular medium-stock, and thinking far rarer than the "classic" intellect, with its how I might improve some item. This being few and rigid categories, was ready to acknowl- the dramatically probable human way, I think edge. There is a hazy penumbra in us all differently of the whole type, taken collec- where lying and delusion meet, where passion tively, from the way in which I may think of rules beliefs as well as conduct, and where the the single instance. I find myself believing term "scoundrel" does not clear up every- that there is "something in" these never thing to the depths as it did for our forefathers. ending reports of physical phenomena, al- The first automatic writing I ever saw was though I have n't yet the least positive notion forty years ago. I unhesitatingly thought of of the something. It becomes to my mind it as deceit, although it contained vague ele- simply a very worthy problem for investiga- ments of supernormal knowledge. Since then tion. Either I or the scientist is of course a I have come to see in automatic writing one fool, with our opposite views of probability example of a department of human activity here; and I only wish he might feel the lia- as vast as it is enigmatic. Every sort of per- 199 198 MEMORIES AND STUDIES PSYCHICAL RESEARCH son is liable to it, or to something equivalent unconnected. Really strong mediums are rari- to it; and whoever encourages it in himself ties; but when one starts with them and works finds himself personating someone else, either downwards into less brilliant regions of the au- signing what he writes by fictitious name, or tomatic life, one tends to interpret many slight spelling out, by ouija-board or table-tips, mes- but odd coincidences with truth as possibly sages from the departed. Our subconscious rudimentary forms of this kind of knowledge. region seems, as a rule, to be dominated either What is one to think of this queer chapter by a crazy "will to make-believe," or by some in human nature? It is odd enough on any curious external force impelling us to per- view. If all it means is a preposterous and in- sonation. The first difference between the ferior monkey-like tendency to forge messages, psychical researcher and the inexpert person systematically embedded in the soul of all of is that the former realizes the commonness us, it is weird; and weirder still that it should and typicality of the phenomenon here, while then own all this supernormal information. the latter, less informed, thinks it SO rare as to If on the other hand the supernormal infor- be unworthy of attention. I wish to go on mation be the key to the phenomenon, it record for the commonness. ought to be superior; and then how ought we The next thing I wish to go on record for is to account for the "wicked partner," and for the presence, in the midst of all the humbug, the undeniable mendacity and inferiority of SO of really supernormal knowledge. By this I much of the performance? We are thrown, mean knowledge that cannot be traced to the for our conclusions, upon our instinctive sense ordinary sources of information - the senses of the dramatic probabilities of nature. My namely, of the automatist. In really strong own dramatic sense tends instinctively to mediums this knowledge seems to be abundant, picture the situation as an interaction between though it is usually spotty, capricious and slumbering faculties in the automatist's mind 200 201 MEMORIES AND STUDIES PSYCHICAL RESEARCH and a cosmic environment of other conscious- will of some sort anyhow, and wills give rise to ness of some sort which is able to work upon dramas. The spiritist view, as held by Messrs. them. If there were in the universe a lot of Hyslop and Hodgson, sees a "will to com- diffuse soul-stuff, unable of itself to get into municate," struggling through inconceivable consistent personal form, or to take permanent layers of obstruction in the conditions. I have possession of an organism, yet always craving heard Hodgson liken the difficulties to those to do so, it might get its head into the air, para- of two persons who on earth should have only sitically, SO to speak, by profiting by weak dead-drunk servants to use as their messengers. spots in the armor of human minds, and slip- The scientist, for his part, sees a "will to de- ping in and stirring up there the sleeping ten- ceive," watching its chance in all of us, and dency to personate. It would induce habits in able (possibly?) to use "telepathy" in its the subconscious region of the mind it used service. thus, and would seek above all things to pro- Which kind of will, and how many kinds of long its social opportunities by making itself will are most inherently probable? Who can agreeable and plausible. It would drag stray say with certainty? The only certainty is that scraps of truth with it from the wider envi- the phenomena are enormously complex, es- ronment, but would betray its mental inferi- pecially if one includes in them such intellect- ority by knowing little how to weave them ual flights of mediumship as Swedenborg's, into any important or significant story. and if one tries in any way to work the physi- This, I say, is the dramatic view which my cal phenomena in. That is why I personally mind spontaneously takes, and it has the ad- am as yet neither a convinced believer in vantage of falling into line with ancient human parasitic demons, nor a spiritist, nor a scien- traditions. The views of others are just as tist, but still remain a psychical researcher dramatic, for the phenomenon is actuated by waiting for more facts before concluding. 202 203 MEMORIES AND STUDIES PSYCHICAL RESEARCH Out of my experience, such as it is (and it is limited enough) one fixed conclusion dogmati- voir of consciousness to exist, this bank upon cally emerges, and that is this, that we with which we all draw, and in which SO many of our lives are like islands in the sea, or like trees earth's memories must in some way be stored, in the forest. The maple and the pine may or mediums would not get at them as they whisper to each other with their leaves, and do, the question is, What is its own structure? Conanicut and Newport hear each other's fog- What is its inner topography? This question, horns. But the trees also commingle their roots first squarely formulated by Myers, deserves in the darkness underground, and the islands to be called "Myers' problem" by scientific also hang together through the ocean's bot- men hereafter. What are the conditions of tom. Just SO there is a continuum of cosmic individuation or insulation in this mother-sea? consciousness, against which our individual- To what tracts, to what active systems func- ity builds but accidental fences, and into which tioning separately in it, do personalities cor- our several minds plunge as into a mother-sea respond? Are individual "spirits" constituted or reservoir. Our "normal" consciousness is there? How numerous, and of how many circumscribed for adaptation to our external hierarchic orders may these then be? How earthly environment, but the fence is weak in permanent? How transient? And how con- spots, and fitful influences from beyond leak fluent with one another may they become? in, showing the otherwise unverifiable common What again, are the relations between the connection. Not only psychic research, but cosmic consciousness and matter? Are there metaphysical philosophy, and speculative biol- subtler forms of matter which upon occasion ogy are led in their own ways to look with may enter into functional connection with the favor on some such "panpsychic" view of the individuations in the psychic sea, and then, universe as this. Assuming this common reser- and then only, show themselves? - So that 204 our ordinary human experience, on its material 205 MEMORIES AND STUDIES as well as on its mental side, would appear to be only an extract from the larger psycho- physical world? Vast, indeed, and difficult is the inquirer's prospect here, and the most significant data for his purpose will probably be just these dingy little mediumistic facts which the Hux- leyan minds of our time find SO unworthy of IX their attention. But when was not the science ON SOME MENTAL EFFECTS OF of the future stirred to its conquering activi- THE EARTHQUAKE ties by the little rebellious exceptions to the science of the present? Hardly, as yet, has the surface of the facts called "psychic" be- gun to be scratched for scientific purposes. It is through following these facts, I am per- suaded, that the greatest scientific conquests of the coming generation will be achieved. Kühn ist das Mühen, herrlich der Lohn! 206 JASPR 1912 28 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research. all about the subject but does not show the most elementar knowledge of it. Mrs. Sidgwick thinks that the Societ "will be fortunate, indeed, if it finds another critic equally friendly, learned, painstaking, and accurate to take his place. How friendly he was must be left to those who knew the man personally, but readers of his works would never suspect him of that virtue. He was certainly not learned, painstaking or accurate. I doubt if psychic research ever had a critic that was so pretentious in this respect and yet so utterly wanting in the characteristics named. He was so utterly warped by his feeling that science was criticism and destructive method that he could not state any case correctly unless he actually copied the whole of it. He was obsessed with the idea that psychic research was primarily engaged in destroying the illusions of the plebs and he always whipped his mind into the process of imagining all sorts of a priori suppositions that he might indulge an insinuation. Take his reference to the Lethe incident and the name Ceyx in Mr. Dorr's experi ments. He suggests without asserting, tho most readers will think that he really believes, that telepathy obtained this name from the mind of Mr. Dorr on the assumption that Mr Dorr had read the story as a boy. Notice that he does not say that Mr. Dorr did read the story. He has no evidence for that, and such facts as we have lend no support to the "assumption", but it suffices for Mr. Podmore to hide his real ignorance behind an insinuation and the lawful credulity of telepathy in such a case. I could go through his volume and give hundreds of such illustrations. "There can be no doubt" is a phrase which he often uses where there is no evidence at all on his side and perhaps none on the other side. Wherever he can indulge a possibility he quickly slips into a certainty that this possi bility is a fact. He talks or insinuates confidently that the " Sleeping Preacher" practiced fraud and trickery. He pre- sents not one iota of evidence for it and simply relies on the credulity of people who do not do their own thinking to ac- cept his authority as final, especially that this authority is on the destructive side of the case. Take a similar statement about Mrs. Piper. He says, speaking of certain phenomena ASPR JASPR VI 1912, pp . 55 - 5/ the American Society for Psychical Research. Recent English Proceedings. 35 me, not SO much to get rid of spirits or to be- it does to supply evidence for any theory ad- :SS of the question whether it concerns things RECENT ENGLISH PROCEEDINGS. normal. Hence Mr. Podmore is exposed to : irresponsible and unscientific use of insinu- By James H. Hyslop. theses for which he does not present one par- Readers will recall that we summarized and discussed C evidence. He had opportunities for great some important incidents in the March Journal of experi- they were sacrificed to the respectability of ments by Mr. Dorr in connection with the effort to arouse ich simply nagged people without convincing memories by giving a name or incident which the communi- ed neither evidence nor constructive concep- cator should recognize. Mr. Dorr had asked the alleged Mr. 6BD roup of facts whatever. Many of the most Myers whether the name Lethe suggested anything or not gs were ignored in perfectly organic systems and in the course of the experiments received a number of and all in the interest of suggestions that names and incidents which showed that the communicator lausible when the whole evidence was not knew Ovid very well, and as Mr. Myers was known to have suing that policy he forfeited the influence been familiar with Ovid the inference was evident. ich he might have obtained had he appeared Recently and since that Report was published the English than he was. He mistook the prejudices of Society happened upon another psychic whose work resem- he love of truth and never appeared to realize Yes that of Mrs. Holland and Mrs. Piper. The name is it of subterfuge or concealment will prevent Mrs. Willetts. She is not a professional psychic and pains 1 discovering our limitations in the advocacy were taken to guarantee the probity of her character in the that are larger and more preposterous than Report. This, however, is a minor incident in the import- ade us pause. These destructive theories may lace of the facts, in as much as honesty is not an important ey cannot be forever used to explain things factor in this work if the experiments are conducted carefully ing responsibility for evidence. enough. It is important only where the work is not con- ducted under the conditions which the early work of the Society imposed upon reporters and informants. Of course See 84.371 well to have emphasized the issue here as the usual of vigilance and espionage were not demanded or im- in this case. There seems to have been no reason to 3th Sir Oliver Lodge wrote the Report. It occurred to him :- put to the alleged Mr. Myers communicating the same about Lethe that Mr. Dorr had put to him through Piper. The results are consonant with those obtained Dorr's experiments and tend to confirm them very That chance coincidence is not the explanation and only the risk of prior knowledge of the incidents oked to diminish the importance of the facts. ASPR 36 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research. Sir Oliver Lodge wrote out the question to be put to the alleged communicator by Mrs. Willetts at her own experi- ments. On Feb. 4th, 1910, the following occurred in the experiment. I put the question in parentheses and the mes- sage without enclosure, in accordance with our usual habits in the publications. (My dear Myers. I want to ask you a question-not an It idle one. What does the word Lethe suggest to you? may be that you will choose to answer piece-meal and at leisure. There is no hurry about it. Oliver Lodge.) Myers. the Will again to live. the river of forgetfulness, not reincarnation. Once only does the soul descend the way that leads to incarnation. the blending of the Essence with the instrument. Myers tu Marcellus. Eris. you know that line. you I mean [Mrs. Willett] Write it nevertheless and add Henry Sidgwick's in Valle Reducta. Add too the Doves and the Golden Bough amid the shadows. add too go not to Lethe. Myers. Myers. there was the door to which I found no key and Haggi Babba too. This is disconnected but not meaningless. the shining souls shining by the river brim. The Pain forgotten. more intimate link and connection that now I cannot give. it does not escape me. I see the bearing. Rose fluttering rose leaves blown like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing. Myers and Love. Love the essential essence, not spilt like water on the ground of far off forgotten pain. not. not Pause. " Darien the Peak in Darien the Peak. Myers. I have not done yet. To Lodge this may have meaning." The remainder I need not quote. At first Sir Oliver Lodge did not see anything pertinent in the messages, but Mr. Piddington discovered the coincidences which are very striking. The result of investigation was that a reference to Lethe and the expression "will to live" were found in translation by Mr. Myers himself of a passage in Virgil and also in a poem by Mr. Myers on The Passing of Youth Unfortunately for the evidential significance of the allusions Mrs. Willett had seen the poem in which the expressions were found. The denial of reincarnation in this connection however, has more significance than might be observed at irch. Recent English Proceedings. 37 out to the first. In the first place it tends to negative the position taken 'n experi- by Sir Oliver Lodge in one of his recent works, in as much ed in the as we are told that 'incarnation" " occurs only once. But the mes- this may not be the reason here for the allusion, tho its de- ual habits parture from the habits of ancient thought may imply that it is this rejection. In any case, the subject is closely related -not an to the forgetfulness of the past which has always been as- you? It sociated with the theory of reincarnation. Drinking the al and at waters of Lethe were supposed to cause oblivion of the past ) and departed souls may be supposed to have drunk of its etfulness, waters before becoming reincarnated to live again. All this, the way however, while very interesting and suggestive, may not nce with be as cogent as desirable from the evidential point of view. now that The blending of the essence with the instrument" is an al- eless and lusion of more importance that Sir Oliver Lodge has noticed. e Doves It is either an explanation of the confusion that must attend ) go not communication when in contact with physical organisms or which I a suggestion of the effect of reincarnation on the reincarnated. onnected It can hardly be the latter when the reincarnation is actually by the denied and hence it would be more probably an explanation ink and of the difficulties of answering the question. ape me. Suppose, however, that we ascribe the origin of the doc- wn like trine of reincarnation to the fact of spirits returning to con- Love trol a living organism by temporary possession", as in the ound of case of Mrs. Piper and others where they claim to occupy it for the time as they once occupied their own bodies. Then I have we might suppose the story of Lethe to be an old and poetic interpretation of the confusions and mistakes of returning Oliver spirits, thus appearing to suffer a loss of memory. That in res, but time came to be extended to the Platonic and other doc- re very trines of reincarnation. Have we here an ancient sugges- ence to tion of amnesia in spirits as they endeavor to control a living d in a organism ? gil and There were important coincidences in other references, outh but they too, are implicated in the possibilities of subcon- lusions Scious knowledge due to having read the Virgilian material. essions the same objection might apply to the mention of "Tu ection, eris: as Mrs. Willetts had seen the words in ved at with some script of Mrs. Verrall, but she did not 38 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research. know the aptness of them in connection with Lethe and some other cross-correspondences. A similar weakness attaches to the expression in valle reducta" and association with Henry Sidgwick, as these had been associated in some other script, but here too Mrs. Wil- letts did not know the relation of it to Lethe. Of the reference to the door to which he found no key and Haggi Babba" Mrs. Verrall says: "The first sentence introduces in a quotation from Omar Khayam the two words 'Door' and Key'. Each of these had occurred in interconnected scripts-Door in Miss Ver- rall's script (seen by Mrs. Willett), and Key in Mrs. Holland's (not seen by Mrs. Willett). Both words had been used together in the earlier Mac script of September I2. 1908. with which none of the three automatists was acquainted. "The second sentence. Haggi Babba too doubtless al- ludes to open Sesame the magic formula of Ali Baba in one of the tales of the Arabian Nights' Entertainments. This story was known to Mrs. Willet in childhood, and was probably re- called by her reading Ruskin's Sesame and Lillies in the summer of 1909. as well as by the H. V. script of September 23rd, 1908. which she had seen in the spring of 1909. By the word 'too'. Myers (Mrs. Willett's Myers) in this second sentence definitely links (a) the group of allusions to Sesame (Haggi Babba) with (b) the idea of a door without a key. This is precisely what I had failed to do when I read the sentence in the Mac script about a 'key that unlocks the DOOR', tho I now have no doubt that those words did form part of the group of allusions to Sesame in the Mac script. "The first sentence, then, in Mrs. Willett's script gives evidence of supernormal knowledge of the Mac script, and does this by means of a quotation appropriate in a series of associations with Lethe, if among those associations are present the Virgilian and Platonic passages of the Sixth Aeneid and the Tenth Book of the Republic." The allusion to love" and ideas associated are very char acteristic of Mr. Myers and might be more evidential but for the well known fact, tho the manner of using the ideas shows no evidence of subliminal fabrication by Mrs. Willett. Recent English Proceedings. 39 American Society for Psychical Research. f them in connection with Lethe and som Sir Oliver Lodge thinks the allusion to the Peak of Darien ondences. has considerable literary significance in connection with the ness attaches to the expression "in vali working of Mr. Myers' mind, but we cannot urge this on the ciation with Henry Sidgwick, as these ha sceptic. some other script, but here too Mrs. W On Feb. 5th another incident occurred of some interest the relation of it to Lethe. in the automatic writing of Mrs. Willett. It was:- be to the door to which he found no ke " It is I who write, Myers. I need urgently to say, tell i" Mrs. Verrall says: Lodge this word. Myers, Myers. get the word. I will tence introduces in a quotation from Om spell it. Myers, yes the word is DORR." words 'Door' and 'Key'. Each of the The message was repeated on a second sheet with the interconnected scripts-Door in Miss Ve name Dorr. Of the incident Sir Oliver Lodge says: y Mrs. Willett), and Key in Mrs. Holland Now it is manifest that this obtaining of the word Dorr S. Willett). Both words had been use as an answer to the question ' What does Lethe suggest to lier Mac script of September 12, 1908, wit you?' is especially noteworthy, in as much as there is no three automatists was acquainted. classical or literary association about it that could be drawn sentence, Haggi Babba too' doubtless al from memory: it could be nothing but sheer information, same' the magic formula of Ali Baba in on obtained either telepathically from some member of the S. P. Arabian Nights' Entertainments. This stor R. or as a part of the recollection of a Myers personality. S. Willet in childhood, and was probably No connection in fact exists between Lethe and Dorr, except ading Ruskin's Sesame and Lillies in th the fact, unknown to Mrs. Willett, that a Mr. Dorr of Boston as well as by the H. V. script of Septembe had asked a Myers control, through the entranced Mrs. Piper, she had seen in the spring of 1909. By a question about Lethe-the same question as the one which ers (Mrs. Willett's Myers) in this secon I now addressed to what purported to be the same personality y links (a) the group of allusions to Sesam communicating through Mrs. Willett. with (b) the idea of a door without a ke " Miss Johnson informs me that Part LX. of Proceedings, what I had failed to do when I read th tho dated March, 1910, was not issued from the printer till Mac script about a 'key that unlocks th April 9, also that she posted a special copy to Mrs. Willett ow have no doubt that those words did for on April 19. Before that date Mrs. Willett was entirely in of allusions to Sesame in the Mac script. ignorance of the answers which Mr. Dorr had obtained intence, then, in Mrs. Willett's script giv through Mrs. Piper, and indeed of the fact that any such rnormal knowledge of the Mac script, an question had been put." ans of a quotation appropriate in a series On Feb. IO, 1910, another interesting incident occurred. h Lethe, if among those associations a Mr. Myers purported to say: "I know what Lodge wants. gilian and Platonic passages of the Six He wants to prove that I have access to knowledge shown elsewhere. Dorr's scheme excellent. That I have to use enth Book of the Republic." different scribes means that I must show different aspects of to "love" and ideas associated are very ch Myers and might be more evidential b thought underlying which unity is to be found." wn fact, tho the manner of using the ide Mr. Dorr's experiment was to start associations in the ice of subliminal fabrication by Mrs. Will communicator and to have them used as cross correspond- 40 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research. ence. The previous article in the March Journal shows how successful this was. But the chief interest which this passage has for me is its corroboration of the idea that I expressed in the same Journal when reviewing the paper of Miss John- son. In apparent attempts to correct the illusions of the people who were explaining the Sevens incidents" by telep- athy Myers purported to suggest very much this sort of experiment through Mrs. Verrall and in doing it gave ex- pression to this very idea of unity in the messages from various mediums, just as he had insisted in life that survival would be proved in this way more effectively than by reading post-humous letters. The idea which characterized his con- ception of the problem in life is here also as well as through the script of Mrs. Verrall. A little later the view which I claimed was a possible one in the group of incidents discussed by Miss Johnson comes out again in the emphatic reference to Mr. Piddington and the question of who does the selecting in the messages. We shall come to that again. For the present the chief interest of the incident under notice is its coincidence with ideas expressed elsewhere. For the remainder of the episode I must quote the state- ments of Sir Oliver Lodge at some length. "On May Ist. the following came from Myers Willett Myers). I labored terribly to get clear with Dorr. The same plan might be carried out with more intelligence and less confusion to trance personalities. That is the difficulty If the sitter has not got the knowledge which makes the matter intelligible. he blunders in and as it were alters the "points "`. switching the trains on to wrong points: But if on the other hand the sitter has got the knowledge. then you will say it is merely subliminal Piper groping about in the mind of the sitter. Those are the horns. But this Dorr episode was not quite finished with even now: for on June 5th. 1910 I received the following script by post from Mrs. FT illett. Pluto and Bees. Re Lethe. I said there was a pun somewhere. I meant in mv own script. not in Plu not in either Plato or others. I Myers made a pun. I got in a the American Society for Psychical Research. Recent English Proceedings. 41 vious article in the March Journal shows how word I wanted by wrapping it up in a quotation. Later I got as. But the chief interest which this passage the word itself after an effort which disturbed my machine :S corroboration of the idea that I expressed and which Gurney deprecated as being exemplification of the rnal when reviewing the paper of Miss John End justifies the Means. Tell me Lodge can you find it now. ent attempts to correct the illusions of the Myers, I got the word in by choosing a quotation in which e explaining the "Sevens incidents by telep it occurs and which was known to the normal intelligence irported to suggest very much this sort of of my machine. ough Mrs. Verrall and in doing it gave ex- ... Write the word Selection. Who selects, my friend is very idea of unity in the messages from Piddington? I address the question to Piddington. Who is, just as he had insisted in life that survival selects?' d in this way more effectively than by reading "The statement about the pun had come in a script of tters. The idea which characterized his con March 7th, 1910, before Mrs. Willett had received Part LX. problem in life is here also as well as through of Proceedings, in this way: Irs. Verrall. A little later the view which Write again the Nightingale. I want that seen to. possible one in the group of incidents discussed Pluto, not not Plato this time but Pluto. Bees, Bees the hum on comes out again in the emphatic reference of Bees. Myers, there was a pun, but I do not want to say ton and the question of who does the selecting where.' es. We shall come to that again. For the "We had taken this to refer to some classical pun, and I ief interest of the incident under notice is it had a long and fruitless hunt for it. The script of June 5th, th ideas expressed elsewhere. 1910. which I have already quoted was in answer to a written mainder of the episode I must quote the state statement about my failure to find a pun in connection with )liver Lodge at some length. either Bees or Pluto or Lethe. The explanation given on Ist, the following came from Myers (Willet June 5th clearly showed me what pun was intended, especially when taken in connection with the following communication d terribly to get clear with Dorr. The same which had come on May 6th. 1910. e carried out with more intelligence and les Edmund Gurney. Tell Lodge I don't want this to de- rance personalities. That is the difficulty. velop into trance. You have got that, we are doing some- not got the knowledge which makes the matte thing new. e blunders in and as it were alters th [It then went on to say that the method now usually itching the trains on to wrong points. Bu employed was telepathic, not telergic, and added-] r hand the sitter has got the knowledge. the ... If you want to see the labor of getting anything is merely subliminal Piper groping about in th telergic done here [you] can see the word Dorr. tter. Those are the horns. That word had to be given in that way. after efforts Dorr episode was not quite finished with, ever had been made to convey it telepathically without success. une 5th, 1910 I received the following script b. It was a great strain on both sides. We don't want to move any atoms in the brain directly. S. Willett. nd Bees. Re Lethe. I said there was a pu Very well then. the meaning clearly is that the pun was meant in my own script. not in Plu not in connection with the word Dorr" : that is to say, the word or others. I Myers made a pun. I got in Dorr had first been given as part of a quotation familiar 42 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research. to the automatist, tho in as much as would probably not in that form be recognized, it was given the next day with special, almost unjustifiable, effort, in a quite exceptional manner, SO as to get it clearly and unmistakeably recorded the day after the envelope containing the question had been opened. "I naturally looked back, therefore, to see what familiar quotation was intended, in the script that had come immedi ately after the envelope had been opened (Feb. 4), and it quite plainly was the following. " Go not to Lethe, Myers, Myers, there was the door to which I found no key and Haggi Babba too. This is discon- nected but not meaningless.' "The introduction 'Go not to Lethe' (From Keats Ode Melancholy-quoted also in script of Miss Helen Verrall's of to Nov. 5, 1908, which Mrs. Willett had seen-) is employed here, I presume, merely as a quotational way of switching the the subject straight back to Lethe before introducing What word required to be given in answer to the question Lethe suggest to you?' The answer intended is that does of the suggestions conveyed by the word Lethe was the recollection one of Mr. Dorr, who in America had asked precisely of the same question through Mrs. Piper. And the mode transmission adopted, in order to get this meaningless name a recorded, is by stimulating the automatist to reproduce door familiar quotation from Omar Khayam-' There was the to which I found no key.' Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, and a reference to the "By' Haggi Babba' I understand an attempt at Ali Baba, door of of 'Open Sesame'. But whether or not that is so, the was pun made is to give this sort of key-word on the very till the clearly on the word 'door', showing that an first effort occasion the question had been seen (Feb. 4) tho it was not unmis day that it could be given, by special effort, in fashion." an takeable, next properly spelt, and clearly recognizable ref erences tending to repeat the Lethe associations be in- The than the one incident discussed. They are classical given script of Feb. 10th, 1910, contained many more allusions through Mrs. Piper. Certain passages in it will not erican Society for Psychical Research. Recent English Proceedings. 43 in as much as would probably not telligible unless we remember that Mr. Gurney purports to be zed, it was given the next day with the control of Mrs. Willett, or "chief manager", to use the tifiable, effort, in a quite exceptional language of Sir Oliver Lodge, during the automatic writing. it clearly and unmistakeably recorded I shall quote the entire record. elope containing the question had beer "Myers, yes I am ready. I know what Lodge wants. He wants me to prove that I have access to knowledge shown ed back, therefore, to see what familia elsewhere. Myers give me his three answers all all together. ed, in the script that had come immedi "Myers, there is an Ode I want, an Ode Horatian. Lydia, be had been opened (Feb. 4), and it quit I referred to the Ode elsewhere. Write the word Seneca. ing. Again filial piety. That was the motive that led him, the son e, Myers, Myers, there was the door to to the father, Virgil. But Ulyss, there is a parallel, Ulysses. and Haggi Babba too. This is discon This is confused in Myers, confused in the script but not in ngless.' my mind. The confusion is not in my thought, but in the ' Go not to Lethe' (From Keats Od expression of it as it reaches you, Lodge. i also in script of Miss Helen Verrall's O "The nightingale, but I no no no. Myers begin again. Mrs. Willett had seen-) is employer The nightingale but Shelley too, Myers as well. Once more rely as a quotational way of switching ye laurels. back to Lethe before introducing th "Myers, this seems incoherent, Myers, but don't be dis- given in answer to the question Wha couraged, Myers. to you? The answer intended is tha "Dorr's scheme excellent, Myers. That I have to use ns conveyed by the word Lethe was th different scribes means that I must show different aspects of )orr, who in America had asked precise! thoughts underlying which unity is to be found. through Mrs. Piper. And the mode G "Strew on her roses, roses, Ganymede. Myers Mrs. d, in order to get this meaningless nam Verrall might make something of that. mulating the automatist to reproduce "Myers homeless in the heart of Paradise. Myers, where om Omar Khayam-' There was the doo was the Sybil flavicomata. Myers, I have not finished. key.' Myers wait. Myers, the draught of forgetfulness. oba' I understand an attempt at Ali Bab "What is Anaxagoras for. Not Anchises, that is not Forty Thieves, and a reference to the doo what I want, which only I remember: only you forget. But whether or not that is so, the pu There is a line of Swinburne's I want that Pagan singer of ord 'door', showing that an effort wa fair things and all dead things. Go thither and all forgotten ort of key-word on the very first occasio days. Myers, something like that, Swinburne. een seen (Feb. 4) tho it was not till th By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept when ld be given, by special effort, in an unmi we remembered thee, oh Zion. spelt, and clearly recognizable fashion." Myers, Myers, get thee to a nunnery. eb. 10th, 1910, contained many more re The shepherds pipe, the Muses dance and better to rule ne incident discussed. They are classic among, no to slave among the living than King it mid the to repeat the Lethe associations give dead r. Certain passages in it will not be Proc. ASPR, VI, 1912, PP 140-141 140 Proceedings of American Society for Psychical Research, (That is right.) [Note 48.] [Pencil broke, new one inserted.] We are all glad to use all our energy or use none as the case calls for to suit [read send and pencil tapped till correctly read.] him SO if we play about in a way that seems inconsequential you will know what it is all about. (Yes. go ahead as you please.) The conditions here seem very good and please us [pause.] CBP You will remember George Dorr and his connection with the Piper work. (Yes.) and also his interest in our friend and his present interest to help him get some message through. (Yes, perfectly.) He [not read.] believes He that there was never SO important an event in the annals not excepting Hodgson, but he is not the best sort of an investigator He is very libble [evi- dently intended for liable' but read little'] likely to give away evidence unconsciously and he is careless about the records, but he is good and generous as a friend if he can do it in his own wav. All that you know. (Yes, that's right.) Now it is only a word I have dropped in regard to him. I know well how James regards him and how shocked G- was at J.'s death but the friendly and family interest must for a few times be set aside and after that all the tender messages can be given to the loved ones. They all understand perfectly and James desires it to be SO. [Pause.] [Note 19.] 48. The allusion to a sign for Professor James repeats a thought ex- pressed through Mrs. Smead (p. 98) and is consummated in the sitting of September 29th through Mrs. Chenoweth (pp. 154, 157). 49 Mr. Dorr's name was connected with the Report of Prof. James which was in the possession of Mrs. C. I had sent it to her because she had figured in the Thompson sittings. She had glanced at the James' Report SO that we may suppose her to have seen the name, casually at least, and so to have been familiar with it. But she could not thus have obtained infor- mation to make the remarks here made about him. The statements made represent opinions of certain persons about him and could not have been known to Mrs. C. except by direct inquiry or by very unusual casual infor- mation. Inquiry of her personally brought the reply that she did not know that Mr. Dorr had anything to do with the Piper case so that the informa- tion casually or otherwise acquired by reading the James' Report could not ASPR y for Psychical Research. A Record of Experiments. 141 Dick will write a minute now. George P .] We are all glad to use all (Thank you.) calls for to suit [read 'send' Oh by the way you remember some bits of poetry like d.] him SO if we play about snatches of song that used to come now and again in N. Y. al you will know what it is 1 always intended to tell you that I am still trying to express myself in a petical poetical' but read partial'] way poetical. You sometimes guessed it but were not quite sure. good and please us [pause.]. G. 1 [Note 50.] and his connection with the (Good.) Pencil dropped and new one inserted.] interest in our friend and his [Change of Control.] ne message through Pencil rolled in hand of Mrs. C. to "magnetize` it. A that there was never so few inaudible French or Indian sounds were uttered.] ot excepting Hodgson. but he Good morning. ator. He is very libble [evi- (Good morning, H.) d little likely to give away I did not think when you were here in the spring that the careless about the records. next time you came I would have William with me. He is friend if he can do it in his very happy and confident. Chaffed me a good bit on my inability to talk definitely to him and insists that with the conscious life he is enjoying he can make a better showing than I did. 3 dropped in regard to him. I understand.) [Note 51.] 177 and how shocked G- was All right. let him try. Good.) It is one thing to look on amily interest must for a few at a river [not read.] river and think you can swim and another all the tender messages can to swim. all understand perfectly and Yes that's right.) [Note 49.] have been very great. Mr. Dorr was an intimate friend of Professor James, and is well characterized here. as is also his feeling about the death of essor James repeats a thought ex- is consummated in the sitting of Professor James. pp. 154, 157). 50. G. P. was fond of poetry and I believe wrote some of it. Mrs. C. with the Report of Prof. James knew nothing about it. Nor did I know anything about it but ascertained had sent it to her because she had its truth from one of his friends. ad glanced at the James' Report There were two or three "snatches" of poetry in the New York sittings, the name, casually at least, and but there was no evidence that G. P. was the father of them. One was could not thus have obtained infor- directly attributed to Dr. Hodgson and one, whoever was the real instigator, about him. The statements made was related to Mr. M-. ut him and could not have been 51. The fact is that Professor James' death was predicted in the or by very unusual casual infor- spring through Mrs. C. It was stated that he would do one more piece of the reply that she did not know work and then pass over. I have no evidence that this work was finished. or e Piper case so that the informa- even that it was undertaken. He sailed about the time of the prediction for ding the James' Report could not Nauheim for his health and probably did no more work. JASTR VI 1912, P. 285 282 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research. shall not go into those questions again. It was in the exper iments with Mrs. Chenoweth, since the death of Professor James, that the most important facts modifying its applica- tion were obtained. I can only briefly notice them here. They are discussed at length in the Proceedings (Vol. VI, pp 51-92), and readers must be referred to them for a full under- standing of the matter. All that I can do here is to outline the new point of view and that only for the purpose of en- abling the reader the better to understand the peculiar char- acter of the messages and their limitations, as well as the difference between communicators. Through Mrs. Piper, George Pelham made statements that suggested to Dr. Hodgson a way out of many perplex- ities. He said: "You to us are more like as we understand sleep, you look shut up in prison and in order for us to get into com- munication with you, we have to enter into your sphere, as one like yourself asleep. This is just why we make mis- takes, or get confused and muddled, so to put it, H." It was from this passage that Dr. Hodgson and myself took the keynote of the theory, confirmed by the psycho- logical evidence of the records, which we defended so long. It was tried and found to explain many things, such as the fragmentary nature of the messages, the sudden and abrupt manner of passing from one incident to another wholly un- related to it, the mistakes and confusions, the apparent amnesia and various other features of the phenomena. The experiments of Mr. Dorr, however, on which we commented in the Journal (Vol. V, pp. 161-170) in which he read a pas- sage from a classical author to Mr. Myers purporting to communicate and received relevant answers which showed a more rational condition of mind than the theory presup- posed, tended to shake this theory somewhat and I could only call attention to some incidents tending to confirm it never- theless, tho not feeling assured that it was so general as I had previously supposed. Before the death of Professor James I had discussed this hypothesis of the dream state with him and he understood it, but was reluctant to attach as much weight to it as I did. When he came to communicate and ASPR HARVARD RECOGNIZES PSYCHICAL RESEARCH New York Times (1857-Current file); Jan 20, 1913; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2001) pg. 5 HARVARDRECOGNIZES every way a most welcome situation, and we have to thank the contributors for the course which thus commits one of the first universities in this country to PSYCHICAL RESEARCH the respectability and importance of psychic research." The English Society for Psychical Re- search has already added $500 to the fund, and Dr. James H. Hyslop urges similar additions by all Interested people in this First American University to country. Henry James, Jr., who put up a part of the fund, wrote to President Lowell this Take It Up-Accepts a Gift representation of the wishes of his fellow- contributors. of $10,000 for Study. They realize that inquiries of the kind with which Richard Hodgson's work in psychical research especially identified him may from time to time be most profitably pursued in ways not now predictable, and they desire to A MEMORIAL TO HODGSON establish a fund for the encouragement of such work that may be broadly administered and that shall thus become a fitting and per- manent tribute to his memory. Accordingly the contributors direct that the Henry James, Jr., Asks President fund shall be known as the Richard Hodgson Memorial Fund. and that. subject only to the Lowell That Investigation Have provisions for permitting accumulations here- inafter named, the income shall be expended Preference Over Lectureships. in the sole discretion of the President and Fellows in any manner designed to encourage the investigation and study of mental or physical phenomena the origin or expression of which appears to be independent of the ordinary sensory channels. The contributors further direct that one- Harvard University has accepted a third. but not more. of the annual income of $10,000 endowment fund for psychical re- the fund and of all additions thereto may search, and The Journal of the American from time to time be added to the principal in the discretion of the President and Fel- Society for Psychical Research announces lows. Nothing herein shall be construed to it with the greatest satisfaction as the require the expenditure of income annually. It is the hope of the contributors, this state- first official recognition of such study ment of which shall not limit or restrict the accorded by any American college or uni- discretion of the President and Fellows, that versity. The fund, which was estab- a preference will be given in the expenditure of income to the endowment of investigation lished by several individuals, is a me- and research as distinguished from lecture- morial of the life and work of Dr. Rich- ships, and that, unless and until the fund reaches such proportions that its income Is ard Hodgson, Secretary of the society sufficient to justify the permanent appoint- from 1887 until his death in 1905. Says ment of an instructor or investigator. the income will be accumulated for such reason- The Journal in the current issue by way able periods as shall be necessary to make of comment: possible its expenditure in amounts adequate The value of it lies chiefly in the fact for important uses. The largest contributors to the fund are of this recognition, as the fund is not Mrs. William G. Webb of Boston and Mrs. large enough to do all the work that David P. Kimball of Boston. must be done in this field. Besides, no one can any longer question the respect- 71st Men Have a Riding Club. ability of the work. The objection which Since the introduction of Mounted an uninformed public has always raised, Scouts into tlie National Guard, and espe- namely, that the colleges and universi- cially into their regiment, the men of the tics have not admitted the work into Seventy-first Infantry have shown a great their purview, cannot be presented any liking for the mounted work. The Mount- longer. The acceptance of the fund makes it impossible for any other institution ed Scouts, being limited to thirty-six men; in this country to disregard or to dis- filled up in short order, and twenty-five respect the work. It has won its place in others formed a riding club, which is hav- so conservative a university as Harvard, ing instruction rides at the armory of conservative in all the problems that at- Battery A now twice a month, with Capt. feet long despised` phenomena. It is in Martin L. Mackey as instructor. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Lives and Letters in American Parapsychology A Biographical History, 1850-1987 by Arthur S. Berger 1986 McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Jefferson, North Carolina, and London Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Independence Gained and Lost (1851-1905) Richard Hodgson: A Portrait BF 1026 2. Out of the Ashes (1906-1920) ,346 James Hervey Hyslop: A Portrait 1988 3. The Blue-Eyed Woman (1921-1938) Walter Franklin Prince: A Portrait William McDougall: A Portrait 4. Storms and Reorientation (1939-1980) Gardner Murphy: A Portrait Joseph Gaither Pratt: A Cameo Joseph Banks Rhine: A Portrait brary of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data 5. Harassment and Contemporary Parapsychology (1981-1987 Laura Dale: A Cameo erger, Arthur S., 1920- Louisa E. Rhine: A Cameo Lives and letters in American parapsychology. Gertrude R. Schmeidler: A Self-Portrait Includes references. Autobiographical Notes by Gertrude Raffel Schmeidler Includes index. Montague Ullman: A Self-Portrait 1. Psychical earch-United States-Biography. Autobiographical Notes by Montague Ullman Psychical research-United States-History Title. 6. Brief Portraits of Contemporary Parapsychologists F1026.B46 1988 133.8'092'2 [B] 88-42537 Stephen E. Braude BN 0-89950-345-4 (lib. bdg.; 50# acid-free natural paper) Richard S. Broughton Irvin L. Child 1988 Arthur S. Berger. All rights reserved. William Edward Cox Hoyt L. Edge inted in the United States of America. Jan Ehrenwald Farland & Company, Inc., Publishers Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640 V vi Contents Jule Eisenbud 310 Edward F. Kelly 310 Stanley Krippner 311 Lawrence LeShan 312 Robert A. McConnell 313 Robert Lyle Morris 314 Carroll Blue Nash 314 Acknowledgments Karlis Osis 315 John Albert Palmer 316 Dorothy H. Pope 317 First and foremost, I wish to thank Gertrude R. Schmeidler for her K. Ramakrishna Rao 318 numerous valuable suggestions which have helped greatly to improve portions D. Scott Rogo 319 of this book. William George Roll 319 I also want to thank a number of colleagues and friends who helped in Joseph H. Rush 320 other ways in the preparation of this book. Gertrude Schmeidler and Mon- Helmut H.W. Schmidt 321 tague Ullman were kind enough to write the sections of this book which relate Rex G. Stanford 322 to their work and personal histories. The 27 colleagues whose miniature por- Ian Stevenson 322 traits I wrote helped by furnishing me with information relating to their careers Russell Targ 323 and interests. My thanks as well go to R.A. McConnell, William E. Cox and Charles T. Tart 324 D. Scott Rogo for helpful observations of Laura A. Dale, J. Gaither Pratt and Debra H. Weiner 325 Walter F. Prince. I want especially to single out Jule Eisenbud for my particular Rhea A. White 326 appreciation for the information he supplied about Laura Dale and for his comments on the section dealing with her. Laura F. Knipe and Dorothy Respice, Adspice, Prospice 327 Wenberg were also most helpful by sharing with me some of their recollections References 329 of her. I am also grateful to Lois B. Murphy for corresponding with me about Index 363 her husband, Gardner Murphy. Historians could do little without the cooperation of archivists and libraries. I wish to thank James G. Matlock, the American Society for Psychical Research, Houghton Library and Harvard University, and the Diocesan Library of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, for sending me, or allowing me ac- cess to, useful information. I have left for the last my wife, Joyce Berger. For her patient support and labors in editing this book, a truckful of dictionaries would not provide enough words to convey my gratitude. Acknowledgment is made to the following for the use of quotations in the text: The New York Times for excerpts from: the article "Dr. Prince Resigns Over Margery Row" in the issue of March 6, 1925; the article "This Week in Science: Telepathy and Clairvoyance" by Waldemar Kaempffert in the issue of May 20, 1934; the article "Some Research in Telepathy" by Livingstone Welch in the issue of December 15, 1935. Copyright © 1925, 1934, 1935 by the New York Times Company. Reprinted by permission. Jule Eisenbud, William E. Cox, D. Scott Rogo, Lois B. Murphy, Rex G. vii viii Acknowledgments Acknowledgments ix Stanford, Gertrude R. Schmeidler, and Jan Ehrenwald for permission to quote J. Malcolm Bird, "The Margery Mediumship," PASPR, 1926-1927, 20-21, extracts from their letters to me. 1-491; Jule Eisenbud, D. Scott Rogo and William E. Cox for permission to quote William H. Button, "President's Report to the Voting Members of the from letters to them from Laura A. Dale. ASPR," January 3, 1939, American Society for Psychical Research Archives; Montague Ullman for permission to quote from an interview he con- Laura A. Dale, "Dr. John F. Thomas (In Memoriam)," JASPR, 1941, 35, ducted with Gardner Murphy. 1-8; "Henri Bergson, Realist, 1859-1941," JASPR, 1941, 35, 57-69; The Houghton Library, Harvard University, for specified extracts from the "A Letter from A. Conan Doyle," JASPR, 1923, 17, 265-266; Richard Hodgson and William James manuscripts. Reprinted by permission of Lucy Edmunds correspondence with J.H. Hyslop in 1907, American the Houghton Library. Society for Psychical Research Archives, various excerpts; The Journal of Parapsychology for permission to reprint from Gardner Frederick Edwards, "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle," JASPR, 1923, 17, 271-272; Murphy, "Notes for a Parapsychological Autobiography," Journal of Para- "Leakage," JASPR, 1923, 17, 267; psychology, 1957, 21, 165-178; Gertrude R. Schmeidler, "Gardner Murphy Jan Ehrenwald, "Gentle Guide," JASPR, 1983, 77, 281-282; and His Thinking: A Retrospect and a Prospect," Journal of Parapsychology, E.W. Friend correspondence with J.H. Hyslop in 1915, American Society 1979, 43, 86-89. for Psychical Research Archives, an excerpt; The Society for Psychical Research and Jonn Beloff for permission to re- H.N. Gardiner, "Reminiscences," JASPR, 1920, 14, 469-473; print from the following articles in the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical J.T. Hackett correspondence with J.H. Hyslop in 1917, American Society Research or the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research: for Psychical Research Archives, various excerpts; Richard Hodgson, "Account of Personal Investigations in India and Richard Hodgson correspondence with J.T. Hackett 1877-1905, various Discussion of the Authorship of the 'Koot Hoomi' Letters," PSPR, 1885, 3, excerpts; and correspondence with J.H. Hyslop, W.D. Bayley, C.J. Capron in 207-380; "A Record of Observations of Certain Phenomena of Trance," PSPR, 1910, various excerpts; American Society for Psychical Research Archives; 1892, 8, 1-167; "A Further Record of Observations of Certain Phenomena of George H. Hyslop, "James H. Hyslop: His Contribution to Psychical Trance," PSPR, 1898, 13, 284-582; Research," JASPR, 1950, 44, 129-137; William James, "Report on Mrs. Piper's Hodgson-Control," PSPR, 1909, James H. Hyslop, "Autobiography" dated March 6, 1904, American 23, 2-121; Society for Psychical Research Archives, various excerpts; correspondence with William McDougall, "Presidential Address," PSPR, 1920, 31, 105-123; W.D. Bayley in 1906, 1908, 1909, 1911, American Society for Psychical "Professor William McDougall," JSPR, 1938, 30, 294; Research Archives, various excerpts; "A Record of Experiments," PSPR, 1912, Gardner Murphy, "Psychical Research and Personality," PSPR, 1949, 49, 6, 1-976; 1-15; "Psychology and Psychical Research," PSPR, 1953, 50, 26-49; S. David Kahn, "Ave Atque Vale: Gardner Murphy," JASPR, 1980, 74, Walter Franklin Prince, "Presidential Address," PSPR, 1930, 39, 247- 37-52; 304; William McDougall, "The Need for Psychical Research," JASPR, 1923, 17, J.B. Rhine, "Experiment in Extra-Sensory Perception," JSPR, 1938, 30, 4-14; "Mr. Dingwall's Study of 'Margery'," JASPR, 1925, 19, 122-134; "Further 257-258. Observations on the 'Margery' Case," JASPR, 1925, 19, 297-309; The American Society for Psychical Research for permission to reprint Gardner Murphy, "Difficulties Confronting the Survival Hypothesis," material from the following articles by Arthur S. Berger in the Journal of the JASPR, 1945, 39, 67-94; "Field Theory and Survival," JASPR, 1945, 39, 181-209; American Society for Psychical Research: "The Importance of Spontaneous Cases," JASPR, 1953, 47, 89-103; "Plan for "The Early History of the American Society for Psychical Research: Origins Research on Spontaneous Cases," JASPR, 1955, 49, 85-95; "Presidential to 1907," JASPR, 1985, 79, 39-60; Remarks by Gardner Murphy," JASPR, 1962, 56, 275-288; "George H. Hyslop "Problems of the ASPR Under J.H. Hyslop," JASPR, 1985, 79, 205-219. and the American Society for Psychical Research," JASPR, 1966, 60, 3-5; The American Society for Psychical Research for permission to reprint William R. Newbold, "An Estimate," JASPR, 1920, 14, 493-494; material from the following articles by other authors in the Journal or the Pro- ceedings of the ASPR: Karlis Osis, "The American Society for Psychical Research 1941-1985: A Personal View," JASPR, 1985, 79, 501-529; Sir William F. Barrett, "In Memory of Dr. Hyslop," JASPR, 1920, 14, G. Pagenstecher, "A Notable Psychometric Test," JASPR, 1920, 14, 440-444; 386-417; Weston D. Bayley, "Entrance Upon Psychical Research and Character- Ralph B. Perry, "William James and Psychical Research," JASPR, 1935, 29, istics," JASPR, 1920, 14, 433-440; 275-288; Acknowledgments Theodate Pope correspondence with W. Peyton in 1915, American Society for Psychical Research Archives, an excerpt; J.G. Pratt, "William McDougall and Present-Day Psychical Research," JASPR, 1970, 385-403; "Some Notes for the Future Einstein for Para- psychology," JASPR, 1974, 68, 133-155; "Gardner Murphy: Teacher, Mentor, Co-Worker, Friend," JASPR, 1980, 74, 65-77; Walter F. Prince, "The Doris Case of Multiple Personality," PASPR, 1915, Introduction 9, 1-627; "James Hervey Hyslop. Biographical Sketch and Impressions," JASPR, 1920, 14, 425-432; "Psychometric Experiments with Señora Maria Reyes de Z.," PASPR, 1921, 15, 189-314; "A Survey of American Slate Writing Medium- A woman drops a cup she had been drying and exclaims: "My God, he' ship," PASPR, 1921, 15, 315-592; "Is the Possession of 'Psychical' Faculty hurt." At that very moment, her husband is struck by a car as he is crossin, Pathological?" JASPR, 1923, 17, 473-480; a road miles from his home. Another woman has a dream, heralding the deatl J.B. Rhine, "My Partner, Gardner Murphy," JASPR, 1980, 74, 62-65; of a friend. A man wakes in the middle of the night and sees an apparition Gertrude R. Schmeidler, "Gardner Murphy: A Short Biography," JASPR, by his bedside. A gambler at a "craps" table shakes a pair of dice and by hi 1980, 74, 1-14; "Memories of Laura Dale," JASPR, 1983, 77, 273-276; will makes a 4 come up on one die and a 3 on the other. A medium display Rex G. Stanford, "A Tribute to Laura Dale," JASPR, 1983, 77, 284-286; knowledge during a seance she could never have gotten through the use of he Ian Stevenson, "Some Implications of Parapsychological Research on Sur- eyes, ears or wits. vival After Death," PASPR, 1969, 28, 18-35; "Gaither Pratt - An Apprecia- Such phenomena, whether "damned facts," as Charles Fort would hav tion," JASPR, 1980, 74, 277-288; described them, or "paranormal," as the philosopher C.D. Broad define Gertrude O. Tubby, "Testimony of a Co-Worker," JASPR, 1920, 14, them ¹ or, following Thouless and Wiesner, merely designated "psi,"2 hav 481-485; "My Relation to James H. Hyslop as His Secretary," JASPR, 1956, 50, been reported throughout history. From a number of standpoints, they meri 137-142; close scrutiny. Montague Ullman, "Letter to a Late Friend-Gardner Murphy," JASPR, If the reports of such phenomena are totally false, if the events reporte 1980, 74, 14-26; "A Tribute to Laura Dale," JASPR, 1982, 76, 251-255. never took place, the fact that they have been reported by and have been ac cepted by individuals of sound mind and good moral character would be in triguing from the viewpoint of the psychology of human testimony, hallucina Arthur S. Berger tion and credibility. On the other hand, if these reports have been confirmed, they would hav diverse and far-reaching implications and that so many highly intelligent an well-educated persons continue to deny such occurrences would then b equally intriguing from the viewpoint of the psychology of human bias an incredulity. If the reports of such events are true, they would be exceedingl interesting from a philosophical perspective, for they raise the ancient questio of the relationship between mind and brain. Dualism long ago was toppled in favor of a materialist view that mind a function of processes of the brain and totally dependent on it. But the occur rence of paranormal events that seem to resist and baffle physical explanation might point to the existence of a nonphysical mental component interactin with yet autonomous of the brain and which, at certain times, has the abilit to influence physical objects or become aware of other minds whose physica bodies may be either living or dead. Such events, if they in fact occur, woul collide with materialism and the impact would restore mind-body dualism t the attention of thinkers. From the standpoint of religion, the ability of on 1 46 Out of the Ashes Portrait of James Hervey Hyslop 47 Could this outstanding educator and future candidate for the American curred. "[H]ad Hodgson lived," said Bayley, "he undoubtedly would have vice-presidency have written a self-serving letter to cover up Columbia's entered into [Hyslop's scheme] with all of his energy. "88 pressure on Hyslop to resign? Every indication is that Butler's letter accurately Later that year, Hyslop took the first active steps to implement his idea presents the real cause of Hyslop's resignation. Professor Newbold's statement by organizing the American Institute for Scientific Research and by going out about Columbia's position with regard to Hyslop's stand on parapsychology is to try to find funds for it. Even though James had not supported his request relevant: "President Butler was unconvinced and, so far as I am aware, to the Carnegie Institute, Hyslop went back to him for help. "I have had a visit uninterested, but he assured Professor Hyslop the University would interfere fm. poor Hyslop today," he wrote to Flournoy from Cambridge on October 11, in no way with his academic freedom. "77 More important is the fact that, in 1904. "He deludes himself with the belief that he can raise a large fund of his Autobiography, Hyslop, himself, seemingly inconsistent with his state- money to endow psychical research with, and is trying to do so. "89 Hyslop ment to Newbold and his earlier remark in the same Autobiography, blamed did not think himself deluded at all. Numerous private meetings were held his resignation entirely on his health. After he had resumed his duties at Co- with interested persons in 1904. In 1905 larger meetings were held in the sump- lumbia, he wrote, "I lost eighteen pounds in six weeks and found my cough tuous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel as word of Hyslop's plan spread and interest in arising again. I resolved to resign at once and did it increased. In consequence, a fund of $25,000 was accumulated and the In- stitute was in readiness; Hyslop's plan was about to be fulfilled. The American Institute for Scientific Research With Hodgson's unexpected death, Hyslop's entire scheme was severely threatened. Everything came to a standstill pending the determination of the He considered first mining gold in Vermont. It was an appealing prospect fate of the American branch of the SPR and the resolution of what was to be because it seemed "a safe business and it offered me the desired outdoor life. "79 done with the Piper records. But instead, Hyslop concentrated his attention on parapsychology He Hyslop did all in his power to frustrate London's claim to these records. recognized the impoverished state of the ASPR and the need for trying to gain In a letter to his friend Dr. Weston D. Bayley he confided his plan: financial support for its work. It struck Hyslop that the study of two fields It has occurred to me to get the option of publishing such records from should be undertaken: psychopathology and parapsychology. In December all sitters I can in order to checkmate the English move. Will you give 1900, he published an article which he hoped would produce an endowment me that option on your records? I do not ask for the right, but only of one million dollars, but it met only indifference on the part of the scientific the option at present that we may present a formidable front to any community and the general public. 80 vandalism they may want to commit Don't waste time in the mat- He turned to the Carnegie Institute for money but he did SO without the ter. I know two other parties who have had almost hundreds of sittings influential support of James. "As regards the Carnegie Institute I am declining and if we can secure this option we can negotiate with the English on to back Hyslop's application because it is an absolute moral impossibility that equal terms.90 they should give any money; and it is poor policy; in an unpopular cause, to Hyslop also proposed to send a circular letter to all members of the make it a nuisance as well as a victim. "81 James's analysis was correct: Hyslop's American branch to let them know of the intention of the London group with appeal for funds to the Carnegie Institute was unsuccessful as well. respect to the Piper material and to give them an opportunity to lodge a pro- He now started to think in terms of the formation of an independent test. Hyslop himself could not do SO openly. "I shall not take any active part organization which would not compete with the SPR's American branch but in this, but remain outside," he said. "As I am a candidate for the temporary which would ultimately merge with it if sufficient funds could be raised. His Secretaryship I cannot act in the matter. He hoped to secure the appoint- scheme received wide support. James wrote Hyslop that he thought the scheme ment as Hodgson's successor in order to retain the Piper records and to carry a wise plan. 82 From Europe came a lengthy endorsement from the eminent out a drive to increase membership in. and obtain an endowment for the Pierre Janet. 83 Camille Flammarion wrote a letter of support, 84 and Charles American branch. But he was not sanguine about his chances of getting the Richet and Max Dessoir praised the ideas5 as did prestigious Americans such appointment. As he wrote in another letter to Bayley: "I was a candidate for as Columbia's Butler. 86 The publisher, Isaac K. Funk, also allied himself with Secretary and I learned that the English Council will have nothing to do with Hyslop. "In a small book which I purpose to write urging a deeper interest me. They think me indiscreet, and if progressive and constructive work is in- on the part of the public in psychic research," he wrote to Hyslop, "I want to discretion I plead guilty and proud of "92 give some of the strongest reasons I can think of for a comprehensive support When, in 1906, the English representative came to meet with his opposite of your Institute idea. I think I can turn over to you some hundreds of numbers in the American branch, he found one of them to be that "indiscreet" members." man with whom the English wanted nothing to do. The feeling was mutual. When Hyslop discussed his plan with Hodgson in 1904, the two con- "My reasons for not encouraging a meeting at present are these," he wrote 48 Out of the Ashes Portrait of James Hervey Hyslop 49 Bayley. "First the Englsish [sic] Council is not amenable to reason to anything writings. 100 It was not until 1916 that the ASPR had enough money in its coffers American. They have contempt for all Americans and will stick sternly for the to pay him a small salary. 101 legal aspects of the matter. Then Associates have no votes and this only strengthens the power which the Council will use. "93 But, since a meeting was necessary, he was ready. "I am fighting for the Institute," declared Hyslop, and Office Records he gave the SPR a choice between two policies. Either cooperation along the old lines or But the new ASPR was launched on a "sea of troubles" against which the abandonment of this country I shall never touch psychics again Hyslop, like Hamlet, had to take arms. Hodgson's death had caught James, if they do not come to terms. I shall return all the money I have gotten Hyslop and everyone associated with the SPR branch in America entirely by sur- and abandon psychics forever. I cannot do it alone, and if others will prise. No one, except Lucy Edmunds, the assistant secretary of the branch, was not cooperate I shall neither cooperate nor go it alone Familiar with its records and she had left the office. "I shall need some rest What I must first do is to get them to decide to abandon the from this thing for a time," she wrote Hyslop, 'there has been SO much Branch, if they won't let me organize it for a large membership and unpleasantness and injustice in various ways. "102 Perhaps she had in mind more funds. When they have thus committed themselves we can take the bitterness that existed between the English SPR and the American more active measures It is not the Branch that we want to save, but branch over the Piper records and the strained relations between the English the work and the English policy will neither save the Branch nor the and Hyslop. work. With them out of the way we can get money, and I am confident Hyslop was overwhelmed by the crates of records that had been turned that I can get the money. 94 over to him-overwhelmed and puzzled. What were these records? Were any In the end, Hyslop got the English to abandon their American branch. missing? Among those he received were clippings of various kinds. When he It was dissolved. The English had surrendered it, however, only because they wrote to the former secretary about them, Lucy Edmunds described for him were satisfied that dissolution would not mean the end of organized para- the office practice she and Hodgson had followed. Newspaper clippings which psychology in this country. had seemed worthy of note were placed in an alphabetical file. If replies to let- Hyslop was not SO successful with the Piper records. He had hoped to re- ters of inquiry showed that a case was promising, it was filed in a case file. If tain them in America in order to publish them. Instead, under an agreement found to be without foundation, it was filed "set-off." Cuttings not worth worked out during the negotiations between Piddington and the represen- writing about were placed in scrapbooks. Lucy Edmunds assured Hyslop: "You tatives of the American branch, the records were to be delivered to London to have now got them all. "103 be published, the privacy of the sitters being protected. Thus, the issue generated by the Piper material which had caused tempers to flare was thought by some, such as Bayley, to have been "amicably disposed of "95 New Materials With the dissolution of the American branch and with "nineteen heavy cases" of records, Hyslop went forward with the American Institute for Scien- But the cuttings were a meager source of material and placed the ASPR in tific Research which he had organized into sections for the investigation of two a predicament. With the transmission to England of the important Piper fields. Its Section "A" was to deal with psychopathology or abnormal records which Hodgson had accumulated, and the departure of Mrs. Piper to psychology. Its Section "B" was to be concerned with what Hyslop called England where she was to remain for at least a year to be studied by the SPR, "supernormal psychology" or parapsychology. Section "A" never really got off the ASPR was in desperate need of new material and new subjects for investiga- the ground. But Section "B" became the new and reorganized ASPR. 96 One of tions and experiments. It was necessary, Hyslop wrote: "to begin the work of the Institute's aims was to organize and endow investigations into telepathy, collection anew in this country [I]t may require several years work to arrive clairvoyance, mediumship, and kinetic phenomena,97 this work to be carried at that point of interest which the collection of Dr. Hodgson had on by Section "B." established. "104 Hyslop was to be its secretary with the work being done at his residence. 98 He once wrote his son, "My work is missionary, not mercenary. "99 With no more interest in money-making now than when he was a dreamer on the farm Financial Needs back in Xenia, he declined to accept any remuneration for his full-time work in order that all money might be applied to the work of the ASPR. He was able The Institute envisaged by Hyslop involved extensive as well as expensive to sustain himself on a small income with some returns from his lectures and investigations. It had another need which Hyslop voiced: 50 Out of the Ashes Portrait of James Hervey Hyslop 51 The time has gone by when we should rely upon the sporadic and work. Gertrude Ogden Tubby, who had heard Hyslop lecture in 1906 and had voluntary contribution of individuals for the sole evidence of the super- her interest in parapsychology aroused, undertook these duties in 1907. She re- normal and some effort should be made in earnest to place the in- mained loyally at his side for the next thirteen years. vestigations upon the same substantial basis as is enjoyed by other phenomena. It has been made all the more imperative by the dissolu- tion of the American Branch, which never had funds enough to do its Reorganization work rightly. I wish in the inauguration of this new movement to keep In another letter to Dr. Bayley, Hyslop said: "I am busy with the prelimi- its financial needs as prominent as the importance of its work 105 nary steps for reorganization. I shall send out circulars immediately "109 Membership fees were essential but were criticized at once as a radical But to whom were the circulars to be sent? A good mailing list was needed in change from what the English had done. Hyslop told Bayley: addition to the ASPR's comparatively small number of members. Hyslop ap- I understand the criticism which may be made of our fees. I knew it proached the publisher Isaac Funk with an offer to purchase the subscription would be made when it started, but the following facts make the lists of the popular Literary Digest. Funk replied: "You know not what you ask difference. 1. The English Society has a sufficient endowment to pay when you ask for the use of the subscription lists Not long ago we refused for an office and expenses. 2. Men of means and leisure do the work $7500 for that identical privilege. I presume our Executive Committee would and make no charges. 3. The same men provide additional funds for refuse an offer of $10,000 "110 Although there is no reason to believe that the publications when needed. We are not supplied with any of these The Literary Digest mailing list was purchased, the ASPR membership did in- advantages We must have these fees or stop, and it makes no crease after Hyslop became the ASPR's manager. On June 20, 1906, the ASPR difference to me whether it goes on or stops. I shall go to the woods had only 170 members. 111 By the end of November 1907, it had 677. 112 when I stop. 106 But many more were needed. One way of increasing membership was lec- Although a preliminary fund of $25,000 had been obtained for the work ture tours whose results, however, were disappointing: "The increase of of the American Institute for Scientific Research, the new ASPR needed $10,000 membership has not been what it ought to have been, judging from the kind annually for its investigations. Hyslop perceived that, besides membership of interest manifested in the lectures. "113 A second way was described by fees, an endowment fund was necessary if the ASPR's work was to continue. In Hyslop in another letter to Bayley: 1907 he campaigned for a permanent endowment fund and devised a scheme I want especially to consider ways and means of cooperating with local of types of membership whose contributions would establish it. 107 Seven years bodies interested in psychic research all over this country. We can not later, the financial situation was still grave. Membership fees were not enough only increase our members in this way, but prevent the scattering of to cover expenses. They fell short of the cost of the ASPR's publications and experiments and work generally. We must concentrate the work. 114 there was no money for investigations. The small general fund which had had He developed this idea more fully in a subsequent issue of JASPR: to be tapped to make up for the deficit in membership dues was exhausted. In thus encouraging [the formation of local societies] we do not mean Hyslop was compelled to tell the membership: that it is advisable to have a number of wholly independent bodies [W]e must now emphasize the necessity of an endowment fund ade- working alone, but groups of members of the central body organized quate to meet the situation, or conclude that the people in this country for more serious interest and assistance in the general aims of the In- are not willing to support the work as it is carried on. It must cease stitute Each independent group should have as much freedom of unless it is endowed We cannot think of undertaking this task un- action as possible [T]h main reason for general co-operation is the til we obtain an adequate endowment, one that will enable us also to necessity of combining the results of investigation in a way to give them obtain proper assistants in the work, trained scientific minds with ex- the collective force of which they may be capable and the largest possi- perience in abnormal psychology, who will have patience enough to ble scientific interest and form. Phenomena of this kind have too long undertake a large task. It is useless to try such work without endow- been allowed to perish or to lose their value simply because they have ment. 108 not received the imprimatur of scientific bodies 115 Gertrude O. Tubby Board of Trustees One of the "proper assistants" Hyslop needed was a good secretary who Another requisite was an impressive Board of Trustees for the Institute. would take careful stenographic notes of mediumistic sittings and do office As Funk wrote Hyslop, "[N]o man with a reputation for science would risk it Proceedings FORMER PRESIDENTS OF THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH. U.29 (19160-18) PROFESSOR HENRY SIDGWICK, - 1882-84. THE RIGHT HON. G. W. BALFOUR,- 1906-07. PROFESSOR BALFOUR STEWART, MRS. HENRY SIDGWICK, - 1908-09. F.R.S., - - 1885-87. H. ARTHUR SMITH, 1910. PROFESSOR HENRY SIDGWICK, - 1888-92. ANDREW LANG, 1911. THE RIGHT HON. A. J. BALFOUR, RT. REV. BISHOP W. BOYD CAR- M.P., O.M., F.R.S., - 1893. PENTER, D.D., - 1912. PROFESSOR WILLIAM JAMES, - 1894-95. PROFESSOR HENRI BERGSON, - - 1931. SIR WILLIAM CROOKES, F.R.S., - 1896-99. F. C. S. SCHILLER, D.Sc., - 1914. FREDERIO W. H. MYERS, 1900. PROFESSOR GILBERT MURRAY, SIR OLIVER LODGE, F.R.S. - 1901-03. LL.D., Litt.D.. - 1915-16. SIR WILLIAM BARRETT, F.R.S., - 1904. L. P. JACKS, LL.D., D.D., - 1917. PROFESSOR CHARLES RICHET, - 1905. OFFICERS AND COUNCIL FOR 1918. PRESIDENT. L. P. JACKS, LL.D., D.D. VICE-PRESIDENTS. RT. How. A. J. BALFOUR, M.P., O.M., SIR WILLIAM CROOKES, O.M., F.R.S. F.R.S. GEORGE B. DORR. RT. HON. G. W. BALFOUR. PROFESSOR J. H. HYSLOP, Ph.D. SIR WILLIAM F. BARRETT, F.R.S. SIR OLIVER LODGE, F.R.S., D.Sc. RT. REV. BISHOP W. BOYD CAR- LORD RAYLEIGH, O.M., F.R.S. D.Sc. PENTER, D.D. MRS. HENRY SIDGWICK, D.Litt., LL.D COUNCIL. in W. W. BAGGALLY. Prof. GILBERTMURRAY,LLD.,I Litt.D. THE RT. HON. G. W. BALFOUR. J. G. PIDDINGTON. SIR WILLIAM F. BARRETT, F.R.S. Sr. GEORGE LANE Fox PITT. REV. M. A. BAYFIELD. LORD RAYLEIGH, O.M., F.R.S. CAPTAIN ERNEST N. BENNETT. F. C. S. SCHILLER, D.Sc. J. MILNE BRAMWELL, M.B. SYDNEY C. SCOTT. G. LOWES DICKINSON. MRS. HENRY SIDGWICK, Litt.D. THE HON. EVERARD FEILDING. H. ARTHUR SMITH. SIR LAWRENCE J. JONES, BART. SIR JOSEPH J. THOMSON, O.M., F.R.S. SIR OLIVER LODGE, F.R.S. CHARLES LLOYD TUCKEY, M.D. W. M'DOUGALL, F.R.S., M.Sc., M.B. V. J. WOOLLEY, M.D. T. W. MITCHELL, M.D. M. B. WRIGHT, M.D. HON. TREASURER. J. G. PIDDINGTON, 20 Hanover Square, London, W. 1. HON. SECRETARIES. MRS. HENRY SIDGWICK, 20 Hanover Square, London, W. 1. THE HON. EVERARD FEILDING, 5 John Street, Mayfair, London, W. 1. EDITOR AND HON. RESEARCH OFFICER. MRS. W. H. SALTER, 20 Hanover Square, London, W. 1. SECRETARY. Miss I. NEWTON, 20 Hanover Square, London, W. 1. HON. SECRETARY OF THE MEDICAL SECTION. T. W. MITCHELL, M.D., Hoath Cottage, Hadlow, nr. Tonbridge. AGENT FOR AMERICA. THE W. B. CLARKE Co., 26-28 Tremont Street, Boston, Mass., U.S.A. 2D Digitized by Google Original from CORNELL UNIVERSITY 5/17/2019 William James & Psychical Research. Part 1 I Forbidden Histories BIBLIOTHÈQUE INTERNATIONALE DE SCIENCE PSYCHIQUE (MÉTAPSYCHIQUE ET PARAPSYCHOLOGIE) Directeur : RENE SUDRE WILLIAM JAMES PROFESSEUR A L'UNIVERSITÉ HARVARD CORRESPONDANT DE L'INSTITUT DE FRANCE ÉTUDES ET RÉFLEXIONS D'UN PSYCHISTE TRADUIT DE L'ANGLAIS PAR E. DURANDEAUD ANCIEN ÉLÈVE DE L'ÉCOLE NORMALE SUPÉRIEURE PROFESSEUR DE L'UNIVERSITÉ PAYOT, PARIS 106, BOULEVARD st- GERMAIN - 1924 Tous droits réservés. Note: Dorr's use of Old Farm and Owl's Head are herein recognized. See Table des Matiéres. XI, part 2, # 2+3 5/17/2019 William James & Psychical Research. Part 1 I Forbidden Histories TABLE DES MATIERES INTRODUCTION 7 I. Rapport sur les phénomènes médiumniques I7 Il. La conscience des membres perdus 27 III. Note sur la transmission de pensée 43 IV. Note sur l'écriture automatique. 51 V. Discours à la présidence de la S. P. R. anglaise 79 VI. L'uerre de la science psychique. 97 VII. Etude sur Frédéric Myers 123 VIII. Un cas de clairvoyance 141 IX. Phénomènes psychiques dans un cercle privé 163 X. Un cas possible de projection du " double 171 XI. Rapport sur le Contrôle-Hodgson de Madame Piper 175 Première partie. I. Introduction 177 2. Premières communications 183 3. L'incident de l'anneau 190 4. Le cas du ( parler-nègre 197 5. L'épisode de Huldah. 199 6. Les messages pécuniaires 206 Deuxième partie. I. Introduction 213 2 La série Oldfarm 225 3. La série Owl's head 235 4. Les séances du professeur Newbold 248 5. Les séances de William James 268 6. Les séances de Mlle Bergman 287 7. Les souvenirs d'Australie 295 8. Conclusions 305 XII. Impressions finales d'un psychiste 315 Table of contents of the 12 translated texts by James (Image credit: both this and the above image are from a scan of my copy of the book) Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol. 31, No. 4, pp. 691-699,2 2017 0892-3310/17 ESSAY REVIEW Evading the Challenge of Psychical Research William James: Psychical Research and the Challenge of Modernity by Krister Dylan Knapp. Chapel, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 2017. 400 pp. $32.26 (hardcover). ISBN 978-1469631240. This book is about William James and psychical research. The author effectively makes two major points. James's interest in psychical research was lifelong and profound. Right through the last years of his life as he was writing his great philosophical works, he kept on heroically with psychical research. Knapp points out that even after all his co-explorers in England (Frederic Myers, Henry Sidgwick, Edmund Gurney, Richard Hodgson) passed away, James doubled-down rather than lost interest, wearing himself weary from hours of working with mediums, often with meager results. After a lengthy Introduction on the main idea of the book, which is Knapp's methodology, it begins with a nicely textured narrative of James's early life and influences: the combative relationship with his father, life in a carnivalesque New York City, encounters with the redoubtable Sidgwicks and the more emotionally alive Myers and his wife, all very interesting and informative-the contextual grounding of James's evolution as a thinker. James was a serious, indeed impassioned, lifelong psychical researcher, an important fact about one of America's greatest philosophers and psychologists. This leads to the second point that Knapp takes great pains to discuss James's method of approach to psychical research. According to Knapp, he was not only passionate and persistent about exploring psychical research but did SO in a manner that Knapp calls a tertium quid, or third way. The third way mediates between fanatical overbelief and fanatical disbelief. The third way cleaves to the value of fact and is guided by a relentless quest for the truth wherever it leads. A true picture of James. Knapp tries to put the new quest called psychical research in the historical context of 19th-century Europe, a unique period of cultural ferment and technological transition. Darwinism and mechanistic science and technology had triumphantly arrived on the scene. A new awareness of mortal wounds to Biblical cosmology began to dawn, and people of the West found themselves looking for new ways to reconfigure their shattered worldviews. 692 Obituary With biting concern by many, there were issues about basic human identity. To get simple about it: Am I an immortal soul or a swirl of atoms in the void? The new philosophy sent shivers of langst through the more conscious and reactive part of the populace; and people began to respond in curious ways to their traditional beliefs being undermined by science. One response was a new movement called Spirtualism, started by the Fox sisters in 1848 in upstate New York. In other places, revolutions were afoot, and empires threw out their tentacles and cannon fodder as the scientific age began to feel its oats. James, thanks to his capacious sensibility, was attuned to all the tensions, hopes, and uncertainties arising from this vast, unfolding, psychic dislocation. He engaged and had to face spiritualists who had strange experiences causing them sometimes to over-believe and over-emote-not of course the cool way of the philosopher or the scientist. But James also had to deal with professional colleagues, know-it-all, hard-headed materialists. James avoided the excesses of both sides of the quarrel. This is Knapp's tertium quid. The author throughout the book comes back to his thesis and James becomes the posterboy of the third way as Knapp elaborates on it in great detail. Knapp continually likes to show how James enthusiastically began on a topic related to psychical research and always had second thoughts but never gave up trying to capture the elusive truth. The persistent effect as the pages turn is to suggest that James was always doubting and qualifying his views on the subject at hand, especially regarding any serious claims about supernormality. But James did come to definite conclusions; early on, for example, his "white crow," Mrs. Piper, convinced him of the reality of telepathy-a whose importance Knapp seems to minimize-after all, here is a challenge to "modernity," that is, to the rise of scientific materialism. James comes out decisively on the side of soul and despises the facile reductionism that would reduce St. Teresa to some idiosyncrasy of her brain, a point he makes in The Varieties of Religious Experience. In "The Final Impressions of a Psychical Researcher," he refers to the phenomena called "psychic" as "phenomena of which the supply seems inexhaustible but which scientifically trained minds mostly refuse to look at" (Murphy & Ballou 1960:309). This is an important and distressing finding. The phenomena, he discovers, are abundant, but most scientists refuse to look at the evidence. And the really depressing fact is: It hasn't changed. It's the same scene today. Phenomena still abound, and we still have a minority of serious students of the subject and a majority of ill- informed people who reject it out of hand. This is definitely not what Knapp calls our attention to. Quinsigamond Community College Library 0179 2202 1711 7 NYER STORY OF ALICE HOWE GIBBENS JAMES a SU AN E. GUNTER 6 u of Nebraska Press, 2009. 9/12/18 Introduction I FIRST DISCOVERED ALICE HOWE GIBBENS JAMES, a vibrant wom- an who played a key role in the lives of two famous American geniuses, psychologist and philosopher William James and his younger brother writer Henry James, as a possible biographical subject when I transcribed her unpublished letters for my first book, Dear Munificent Friends: Henry James's Letters to Four Women. As I looked further into available archi- val sources, however, I discovered that while the remaining material was provocative, Alice and her descendants had destroyed most of her letters and diaries. In 1999 I abandoned the project. During the course of my research for my two editions of Henry James's letters, I met Roberta A. Sheehan, a William James scholar, and learned that she had access to over three hundred letters written by Alice as well Alice's father's 1859 shipboard diary from the William James III of Santa Fe Collection. When Dr. Sheehan learned of my interest in Alice, she allowed me to read these valuable documents, which are deposited ill I larvard's I loughton Library. As I read over Alice's letters, I realized that while gaps still existed in the record I had more than enough mate- rial to write her biography. Understanding her life reveals new insights into the Jameses, a frequently xiii analyzed family constellation. One way to understand an important his- I lowe Gibbens James was a steadfast center for this idiosyncratic family, torical figure (in this case, figures) is through the lens of a nearby observ- although sometimes she was nearly overwhelmed by its demands. CT. As Henry James claimed in his preface to The Portrait of a Lady, an Some earlier biographies of James family members, most notably those intelligent observer, the ficelle, provides the best narrative point of view. of Henry, Alice, Garth, and Robertson, are psychoanalytic in nature, re- Alice is that ficelle for the Jameses. vealing important insights. While it is true that James family members According to a recent biography of William James, his wife, Alice Howe were frequently ill and depressed, not the least of them William, the group Sibbens, was central to his work. William James believed that one can- also had strengths, including humor and a great sensitivity to their cultur- not understand a philosophy unless one understands the philosopher's al milieu. In Alice's case it is not possible to write another psychoanalytic temperament. In his case, knowing his wife allows further understand- biography, given the wanton destruction of her and William's letters to ing of who he was. His philosophical theories postulate an overflow both one another. However, conclusions are possible concerning her character of empirical evidence and in the way we conceptualize reality. Part of the and her positioning within the family. She was so fundamentally sound overflow in his life was his close relationship with Alice, a relationship that she brought out the group's healthier qualities. that has not yet been fully explored The couple's extant letters to one an- Who was Alice Howe Gibbens, the woman who married William other, her many letters to her children, and Henry James's and sister Al- James?/An idealistic and fundamentally serious young woman, she was ice James's letters to her all show her key role in her marriage and in the uniquely suited to join this clan, as she brought psychological soundness James family She spent long evenings with her husband taking dictation and unshakeable personal convictions to her union with the Jameses. A and reading aloud, steadied him emotionally, provided a lively family life bright woman who lacked formal education beyond high school, she wel- that became a rich source for his renowned text The Principles of Psychol- comed the opportunity to expand her education through her immersion ogy, and encouraged him to investigate spirituality and religion William in William's philosophy and Henry's fiction She possessed a highly de- sometimes referred to her maturing intellect: she was always abreast of veloped ethical sense, derived from religious teachings (Congregational his evolving projects and a valued fellow reader. Current attention to him and Swedenborgian) and from antebellum America's antinomian, per- reveals the richness of his ideas, which Alice called his "Truth." She be- lectionist credos. All her life she followed the natural arc of nineteenth- lieved his work would someday change intellectual history, and her re- century humanitarian movements, many of them in support of have-nots. lentless drive for his success helped make that event come true. By age ten she was a devoted abolitionist; at age twenty-five a member of Not only does she cast light on William's daily life and his evolving Boston's Radical Club; in her thirties a supporter of the labor union strik- work, Alice holds a mirror up to the complex, brilliant James family. She CTS and anarchists involved in the Haymarket Square Riot; in her forties played it key role in facilitating the relationship between William and Hen- a Ian of liberal British prime minister William Gladstone; and during 1y, working steadily to keep them in touch with one another. The trian- her final years a committed supporter of Italian anarchists and accused gular relationship involving Henry, William, and Alice evades tradition- murderers Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, even visiting them in al binary oppositions, but it provides a rich vein for a biographer. After prison. Though over time she occasionally manifested elitist attitudes, she her husband's death she became an important friend for Henry. She had never completely gave up her commitment to social reform or her drive it loving, rewarding relationship with the aging Henry James Sr., a mi- to educate herself. A voracious reader all her life, when she was nearly not public figure in his day, and she supported the talented but troubled seventy she enrolled in nursing classes to prepare herself as an interna- youngest James brother, Robertson. Moreover, the letters between her and nonal humanitarian aid worker, a role she longed to assume. Her letters her sister in law Alice, today a feminist icon, suggest that the two women vividly illustrate her ongoing personal development and growth. While became valued friends, together illuminating William's character. Alice Alice I lowe Gibbens James followed nineteenth-century traditional paths xiv INTIUDUCTION INTHODHNTION XV of wife and mother, her story providing insight. into what 5111 li roles en ways I lei story is one of moral conviction, work, renuncia railed for upper middle-class women, within those boundaries she kept passion. the ascinating tale of a woman sometimes nearly celil' her humanitarian beliefs, which evolved as she encountered experiences, by these around her who retained enough of her own identity to scr finally acting upon them at the end of her life in pragmatic fashion. tale in In the autumn of 1907 William James gave a talk at This narrative focuses on Alice's daily life and her interactions with Harrand Annes, Raddiffe College. Alice was in the audience that d James family members, set against the backdrop of larger cultural and his- 10 lenry, by then her confidant, of her feelings. torical events: New England small-town life, the abolitionist movement, the Nicaragua passage, the California gold rush, Yankee occupation of 11. William Have a most exquisite little address to the Associ1 the South during the Civil War and the subsequent cotton fraud scandal, of college Alumnae at Radeliffe on the test of the higher educti expatriate life in Europe after the Civil War, the Haymarket Square Riot, power 10 know a good man when you see him." It was vi the Dreyfus case, Queen Victoria's funeral, the San Francisco earthquake, exquisitely formed. World War I, the Sacco and Vanzetti trial, and other seminal events. This I thought its I listened to him that it was the only test which [ha approach gives the James family and Alice greater historical resonance. directfully passed but perhaps I flatter myself and I wa j At times the story Alice tells conflicts with other accounts of the Jameses, burn with it vocation for Jameses! as for the most part I have presented events through her point of view. I mediate her view through other sources, however, including family cor- respondence and diaries, because many of her extant letters to her chil- dren present a generally optimistic view of events. Combining her in- sights with other sources and interpretations yields rich readings of Alice and this complex clan. Now that her letters are available to others, future scholars will be able to augment, verify, and further interpret these valu- able primary documents. Initially, I believed that Alice was victimized by the patriarchal values held by I lenry James Sr. and by his eldest son, William. But as I learned more about her and the critical role she played within the family, realized that she lost none of her own strength when she married. While a demand- ing husband and five children submerged her at times, she maintained her inner balance. By some lights she could be called an opportunist. She was relatively poor as a young woman, SO marrying into an upper-middle-class family gave her greater opportunity. In addition, the marriage allowed her a wider scope for refining and developing her ethical understanding, because she knew that William was a man of principle. And her marriage, though often stormy, was fulfilling. William James loved her passionately. Biographics, while factually based, are always stories, re-creations of what might have happened. There were stories all around Alice, stories of Jameses with blighted lives and Jameses whose genius revealed itself xvi INTHUMUNTION INTHUDHITION Alice prime Counts's sponses. Like Alice, he took these matters very seriously, but he Just before Hermann's death William had grown tired of the whole ed spiritualism differently than she did- a scientific spirit, he may hie business. In June 1885 he told his skeptical sister that he found his Ultimately, he wanted to find a middle way between religious investigations loathsome and intended to give them up the next winter and tific attitudes toward psychic phenomena.6 Through his mother- return to his work on The Principles of Psychology. 15 But now he continued : discovered a Boston medium (Leonora Piper, whose work he his research, which had taken on new urgency for Alice. She was desperate led for decades. She was a strikingly lovely woman, her beauty In reach her baby, by now an angel. Swedenborgians believe that angels art of her appeal.7 He saw her before Christmas 1885 and thought are very close to us, their physical being exchanged for a spiritual existence. honest; though he would have to pay her for her help, she was home angels even visit earth, according to Swedenborg. This conviction il for his research. sustained Alice. Until the end of her life she frequently participated in hearing of the medium through a friend or a friend's servant, Eliza solnees, trying to contact her lost ones. She believed that she could receive had attended one of Mrs. Piper's séances.9 Eliza was impressed messages from them with a medium's help. Ghosts and various psychic woman, who gave her many details about the Gibbens family, presences became important members of the James household. : her husband, Daniel Gibbens. Eliza told her daughters, and William's turn toward the spiritual realm started while he was writing em went immediately; then mother and daughter suggested that the Principles of Psychology, which was heavily influenced by contemporary and Alice see Mrs. Piper. When Alice and William attended, Mrs. work in behavioral psychology. In 1937 Horace Kallen, who had been Wil- ntioned a "Niblin" or "Giblin," words reminiscent of "Gibbens." liam's devoted student at Harvard, asserted that Alice's influence was far re also impressed. Not only did the woman hear from Niblin/ greater than anyone had yet acknowledged. He also notes that because of 10 uttered a variant of Hermann's name: Herrin. 10 Alice was sure Alice, William began to reflect his father's Swedenborgian spiritual beliefs, was calling to when from behind the gossamer curtain of eternity. all" 11 subconsciously. Reviewing Ralph Barton Perry's 1935 two-volume not been able to reach her child on her own, but this medium had biography of William James, Kallen disagrees with Perry's assessment of I him the first time Alice visited her. 11 Hearing this one name was Alue's role. "She was not only the exemplary wife and mother she 0 make her Mrs. Piper's disciple for the rest of her life. Years later exercised a very positive intellectual influence in her husband's life. I am ded to her friend Bessie Evans, "It did make me reconciled and in clined to believe that the unconscious redirection of William's thought si that one flash of light over the undiscovered country. toward that of Henry, the elder's would scarcely have gone so far as it did iper intuited just how effective communications concerning children without the conscious as well as continuous reaction upon it of Alice James; d dead) were to mothers. In one sitting she advised Alice on how to that role in the mutations of William's thought was far greater than that of ) Billy's tantrums, and later she alluded to Hermann's ghostly pres- many correspondents to whom Perry gives Chapters." Although Alice's ; Irving Street, the home where the Jameses lived after 1889, "how a sun I larry disagreed that her influence was purposeful, he was ashamed picking-chair creaked mysteriously." And after Mary and William of William's psychic research and might not have wanted to admit the aby, Eliza, died in 1889, Mrs. Piper sent messages from the child, importance both parents attached to it. It is plausible that Alice helped : that she died of diphtheria and that one of her last actions involved pressuade her husband to scrutinize the realm of the dead. During the with her father's knife. Mary Salter tried to recall whether she had winter of 1885-86 William, sometimes accompanied by colleague George , Mrs. Piper about the knife incident, finally deciding neither she Hubert Palmer, attended a number of Saturday "Cabinet Séances" at ister Margaret had mentioned it. She noted the grief that recalling NT Tiper's home on Pinckney Street. ZZy the summer of 1886 William 's death engendered. "And, indeed, my baby's illness is something hill summarized his investigations of her for the inaugural volume of ak of to 10 one. Time for me only adds to its pathos." Proceedings of the American Society for Psychical Research. 18 NEW DIRECTIONS G.I Palmer NEW DIRUTIUNS 03 In a séance participants try to communicate with the dead. The mediums levitate tables or exude ectoplasm, a viscous substance coming from the conducting the sessions claimed that strong light hindered communica- medium's Ibody, or engage in other dramatic practices, She was the right tion with these spirits, SO rooms were kept dark. (Thus, participants were medium for Alice, as Alice was too sensible to appreciate other worldly less likely to notice any suspect movements or actions.) Sometimes a voice histrionics.. Mrs. Piper became a lifeline for this bereaved mother. spoke through the medium, sometimes a ghostly apparition appeared. Communicants might hear music, or objects such as a table might move ( )n a starry night, Monday, 5 July 1886, Alice and William visited Her- for no apparent reason. Other means of reaching the other world included mann's grave. 24 From the knoll where their baby lay they could see the automatic writing or the use of a Ouija board. In these instances partici- distant Independence Day fireworks. Here, Alice could see new life where pants claimed they relinquished all voluntary muscle control. Their fingers it year before she had seen only death: the young pine tree was growing, were guided by the spirits, who then relayed messages, In The Principles of the barberries looked healthy, and the rosebushes bore white roses. The Psychology William deemed automatic writing the "lowest phase of me- couple renewed their marriage, which had been sorely tested by this loss. diumship." Twenty years later he judged it less harshly as "one example By August 1886 Alice knew that she was pregnant again. William had of a department of human activity as vast as it is enigmatic."20 made his way back into her bed, with the inevitable consequences. Skeptics took elaborate steps to expose the trickery practiced by un- The Jamies family went to Jaffrey, New Hampshire, again that summer scrupulous mediums Sometimes they conducted personal searches of to escape the heat of Cambridge. Alice's sister Mary and her husband came mediums, though William and his colleagues tried to avoid such embar- along, keeping Alice company when William left looking for land for a rassing procedures. Frequently, though, a medium's rooms were searched permanent summer retreat near Kittery Point, Maine. Aided by Harry, to see whether there might be secret openings in papered walls or carpeted Billy learned to make wooden boxes, both boys sawing and nailing. Perhaps floors. (In rented houses these searches were considered unnecessary, as because of all his activities in the fresh air, Billy was less prone to fits of it would be unlikely that the medium would alter someone else's house temper that summer. 25 By early August Alice told William, "Hopeful- to such an extent.)2 ness and youth have come back to us somehow. ","26 All summer, as she Mediums were frequently women who invoked male controls, spirits contemplatted her loss of the previous year, she continued her soft but who the mediums claimed dominated them and relayed messages from relentless piressure to persuade William to think about religion and the that other world. Mrs. Piper's control at that time was a French physi- deity who comforted her. cian, Dr. Phinuit, a loud, aggressive man who lectured participants on Finally, William announced to his wife, "I have really to take up with a morality. 22 Leonora Piper's popularity lasted for decades. William became new God, your God, who really is very different from my old one, and it is convinced that even if other mediums were fakes, she was honest-the ne asy thing to do right off. But with you for his prophet, what god would one white crow among all the black ones Later, in his 1896 presidential not prevail iin the long run." "27 This decision, made at Alice's behest, helped address to the Society for Psychical Research, he declared, "If you wish to shape the dirrection of his future work on religious experience. Nearly all upset the law that all crows are black, you mustn't seek to show that no his major works include a meditation on the "religious hypothesis," as he crows are; it is enough if you prove one single crow to be white. My own often called it. Alice probably envisioned a deity who combined Congre- white-crow is Mrs. Piper." "23 gational and Swedenborgian attributes, but whatever her vision was, her Many mediums used elaborate props to convince their clients of their husband sometimes took this deity under consideration. veracity. They played trumpets or bells, used red lights, placed chairs in Before I laavard's fall term started, William traveled to New Hampshire circles, sat in cabinets, anything to set an atmosphere conducive to seeing look for land. This time he went to Chocorua, village with a lake nearby and/or hearing spirits. Mrs. Piper, however, was subducd. She did not siled beneath the mountains. Nearby Mt. Chocorua was 3,500 feet high. 94 NEW DIRECTIONS NEW DIRECTIONS 95 iam had given him to buy shoes, he went 10 the village and got re- most Rosinanish outpourings and questionings with perfect respect." dingly drunk." 111 the end of I larry's visit, Uncle I lenry cherished his nephew. HM February brought Alice better news: William learned he had been elected e Edinburgh Gifford lectureship for 1000 1901. She was "delighted William left Cambridge at theyend of June for the Adirondacks, Stopping nd measure. I dream of it o' nights," she told I lenry. This was the at the I lotel Champlain on Lake Champlain, he enclosed a poem in his pination of years of hard work for both Jameses. William's faith WHIN letter to Alice. William must have read it on the train, because a railroad fied, while Alice saw her skepticism defeated. Perhaps her husband is on the back of the page. He did not write sentimental right in exhorting people to take a chance on faith. love letters, but he let the poem speak for him. he year went well for the children, too. Harry passed all his entrance is and gained early admission to Harvard, where he later became edi= Puella Aestivalis I I larvard's student newspaper, the Crimson. Billy was a well-liked, Through various kinds of summer weather- tie teenager who painted for hours on end, and Peggy was a precocious, I lot, humid, cold and dry- us girl who loved her parents. Francis Tweedy existed contentedly in We walked and sailed and swam together, wn world. Imitating his older brother Billy, he tried to paint. A busy, My summer girl and I. ig eight year old who adored animals and the outdoors, he disliked Ali me! II was a pleasant season: ol. I lis name had metamorphosed from Francis Tweedy to Francis Bill I did not regret erison in 1803 and now to John Robertson, though this latest change When autumn came - for this good reason not the final one. His family continued to call him Francis. Alice that summer's with me yet. d with the deaths of friends and a happier event, her youngest sister Por summer sunshine round her hovers garet's marriage to McGill University professor Leigh Gregor.49 Through winter's frost and snow, uring the summer of 1898 Alice sent her eldest, Harry, now nineteen, And I "cut out" a score of lovers, ngland to visit his uncle Henry, accompanied by her sister Margaret, And won her, years ago. ' was eager for Harry to come to know his famous uncle better. Harry a model young man, nearly too good to be true. George Browne, the Not long after arriving at camp, William hiked Mt. Marcy carrying master of the Cambridge preparatory academy, Browne and Nichols, an ighteen pound pack in pursuit of Pauline Goldmark and her young d Alice what she had done to turn out a youth like Harry James: ""I In mls her brother Charles, Waldo Adler, and a few others. He started always wanted to find out what you did to Harry to put him ahead our that morning at seven, engaging a guide to help him carry his things, 11 did. I larry kept a detailed diary of his visit; from it the portrait but he let the guide carry only the girls' baggage, shouldering a heavy very organized and occasionally self-righteous young man emerges. Inal hmmself. I water in her life Alice could not forgive Pauline for letting ad not seen his uncle since the summer of 1893, and his first impres- William this. The group walked for five hours to the top of Mt. Marcy : were negative ones. "I doubt myself how much Uncle 11. cares for I am beginning to think that he is naturally, socially rather duller Parted by the exercise, "the influences of Nature, the wholesomeness less genial than I thought. He knows it all SO that I can't tell him of the people round me, especially the good Pauline, the thought of you hing (about my impressions of England etc.)." As the visit wore on, and the children, dear I larry on the wave, the problem of the Edinburgh y understood his complicated uncle better. When Uncle I lenry was lectimes all fermented within me till it became a regular Walpurgis nacht," to his "limited" cousin Rosina, I larry noted, "Uncle I lenryl treated William wrote to Alice." Unable to sleep, he wandered in the woods, where 11 THE WILL TO INDURE THE WILL TO INDURE 161 he was overwhelmed by pure sensation, by the immediacy of his own ex- During the spring of 1800 William reached another critical junctu periences. This manic episode, similar to states of elevated consciousness hail one year left to prepare the Gifford Lectures, but Alice knew tl he had felt before, was followed by a crash. The next morning he hiked would not give the lectures unless he rested. Cambridge physician St up the rest of the mountain, walking over ten hours in all. le lost his Duser assured her that William would do well with care. She rea jacket and arrived finally, exhausted, at a bathhouse owned by Charles that she would have to enforce a healthful regime, as her husband - Bowditch When Alice heard of his experience she imagined disaster." 1111 follow one on his own. They would go to Europe a year ahead She was right he had damaged his heart. times so that William could regain the strength to finish them As Alice began to understand what had happened to her husband, accompanying him abroad meant Alice must leave the rest of her f more trouble came. She and William learned Bob had been drunk nearly behind. She had to choose, and she chose her husband and his wor constantly while at Dansville, despite his VOWS to reform and his letters had invested SO heavily in his career. The Gifford Lectures would claiming sobriety. He still wrote to Alice; she seemed to have a positive world wracked by Darwinism, skepticism, and agnosticism that influence on him. William realized what a drain Bob was and apologized will possible. She knew that William was a genius, but that v that marriage had exposed her "to such an odious infliction." enough. Genius only reveals itself under certain circumstances, a All the while coping with William and Bob, Alice maintained her vital to Alice to nurture this genius back to health so that he wa interest in world conflicts. "Today I have been quiet, almost idle," she though to complete his work. wrote Harry. "I spent a long time over the Sunday Herald, the world has Vice and William decided to leave Harry and Billy in college at Ha grown SO intensely interesting. The Dreyfus tragedy grows more and more with Eliza Gibbens nearby. Both the older boys would work that sur horrible. The story of sickness & neglect of our soldiers is worse and worse. in Washington territory's Olympic Mountains, returning for Har How can Alger look these sick men in the face! But a rumor comes that "II" ming. when Billy would matriculate. The two younger children y Kartoum has fallen, and that is magnificent. But before this letter reaches will with them to Europe and board with the Cérésoles at Vevey. Fi you all these thrilling subjects will have entered new phases."9 though, William convinced Alice to leave Francis Tweedy/John Rob Time for her political interests remained limited, though: her husband's with his grandmother and take only Peggy abroad. They would health had become her desperate concern. Later that same year William.gave his 111 Vevey while William took the baths at Bad Nauheim in Ger a lecture at the University of California at Berkeley entitled "Philosophical and later find an English school for her, with Henry as her resource Conceptions and Practical Results," which set forth his developing theories ing school holidays. These decisions were the most wrenching Alice of pragmatism. 94 But when he hiked in the high Sierra, he strained his heart made Although Francis was too young to understand the import further. He lay awake all night on 21 November, a fierce storm pounding patents leave-taking, she would miss him desperately. "William - outside and his heart beating. By Thanksgiving he confessed to a friend to leave Francis with Mother," she explained to Henry. "There are that while his heart bothered him, he would not be governed by his condi- reasons why it is advisable SO I have made up my mind to do it, but tion. He consulted three doctors, one of them Dr. James Jackson Putnam, like accreature walking in a dream, the child has been so depende his Keene Valley camping friend, and all three heard a heart murmur. Peggy would be on her own, beginning her adolescence as a V Although William tried to conceal his poor condition, Alice saw Putnam uphan. herself: something was amiss. He told her that William had sustained heart Before she left, Alice and her mother took one last trip to Weym damage, but he assured her that with proper care the slight murmur would ling by three different electric cars. She was pleased to see her o pose no major problems. "But was ever a man born of woman harder to hould home again, reporting her visit 10 I larry. "The Weymouth h take care of than William!" she moaned to I lenry." hold is very attractive. Poor Sam is there, patient and unexpectant 162 THE WILL TO ENDURE T111 WILL TO ENDUR as clean and tidy as of old. Everything about him disarms criticism."98 Next, she took Francis to Mary and Mack Salter's summer home, Hill Top, near Chocorua, and said good-bye there. Alice and Mary allowed him to have a hen, and William had given him a female Boston terrier before he left, which Francis wanted even more. By now Alice was near collapse herself. While Alice made her good-byes William further damaged his heart, again while hiking on Mt. Marcy. He reached the summit, but, coming down, he descended into the Johns Brook Valley rather than taking the Lodge trail, spending seven hours hiking instead of three. As a result he had a bad dilatation of his heart, with severe chest symptoms after the least exertion. Upon her return to Cambridge Alice worked fifteen hours a day and ate very little but remained in good spirits, though two days before they left she had a headache. ¹00 Just before her departure she told Henry, "The break-up is solemn. No more Sunday suppers with the large table full of young folks - and such dear boys! I am haunted with an old trouble of mine, what you call the 'prevision of retrospect.""! 101 But she loved her husband SO much that she was willing to accept anything other than losing him. As she prepared to leave she dreamed that they were old and poor, their children gone long ago. She struggled to prepare a meager meal in a dingy tenement room, trying to make it seem like home. "When you came in it did I have felt today as if I really was your wife,-sealed - to you as the Mormons say. "102 When Alice, William, and Peggy were ready to leave 95 Irving Street, Eliza Gibbens came to bid them farewell. She said good-bye at their gate and then walked slowly up the steps of her own home at number 107, her head bowed. 103 During the next two years she would know her daughter only through letters. 16.1 THE WILL TO ENDURE heart bothered him intermittently, though he still had little trouble walk- their daughter's wedding in 1907, but in the fall of 1909, when he started ing. 60 60 By late April he wanted to go back to Bad Nauheim-anything drinking heavily again, she left for Europe. 72 The week after Christmas to help him feel better. 61 He occasionally lost his temper, and Alice still Alice had just half a headache. 73 suffered from headaches. ²² With the new year and at work on a new book, William felt a bitbetter, The summer of 1909 seemed remarkably like other summers, though due, he thought, to the lymph injections. 74 That January Alice planned a it was marked by a poignancy that William's summers at Chocorua and celebration to commemorate his work at Harvard and to unveil epor- Keene Valley might soon end. While he still took an active interest in trait that friends and former students had commissioned from a successful the farm affairs, looking for a mare and finding a new hired man, even portraitist, William's cousin Bay Emmet. At the banquet on 18 January taking part in the haying in July, he was not well. 63 He started the lymph GBD the portrait was presented to Harvard's new president, Abbott Lawrence injections again, although this treatment had never helped him. 64 Despite Lowell 75 William called the event "an Erckmann-Chatrian feast" after William's poor health, a strong physical bond still existed between the the feasts in the books of French writers Émile Erckmann and Louis- Jameses. William told her, "[I] long to have you in our lowly cots with no Alexandre Chatrian, whose tales contain vivid and realistic descriptions of disturbing presence for a while, but our mutual selves.' "65 He still desired Alsatian peasant life. The event, held for twenty-two men, was an artistic Alice, who remained heavy despite her attempts at dieting. He confided achievement for Alice. All four children helped her stage the dinner. Peggy in Henry, "Her weight seems inalterable." But he told her she always decorated three tables in the library, where the guests ate by candleight. looked pretty when she met him, and she still missed him when he left. 7 Billy broiled brant (small geese) he had caught in New Brunswick over the The Jameses tried to balance their moments of romance with the practical furnace fire, Aleck carried them upstairs, and Harry carved them Several details of their lives, but those details again overwhelmed them. William guests spoke, lauding William's long and distinguished career 76 thought it might be time to sell the Chocorua property. When opening After the banquet William traveled to Concord to see Bob's medium, up the house for the summer, he was discouraged to find that the water Frank Foss. Bob had gone to some lengths to prove Foss's veracity, running closet bowl had broken: a new one might cost $18. 68 checks and cross-checks on him until he was convinced he was honest, but William still suspected fraud.77 By the fall of 1909, despite the summer at his two loved retreats, William In February Alice entertained two of Henry's closest friends, Sir George was no better, showing further signs of physical deterioration. Ignoring the and Margaret Frances "Fanny" Prothero.78 Sir George edited the Quar- advice of a homeopathic doctor, James Taylor, not to walk, he thought if telly Review, while lively Irish-born Fanny was Henry's Rye neighbor he walked slowly enough, he could do no damage. "Taylor said I mustn't and companion, helping him with household management and nursing walk! 'Store up energy," etc. Fudge!" In entries in late October 1909 Wil- him through various health crises. The two women made fast friends liam noted, "Decided symptoms of nervous prostration all day." Then on during the couple's weeklong visit. William liked Sir George but did not 25 October, "Dreadful angina on going to bed." Despite his symptoms appreciate Fanny as his wife did.79 Alice adored her. Their bond came Alice could not induce him to relax. He was sleepless many nights, and he from their shared devotion to Henry; the British woman brought the also suffered from dyspnea, a breathing difficulty caused by his angina. 70 litest news of the writer. In November he tried a Christian Science treatment.? I Despite his poor health, William did not give up his psychic investiga- On Christmas Day, 1909, Alice hosted Robertson James and the 107 lions, partly to satisfy his own never-quelled curiosity and partly tohelp Irving Street Gibbenses for dinner. Bob's wife, Mary, had just announced Alice contact loved ones. That year the Jameses held sittings at 95 Irving she was leaving him, SO Alice and William would again have Bob on Street for the renowned Italian medium Eusapia Palladino. Whileshe their hands. Mary and Bob had lived together in Concord again after deceived many noted scientists during her career, before her death I larvard NUMBER'S IND SUMMER'S July 1900, WI. "Diary, 1000," 11 MS Am 1002.0(1558). Cammon's burning the papers offers another interpretation of earlier vie 65. W) to AHGJ, 11 June 110/00, Correspondence, 12:263. that James Inmuted correspondence and papers in the throes of his depress 66. WJ to 11), 27 February 1010, Correspondence, 3412 Felel claimed that James burned papers to protect his privacy and possible 67. ALS, WJ to AHGJ, 20 June 1909, 11 bMS Am 1002.0 (2451); future inquiries into his life. The truth may lie somewhere in between, as 1909|, Correspondence, 12:264. there is little doubt that HJ was depressed at the time. 68. WJ to AHGJ, 17 June /19/09, Correspondence, 12:268. 92. ALS, HJ to AHGJ, 9 November 1909, H bMS Am 1094 (1693). 69. ALS, WJ to AHGJ, 14 June 1909, H bMS Am 1092.9 (2447). 93. ALS, HJ to AHGJ, 9 December 1909, H bMS Am 1094 (1691). 70. Allen, William James, 469-70. 94. ALS, HJ to AHGJ, 25 May 1909, H bMS Am 1094 (1692). 71. 9 November 1909, WJ, "Diary, 1909," H bMS Am 1092.9 (4558). 95. ALS, HJ to AHGJ, 15 February 1910, H bMS Am 1094 (1695). 72. 12 December 1909, WJ, "Diary, 1909," H bMS Am 1092.9 (4558). See Maher, 96. ALS, WJ to MMJ, 13 February 1910, H bMS Am 1092.9 (3101). Biography of Broken Fortunes, 191, for a discussion of this episode. 97. WJ to HJ, 4 February 1910, Correspondence, 3:408. 73. 28 December 1909, WJ, "Diary, 1909," H bMS Am 1092.9 (4558). 98. ALS, [February 1910], WJ to MMJ, H bMS Am 1092.9 (3102). 74. 31 January 1910, WJ, "Diary, 1910," H bMS Am 1092.9 (4559). 99. WJ to HJ, 27 February 1910, Correspondence, 3:413n. 75 WJ to HJ, 4 February 1910, Correspondence, 3:408. 100. HJ to AHGJ & WJ, 4 March 1910, Correspondence, 3:413. 76, ALS, AHGJ to HJ, 6 February 1910, H bMS Am 1092.11 (47). 101. HJ to AHGJ and WJ, 4 March 1910, Correspondence, 3:414. 77. 23 January 1910, WJ, "Diary, 1910," H bMS Am 1092.9 (4559). 102. ALS, AHGJ to HJ, 13 March 1910, H bMS Am 1092.11 (50). 78. See Gunter, Dear Munificent Friends, 189-93, for further information on Mrs. 103. HJ to WJ, 15 March [1910], Correspondence, 3:417. Prothero. 104. Henry James, "The Jolly Corner," in The Altar of the Dead, The Beast in t 79. WJ to HJ, 18 February 1910, Correspondence, 3:411. Jungle, The Birthplace, and Other Tales (London: Macmillan, 1922), 389. 8o. ALS, AHGJ to HJ, 16 February 1910, bMS Am 1092.11 (49); ALS, WJ to MMJ, 13 February 1910, H bMS Am 1092.9 (3101). 15. LAST THINGS 81. Josiah Royce, "The Search for Truth," n.d., bMS Am 1092.9 (4592). 1. WJ to HJ, II March 1910, Correspondence, 3:415. 82. James II, The Letters, 2:287. 2. ALS, AHGJ to HJ II, 17 March 1910, H MS Am 2538. 83. Herman H. Spitz, "Contemporary Challenges to William James's White 3. HJ to AHGJ & WJ, 15 March [1910], Correspondence, 3:418. Crow," Skeptical Inquirer 28, no. I (2004): 53. 4. 22 March 1910, WJ, "Diary, 1910," H bMS Am 1092.9 (4559). 84. For further information on Mrs. Piper and her methods see Martin Gardner, 5. HJ to AHGJ & WJ, 15 March [1910], Correspondence, 3:417. "How Mrs. Piper Bamboozled William James," in Are Universes Thicker than 6. HJ to AHGJ & WJ, 15 March [1910], Correspondence, 3:418. Blackberries? (New York: W. W. Norton, 2003), 252-61. 7. ALS, WJ to MMJ, 13 April [1910], H bMS Am 1092.9 (3105). 85. Theodora Bosanquet (1880-1961) worked for HJ for years. She later wrote a 8. ALS, AHGJ to EPG, 19 April 1910, H bMS Am 1092.11 (14). book about him, Henry James at Work (1924), based on the diary entries she 9. Emanuel Swedenborg, Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Love and to made during her time with him. She also published other texts. She was a Divine Wisdom (New York: Swedenborg Foundation, 1988). member of the Society for Psychical Research, whose journal she edited. 10. ALS, 19 April 1910, WJ to MMJ [dictated to AHGJ], H bMS Am 1092.9 (31( 86. Autographed typescript, Theodora Bosanquet to HJ II, 23 January 1910, H 11. ALS, AHGJ to EPG, 19 April 1910, H bMS Am 1092.11 (14). bMS Am 1094 (1373); 4 February 1910, WJ, "Diary, 1910," H bMS Am 1092.0 12. ALS, AHGJ to WJ Jr., 22 April 1910, H MS Am 2538. (4559). 13. ALS, AHGJ to WJ Jr., 22 April 1910, H MS Am 2538. 87. 9 February 1910, WJ, "Diary, 1910," H bMS Am 1092.9 (4559). 14. ALS, AHGJ to WJ Jr., 22 April 1910, H MS Am 2538. 88. WJ to HJ, 4 February 1910, Correspondence, 3:407. 15. WJ to AHGJ, 7 May [1910], Correspondence, 12:498. 89. ALS, AHGJ to HJ, 6 February 1910, H bMS Am 1092.11 (47). 16. WJ to AHGJ, |6 May 1910], Correspondence, 12:496. 90. ALS, WJ to AHGJ, I September |19|00, H bMS Am 1092.0 (2457). 17. WJ to AHGJ, May 1910, Correspondence, 12:502. 91. Novick, Henry James: The Mature Master, 463. Novick's account of 18. WJ to AHGJ, 12 May 1910, Correspondence, 12:513. 388 NOTES TO PAGES 255-261 NOTES TO PAGES 252 255 1-24-20 See Proceeding of the America Sorrel for Psychical Research vol. 3, pts 1-2 (1909) (avartable Hathitrust org. "The Report of Mrs. Piper's Hodgeon Central" by William Janes fee Part 2, section 2- - "The Old Form Series" Su Part 2, sector 3 " The Owlo Head feres Index lists Darr Pp. 484 490-1,497,501, 511-520, 532,551 Rifto 532 concern Prof. R.J.R. Newbods Book Reviews 215 Easter Rising in Ireland, and the revolution in Russia. The book covers the war itself and its military dimensions without getting into too much tactical detail. Some of the major battles and campaigns are introduced to the reader via specialized text boxes that ensure that the war itself never fades from the narrative. Each text box includes the location of the battle in question; the dates it was fought; the objectives for the attacking side; a synopsis; a list of casualties; an assessment of the outcome; and, crucially, eyewitness remarks from Americans who were present at the scene. As one would expect in a collection from the Library of Congress, the book Is lavishly illus- trated. It contains 250 illustrations from the library's impressive collection, many of them never before published. They include photographs of famous (and not SO famous) people of the time, political cartoons, and, of course, some of the emotional propaganda posters for which the era is SO well known. In place of specially designed maps, the book relies on maps made by contempo- raries, some of them rudimentary, but their simplicity is part of their power. The book serves as a kind of companion to the excellent exhibit of documents and artifacts displayed by the Library (full disclosure: I was an advisor to that project). The text tries as far as possible to show the debates and disagreements running through American society from the Gilded Age through the 1920s. The war's opponents and doubters get their fair share of attention, but the book also shows the generally negative response from the American people toward anti-war groups like the Industrial Workers of the World. One political cartoon shows the letters IWW forming the nose and chin of Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II. This balance is important, as is the highlighting of the debate that never stopped over the war, doubts about the wisdom of entering it, and the aims Americans had for the post-war world. An epilogue covers the rather surprising end of the war, as most experts were predicting (and planning for) a war that would last into 1919 or even 1920. Suddenly, the United States found itself facing what journalist Ray Stannard Baker, Woodrow Wilson's press secretary at the Paris Peace Conference, called "a plastic state." The American peoplè did not come close to agreeing on exactly how to shape that world now that the war was over. But Wagner makes clear that there were other problems to solve as well, like rehabilitating disabled soldiers, the racial tensions that exploded across the country in 1919, and a wave of labor unrest. Scholars will find much to debate and disagree with in the details the book presents. By neces- sity, a book like this cannot go into great detail on any single aspect of the war But this book is meant to be a survey and is best read as such. It includes a guide to World War One sources at the library (many of which are online) and a comprehensive bibliography. A prologue from Prof. David Kennedy sets the stage for what he calls "a uniquely colorful chronicle of this dramatic and convulsive chapter in American history." It is with pleasure that I agree with his assessment. This book will be especially welcome for public libraries and high schools, although even special- ists in this period will want to consult it for the images and documents that the volume presents. THE IMPORTANCE OF PSYCHICAL RESEARCH TO WILLIAM JAMES KNAPP, KRISTER D. William James: Psychical Research and the Challenge of Modernity. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2017. 400 pp. $39.95 (paper), ISBN 978-1-4696- 3124-0. REVIEWED BY JUSTIN TYLER CLARK, Nanyang Technological University The Journal If the Gilded age and Progressive Eaa. Vol. 17 (2018). doi: 10.1017/S1537781417000743 216 Book Reviews From the late 1880s to World War I, the author tells us, "the future of psychology was open, uncertain, and contested" (11). Nothing illustrates the unsettled state of the discipline in those years more than the willingness of some of its most prominent American and European practition- ers to seriously study telepathy, clairvoyance, table-rappings, spirit communications, and other "non-normal" phenomena. Yet intellectual historians have tended to dismiss William James's interest in these subjects as marginal to his more serious achievements as a psychologist and phi- losopher. In pursuit of more "legitimate" topics such as James's pragmatism and scientific empir- icism, these scholars have interpreted his psychical research as symptomatic of a near-pathological open-mindedness or his anti-modernism (a contradictory pair of charges, one might note). Through an exhaustive study of James's references to psychical research in his publications, private corre- spondence, and diaries, Knapp sets out to demonstrate that the philosopher's investigation of the supernormal was in fact central to his intellectual disposition. Moreover, James's psychical research was conducted on a rigorously scientific basis, albeit one that would fall outside the hard- ening boundaries of metaphysics, psychology, and psychiatry in the post-WWI Knapp's study is thus explicitly a study of James's work, and implicitly, a broader investigation of the boundaries of science at the end of the nineteenth century. While the statistical and stenographic methods of psychical research were new, their object was as old as the modern Spiritualist movement. James, along with the London-based Society for Psy- chical Research (SPR) and its American affiliate, waded in the 1880s into a debate that had polar- ized intellectuals since mid-century. On one end of that debate lay Spiritualists seeking evidence of the afterlife in the study of séances. On the other end lay debunkers hoping to unmask the same phenomena as hoaxes, as well as "tough-minded" empirical psychologists who refused to investi- gate the phenomena at all. James differed from both groups in conceptualizing psychical experi- mentation according to what Knapp calls a "tertium quid" approach. This approach emphasized process over results, demanded an attitude of open-mindedness on the part of researchers, and rejected the very notion of static universal laws In many respects the tertium quid seems to resemble pragmatism, a philosophy that views science as a tool of our contingent purposes, rather than as a body of absolute knowledge about what exists. It comes a surprise then to learn that "psychical research does not seem to have been significantly related to [James'] pragmatism or radical empiricism" (5). Yet the distinction receives little elaboration; pragmatism is mentioned only a handful of times Thus, "the first ana- lytical and contextualized history of James's psychical research" confines its analysis within a context some readers will find unnecessarily narrow: James's psychical research itself (4). The first chapter of the study offers a tightly focused intellectual biography of James as future psychical researcher, speculating about his early exposure to the séances and psychic demonstrations his family's nonconformist social circle attended in mid-nineteenth-century New York City. The next two chapters detail James's affinities with fellow members of the SPR, as well as the more mundane details of the society's finances and public relations strategy In these early chapters, Knapp makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the SPR as an institution. But it is not until the second half of the study, when Knapp shifts from associa- tional history to the history of ideas, that his arguments come fully into focus. Perhaps the most intriguing element of James's thought that Knapp illuminates is the philosopher's reconciliation of fideism (justification of belief by faith) with scientific empiricism. Earlier fideists had insisted that faith could supersede rationality, or more modestly, serve as rationality's starting point. James's innovation was to insist that rationality itself constituted a form of sentiment; it was the pleasant feeling of resolution one achieved after a thorough examination of evidence that confirmed the investigator had arrived at a rational conception. And precisely because psychic research required investigators to interrogate their own subjective perceptions and beliefs as part of the investigation itself, psychical research offered a perfect opportunity for James to formulate and test this theory of belief. Unfortunately for psychical research, and perhaps for science itself, Book Reviews 217 American experimental psychology would soon discard subjective evidence as unusable, abandon- ing fideism to philosophers and theologians. At its best, William James: Psychical Research and the Challenge of Modernity succeeds in drawing out resonances between James's psychical research and his philosophical reconciliation of antinomies such as fideism and empiricism. It is a challenge to identify which came first, the philosophy or the psychical research, and the author wisely avoids doing SO. Knapp does, however, offer a clear account of the connections between James's psychical research and his com- position of The Principles of Psychology (1890). After lucidly sketching out the various American and European approaches to psychology within the period, Knapp demonstrates how James, in distinction from the mainstream of the psychiatric profession, understood mediumistic phenomena as non-pathological and widespread. According to Knapp, James resisted drawing any conclusions about the true nature of medium- istic phenomena until the final decade or SO of his career. At that point, James embraced a "cosmic reservoir" theory, in which fragmented traces of consciousness, rather than coherent souls, survived the death of the individual, and sometimes transmitted themselves like radio waves to the receiving medium. As implausible as many readers will find this theory, its incorporation of emerging communication technologies and new ideas of consciousness debunks the view of James as anti-modern, and supports Knapp's thesis. In any case, in documenting the sheer amount of thought and energy that James gave to psychical research, Knapp's richly researched study obliterates any lingering misconception that the subject was marginal to James's career. Finally, it suggests intriguing if understated connections between James's scientific practice and philoso- phy for the next comprehensive biographer of James to build upon. The Society for Psychical Research I 882-1982 A HISTORY Renée Haynes MACDONALD & CO LONDON & SYDNEY Acknowledgements Foreword T he author and publishers would like to thank the Society for T hough Jane Austen said that history should always be Psychical Research for permission to quote from its Journal and written by a partial, passionate and prejudiced historian, it Proceedings. These quotations and all others are also acknowl- could reasonably be felt that these are not really the qualities edged in the text. needed to deal with the records and the development of a century- old learned Society. Still, no one is without them; and the historian Much gratitude is also due to the Society's Secretary, Eleanor can best discount their influence on what he has written by stating O'Keeffe, for her constant generous help with detailed references and what they are. After that, to adapt the legal maxim a little, Caveat small essential items of information, and its Librarian, Nicholas lector; let the reader beware. Clark-Lowes. I should moreover like to thank my kind typist Miss I shall try, therefore, to make plain - as far as I am conscious of Caroline Clayson for coping with my handwriting and with my them - just where my own partialities, prejudices and passions lie. afterthoughts SO patiently and efficiently over the last five years. They are all in favour of careful objective observation, all against dismissing reported events as impossible 'because they cannot Thanks, too, to all the people who have talked over the themes of happen'; a very common practice among distinguished persons who this book with me - and are not responsible for the use I have made have been trained to exclude 'irrelevant' considerations from their of their remarks. I remember with love Rosalind Heywood, construc- reasoning, to cultivate a kind of tunnel vision that can only follow tive, sympathetic but by no means always in agreement in our happy discussions. the headlights of the intellectual car they are driving along a road mapped out in accordance with preconceived ideas. That 'Geographers on pathless downs Put elephants for want of towns' is rightly to be condemned; but it is wrong to lump in with them those earlier cartographers who inscribed on certain regions 'Here be dragons' (giant lizards, as at Komodo? the skeletons of prehistoric saurians?), inscriptions which ought surely to inspire the explorer to go and see for himself. viii The Society for Psychical Research Foreword ix The habit of rejecting the unfamiliar, disguising intellectual sloth not only in themselves, but in their reactions to different backgrounds as a strict desire for truth has of course a very long history indeed. To and people. This is why it is SO difficult to produce the 'replicable look back no more than a century or so: in the era of philosophic experiments' so often demanded. Humans are individuals, conscious rationalism - or rationalization - Hume rejected first-hand accounts selves, each one of them unique; and it is useless to assume that they of what would now be called psychosomatic cures at the Cemetery of can be treated as units of awareness all equally endowed - or not Saint-Médard because, he said, these were miracles, and the laws of endowed - with paranormal faculties all working at the same rate in nature showed that miracles could not happen. In the early Victorian the same way, SO that if you only test enough of them you will get age experts who wanted to dismiss the fact that hypnosis could exactly the same results wherever, and whenever, and by whomsoever inhibit awareness of pain argued that a patient under hypnotic the tests are carried out. There are, inevitably, too many variables. anaesthesia had shown no sign of discomfort while his leg was being Nevertheless I am sure that quantitative experiments can contri- sawn off, quite simply because be bad been paid not to scream. Later on, bute much to psychical research - those with the plethysmograph, as Brian Inglis has shown in his delightful Natural and Supernatural, described in chapter 8, have certainly done SO - SO long as they are French experts argued, when the telephone was first demonstrated to carried out by people who keep in mind that 'the time, the place and them, that the demonstrator had had a ventriloquist hidden under the loved one' may produce one result where a different time and the table. place and person may well produce another. A laboratory at ten in I am also, personally, more disposed to accept the evidence for the morning, with a detached and unfamiliar figure operating paranormal events given by ordinary reputable well-balanced eye incomprehensible machinery is not always good at evoking faculties witnesses, by anthropologists, by historians and by lawyers accus- rooted in the process of keeping alive as an individual or as a species, tomed to weighing testimony than that yielded by prolonged large- and in primordial emotions. scale experiments and evaluated by statistical methods, useful as 'Partiality, prejudice and passion' probably have much to do with these procedures can be. This is not only because I am what is what I have called¹ - by analogy with the pain threshold which disdainfully labelled in some circles 'an Arts type', and because my varies SO much from one individual to another - the Boggle own mind is not a mathematical one and my own inclination is to Threshold; the level above which the mind boggles when faced by agree with Disraeli's remarks as to "Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics' some new fact or report or idea. That of the academic is usually fairly (to which one might now add Computers, whose results can be SO low: that of various Californian sects tends to be pretty high. My successfully fiddled by experts such as the gentleman who was own boggle threshold is fairly high, calmly acceptant, where reports discovered by the merest accident a year or two ago to have of telepathy, precognition and poltergeist outbreaks are concerned, transferred, ingeniously and painlessly, sums from various bank since all of them have been observed so often and in SO many parts accounts to his own). of the world throughout the centuries (and probably because I have My preference for spontaneous cases arises also from a conviction personally come across all three). It drops sharply, however, when that paranormal faculties are best studied in the context of ecology presented with concepts such as ectoplasm, materialization and - the natural setting of time and place and interacting circumstance reincarnation, and reacts with violence to the use of esoteric language, in which they arise - rather than in the laboratory; and that if they whether of the respectable, highly technical variety best known as are also to be examined in scientific terms, such terms should be Computerisch - all too often used as a status symbol - or of the sort those of the life sciences, such as biology and physiology, rather than concerned with 'vibes', higher planes and undefined 'auras'. (I once those of physics. This is because they emerge in living beings, and met a woman who was flying to the west coast of America to have the more highly organized those beings are, the more they will vary, her 'torn aura' repaired by some guru expert in invisible mending, I. London, 1977. I. Cf Encounter, August/September 1980. The Society for Psychical Research Foreword xi and longed to know if it were going to be darned, patched or glued, if they choose to do scientific work, to use the abstract mode alone and what with.) and, often implicitly, to despise the rest. This second kind of idiom, the language neither of science, nor of Grey Walter pleaded that each group should be induced to intuition, nor of every day, is apt to expand into such totally recognize the other's way of thinking as perfectly valid and urged to meaningless sentences as 'Pure consciousness is the essence of pure learn it, as an alternative language of the mind. The importance of nature and manifests itself as infinite correlation blocking out his argument for theologians and philosophers, iconoclasts and negative thought'. If you go to a fair you can see how a very small devotees, mathematicians and writers, is obvious. It is equally dollop of pink sugar can bubble in the vendor's machine into a vast important in the work of the Society for Psychical Research. This is fluff of candy floss - and taste how a mouthful reduces itself to no not incidentally highly centralized and monolithic, but is carried more than a faint metallic tang on the palate. This particular idiom out by individuals or small groups. I have tried to concentrate on is best compared to curried candy floss. I have mentioned it because that work itself rather than on the different ways of approach to it; I am allergic to it and probably unfair to those who use it. but they need to be recognized. Moreover, it is not only members of I have tried to write a history of the Society's work and achievements what used to be called the Two Cultures who are liable to disagree rather than of its members themselves and their interactions, explosive with one another. Personal, social, ethical and political differences, as these have sometimes been. All this must be taken as part of the different culture patterns, and above all different and unquestioned nature of things in an association of sharp and lively minds from assumptions will provoke misunderstanding. And those of different different backgrounds. The Society has always included scientists of faiths or none Agnostics and Atheists, Buddhists, Christians, Jews, various disciplines, philosophers, writers and painters, technicians and Muslims, Spiritualists, Theosophists, Unitarians and SO down the business men, clerics, doctors of medicine (and other subjects), the alphabet possibly to Zenists and Zoroastrians - will consciously or tough-minded, the tender-minded and the open-minded, detached unconsciously relate their findings to their beliefs; sometimes to the observers and zealots for this or that point of view. Man is a political enrichment of both, sometimes to the impoverishment of one or the animal, and every human group must contain people sympathetic or other, especially if an easy and misleading reductionism is involved. unsympathetic to one another, people conditioned to work in different On the whole, though, there can be a stimulus to thought, and to ways, people painfully aware of how fast academic attitudes may new modes of understanding perennial ideas. It must always be degenerate into pedantry, how soon acceptance may decay into credul- remembered however that no research of any kind can be a religion; ity, people whoeven think in different modalities, as that distinguished certainly not psychical research. It is an exploration, a continual member not long dead, Dr W. Grey Walter, Head of Research at the attempt to consider the workings of the psi function and what it Burden Neurological Institute at Bristol, pointed out in his Eddington implies about the complex nature of reality in general and about the Memorial Lecture for 19681. This should be read by all who have to deal interaction of mind and body in particular. with ferocious arguments and fundamental misunderstandings past or Last of all: I am conscious all the time of how much I have had to present. He pointed out that some people think-a he did himself-in omit, to sketch briefly rather than to explore in depth, to indicate terms of sensory imagery, colour, shape, texture for instance, while rather than to discuss. I can only plead in mitigation that this book others (many of them scientists, as Galton pointed out long ago) think could have taken ten years to write and ten volumes to print. Even in an almost entirely abstract way. so, there have been times when the process seemed like trying to Those at either end of a very broad spectrum may wholly fail to reduce the primeval soup whence life on earth evolved into a packet grasp one another's modes and sequences of thought. Those in the of Oxo cubes. I have tried to indicate my own preferences so that you middle, so to speak, who are able to use both are specifically taught, may make allowances for them. RENEÉ HAYNES. I. Cambridge University Press, 1969. The Sixth Sense AN INQUIRY INTO EXTRA-SENSORY PERCEPTION Rosalind Heywood 7st. Pp. ,See 1959 CHATTO & WINDUS LONDON Contents I An Unrecognised Faculty page 9 II What is Psi ? I5 III Psi in the Past 19 IV The Background to Psychical Research 27 V Foundation of the Society for Psychical Research 36 VI Does Man Survive Death ? 53 VII Mediumship-Mrs. Piper ) 62 VIII Cross Correspondences (1) 69 IX Cross Correspondences (2) 81 X The Willett Scripts 9I XI Patience Worth 107 XII Mediumship-Mrs. Leonard (1) II2 XIII Mediumship-Mrs. Leonard (2) I2I XIV Qualitative Experiments 127 XV Quantitative Experiments (1) 143 XVI Quantitative Experiments (2) 153 XVII The Impact of Psi 164 XVIII The Future 172 Appendix: Some Explanations and Hypotheses 183 A. By Physical Scientists 185 B. By a Biologist 189 C, By Psychologists 193 D. By Philosophers 206 Index 220 7 THE SIXTH SENSE CROSS CORRESPONDENCES (1) This case is a typical example of a series of allusions, implica ask Mrs. Piper's 'Myers' the question, "What does the word tions and direct cross references written by two automatists, Lethe suggest to you? Mrs. Piper herself being no classical Mrs. and Miss Verrall, which were made meaningful by key scholar. He did SO and at several sittings he obtained in response words given by a third, Mrs. Piper. It is far more complicated a number of classical allusions which meant nothing to him than it appears in summary for some of the allusions are mean and also nothing at first to the scholars of the British S.P.R. ingful in connection with other cross correspondences and are The allusions included Myers-like references to the little-known also links in coherent trains of thought which emerge elsewhere story of Ceyx and Alcyone and to the sending of the Goddess For example, Mrs. Verrall's drawing of a circle and trianglo Iris to the underworld as this is told in connection with the not only carries out the request made to Mrs. Piper's 'Myers river Lethe in Ovid's Metamorphoses. Later on, Sir Oliver for such a drawing; added to her reference to Abt Vogler it Lodge asked Mrs. Willett's 'Myers' the same question. He also ties up with the scripts' answer-an answer that makes answered that it had already been asked elsewhere, and with sense-to a question which had been put to Mrs. Piper's great effort spelled out the word DORR in capitals. Then, 'Myers' in Latin, a language Mrs. Piper did not know. (But over a period of weeks, Mrs. Willett's script made many allu- the question was put when she was giving sittings in England to sions to references in Virgil's Aeneid to the river Lethe and these S.P.R. members who did know both Latin and the message, fitted Mr. Dorr's question from the point of view of such a man and this proximity may have helped her to pick up its contents as Myers, who had known his Virgil inside out, but did not do telepathically from them. Although on the one hand ESP seems so from that of people without his scholarship Ultimately to be more or less independent of time and space, physical Mrs. Willett's 'Myers' wrote: "That I have different scribes proximity does at times appear to facilitate telepathy.) means that I must show different aspects of thoughts underlying After the cross correspondences had been going on for some which Unity is to be found and I know what Lodge wants. He GBD years, Piddington and an American, G. B. Dorr, devised two wants me to prove that I have access to knowledge shown ways of testing them. One was to try and check whether they elsewhere." could result from ordinary associations of ideas on the part of Unfortunately, even when read in full, the elaborate aptness the automatists, the other to find out if their creators, whoever of the classical and other allusions in such cases as these can they were, would produce a cross correspondence to order. In only be appreciated by scholars of the same calibre as their the first test fourteen people were each sent quotations, twelve author, whoever that was. But what is patent to all is the in all, from Shakespeare, Milton, Shelley, Rostand, Virgil intensity of desire to get the plan carried out-not, of course, Wordsworth, Coleridge and Homer, and were asked to write that this desire is evidence for it could be simulated. The down some words or phrases associated with them. The result instructions in the scripts are frequent and explicit. "Record were very different from the cross correspondences produced the bits", writes Mrs. Verrall's 'Myers', "and when fitted spontaneously by the automatists. Only momentary cross they will make the whole." Again, "I will give the words references occurred and there was no tendency to return again between you neither alone can read but together they will give and again to one master theme. In fact there was no resem- the clue he wants." In March, 1910 Mrs. Verrall wrote a series blance to a real cross correspondence. of scripts referring to the main events in the history of the City The next test was to set the purported 'Myers' a subject of Rome. On March 7th, five thousand miles away, Mrs. for a cross correspondence which would give scope for classical Holland wrote: "Ave Roma Immortalis. How could I make it knowledge beyond that of most of the automatists. He passed clearer without giving her the clue?" Such remarks occur again it with honours. The plan was that in America Dorr should and again. 78 79 THE SIXTH SENSE The last of the apparently self-contained type of cross correspondence was the Master Builder case, which straggled on from 1913 to 1924, with a high spot in December and Janu CHAPTER IX ary, 1918-19.1 That they should cease seems logical enough, for if the large number obtained by the end of the first World War was not enough to carry conviction of their authorship Cross Correspondences (2) it could be argued that nothing would be gained by continuing indefinitely a type of evidence which was a strain on all involved. However that may be, the cross correspondences as A NUMBER of automatists were engaged in the cross cor- such gradually merged into the wider pattern of scripts con- 'respondences and their reactions and methods of producing cerned largely with world affairs, in which the purported cripts were varied. Mrs. Wilson 'saw' pictures and then communicators had always professed the deepest interest. These described them. Others spoke of their interior impressions; had gone on concurrently with the cross correspondences from others would both speak and write; others again, Mrs. Verrall 1901 and they only faded out altogether in 1932. or instance, would only write. She generally fell into the more or less dissociated state common to most automatists, getting 1 Proceedings S.P.R., Vol. XXXVI, p. 477. ery sleepy at times and occasionally for a moment losing con- ciousness altogether. "Whether I write in the light or in the dark", she said, "I do not look at the paper. I perceive a word or two but never understand whether it makes sense with what zees before When the script is finished I often cannot say ill I read it what language has been used, as the recollection of the words passes away with extreme rapidity " Her daughter, Miss Verrall, would speak more often than rite, and afterwards she too could remember but little of that she had said. Both their scripts purported to come from Myers, but Mrs. Holland's were sometimes signed Gurney Sidgwick. A fifth automatist, Mrs. Willett, also got scripts igned Verrall after Dr. Verrall had died. Mrs. Holland said that she was always fully conscious when riting but that the pencil moved too quickly for her to grasp ny meaning. To amuse herself she had written automatically or ten years before she read Human Personality. In it she me upon some experiences similar to her own, which she d been unable to understand, and this encouraged her to rite about these to Alice Johnson, the Secretary of the S.P.R. liss Johnson asked for details which Mrs. Holland sent. Her cripts, she said, had always come at great speed; she once rote fourteen poems in an hour. On one occasion she had een surprised to find that she had written a letter beginning 8o s.s.-6 81 Streams of William James A Publication of the William James Society Volume 5 Issue 1 Spring 2003 Second Special Issue on The Varieties of Religious Experience Contemporary Perspectives on James's Psychology of Religion John Snarey and Paul Jerome Croce Guest Editors James on the Similarities and phenomena are defined, what research methods were deemed useful for each, and how conclusions in the two Differences Between Religious areas were alike and how they differed. Overall, this arti- cle focuses on the similarities and differences in James's and Psychic Phenomena approach to these two areas. Due to the broad audience already acquainted with Varieties, however, this essay by Richard L. Gorsuch will make more references to the Essays. With William James's wide variety of interests, and Definitions and Objectives the nature of the times 100 years ago, it is no surprise that James investigated both the psychology of psychic Psychic phenomena include a variety of unusual phenomena and the variety of religious experience. His events, such as the current usage of the term implies. For writings on the latter are well known and widely read. James's era, the events ranged from apparitions. medi- The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902) is, in fact, one ums, and clairvoyants, to haunted houses, thought trans- of only a very few books in psychology to be continuously ference (telepathy), and telekinesis. James accepted this in print for over a hundred years and to be the focus of a common usage without feeling the need for a formal defi- retrospective review in Contemporary Psychology (Gor- nition of the area. Operationally, James was concerned such & Spilka 1987). Less well known is his psychic with interactions of people with the "spirit world," as in research, which never culminated in his writing a book. mediums, or human capabilities that transcend the mate- Thus, it is fortunate that his articles, his letters, and other rial world, as in telepathy. Most of what James reports is unpublished documents on psychic phenomena have from mediums. This is probably because it is an easy way been collected by Murphy and Dale (1961) and in the to collect data: one has only to go to a spiritualist session series The Works of William James under the title Essays and record what happens. And it can be quasi-experimen- in Psychical Research (Burkhardt & Bowers, Eds. 1986; tal: what does a medium say to the different people whom hereafter referred to as Essays). This volume of his col- he or she has never met before? The intent of his involve- lected works consists of a number of investigations of ment in psychic research was to establish whether any psychic phenomena that had been reported in the USA psychic phenomena are true. and in England. Compared to James's usage of "psychic phenomena" Excellent and extended introductions have been to refer to the extraordinary, the Varieties defines reli- published with both of these books (Marty 1982; McDer- gion broadly but within normal human experience. Reli- mott 1986; Smith 1985), introductions that are, in fact, gion is "the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual substantially longer than this article. A comparison of men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves these two books, however, may help us not only better to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the understand James but also the similarities and differ- divine" (James 1902, p. 31). He contrasted it with that of a ences between psychic and religious phenomena. Psy- moralist. Moralists and Christians are alike in being "less chic and religious phenomena share in "going beyond swayed by paltry personal considerations and more by science." For many people each involves the supernatu- objective ends that call for energy, even though that ral, whether in the form of a deity or of spirits. While energy brings personal loss and pain" (James 1902, p. James obviously studied both areas, an argument can be 45). But the moralist participates in a volitional spurning clearly made that James devoted considerably more time of the wrong and affirming the right, whereas the "Chris- and effort to psychic phenomena than he did to religious tian par excellence" is a "result of the excitement of a phenomena. His active commitment to understanding higher kind of emotion, in the presence of which no exer- psychic phenomena extended across some 30 years. He tion of volition is required" (James 1902, p. 46). was instrumental in founding the American Society for James's definition of religion is, as has been often Psychical Research in 1884 (James 1986, pp. 5-9) his noted, of "individuals in their solitude." And yet much of paper on "What Psychical Research Has Accomplished" religion is directly social. It is hard to conceptualize a reli- was included in The Will to Believe (James 1897, pp. 299- gion without a community of faith. This critique applies 307), and one of his last essays was "The Confidences of to both areas. The role of culture and cultural expecta- a 'Psychic Researcher" (James 1986, pp. 361-375), just a tions for mediums and spiritualists is also ignored. year before his death in 1910. He was involved with the The definition of religion involves broad philosophi- "major players" in both England and the United States. cal issues dealt with by religion. In addition to whether His reports include numerous personal episodes of seek- the supernatural being exists, religion also calls forth ing and exploring reports of psychic phenomena. A read- vital issues such as the nature of evil and of conversion. It ing of both books suggests that he spent more hours also raises the question of what types of religion are help- with mediums than he spent in churches. ful and heal the divided soul, and which are harmful, such as the excesses that lead to the one-sidedness of The purpose of this article is to compare James's approaches to religious and psychic phenomena. It will fanaticism (James 1902, pp. 340-344). Pursuit of these address questions such as how religious and psychic issues is part of the task of Varieties. Indeed, the breadth Streams of William James Volume 5 Issue 1 Spring 2003 Page 26 Similarities and Differences between Religious and Psychic Phenomena by Richard L. Gorsuch of the objectives of Varieties is indicated by its subtitle James, that is, these unique, personal events also have that often is overlooked: A Study in Human Nature. But truth value, an approach anticipating more recent devel- none of this is found in his discussions of psychic phe- opments (Gorsuch 2002b). nomena, which are concerned with whether an extraordi- Empirical science was strongly supported by James. nary event happened. Starbuck's The Psychology of Religion, as well as materials How different from psychic phenomena did James Starbuck shared, were carefully acknowledged in Variet- see religion? Except for a passing casual comment, nei- ies (Smith 1985). Coe's data are another set clearly used ther book mentions the topic of the other. The Essays has by James (James 1902, p. 240f). James, as reprinted in no discussion of religion and the Varieties has no discus- Essays, also participated in the empirical "census of hallu- sion of psychics. This is consistent with 19th and 20th cinations" (James 1986, pp. 56-78). As also recorded in century Euro-American culture but ignores unindustrial- Essays, however, one of James's disappointments was ized cultures where spirits form the basis or blend over that psychic research was not able to develop experimen- into religiousness. Contemporary discussions would be tally (James 1986, pp. 90, 361). hard pressed to consider possession without considering But science plays a lesser role in Essays than in Vari- demon possession. eties. Science is concerned with nomothetic, replicable One objective not included in either volume is a con- events (Gorsuch 2002b). And if psychic phenomena have cern with establishing the causes or roots of religious or any major characteristic, it is that "they are inwardly as psychic beliefs. These, to James, are irrelevant to his incoherent as they are outwardly wayward and fitful" tasks and irrelevant to examining their truths. James (James 1986, p. 369). Thus science was particularly held that people use causes only to explain away a posi- unhelpful in examining psychic phenomena. In part for tion someone else holds but pay little attention to those this reason, it is not surprising to James that they are beliefs one personally holds and, in keeping with his considered "bosh" but, for James, they provide idio- empirical pragmatist approach, "by their fruits ye shall graphic truth with which science must ultimately deal. know them, not by their roots" is applied in both contexts Perhaps one of the continually appealing features of (James, 1902, pp. 25, 20). In religion, it is the sense of James's works is that he refuses to restrict discussions to hope and ethical idealism that is sought; in psychic phe- just the sciences or to just the humanities and personal nomena, James writes of Hodges' changes to being a experience. James attempted to bring both kinds of data happy, more effective individual as he came to believe to bear on both kinds of phenomena. spiritualism was true: "When a man's pursuits gradually James mostly ignored philosophical and theological makes his face shine and grow handsome, you may be theories. His data were the idiographic experiences of sure it is a worthy one" (James 1986, p. 370). individuals, as collected in personal accounts or as The use of the term "spiritual" is currently in flux. occurred in scientific studies. Indeed, only the first-hand Some would define it just as religiousness; others would experiences were deemed to be data, and so a strong define it as a relationship to that which the person feels is individualism runs through each of these books. The ultimate (Gorsuch 2002a). Note that James's use of "spir- impact of other people and cultures are conspicuous by itual" is the classical one of relating to the supernatural. It their absence. Conspicuous by their presence are the may be the mysticism of Varieties or the spirits called up experiences of people within the Euro-American culture. by the mediums of Essays, but it is still a being indepen- Little attention is given to spiritualism of other subcul- dent of the person. Hence, we must be careful to avoid a tures or of non-Protestant religions. contemporary interpretation of spirit and spiritual when A point easy to overlook is James's involvement with we read James. hypnotism. He had read extensively of it-noting "the wonderful explorations of Binet, Janet, Breuer, Freud, Method Mason, Prince, and others" (James 1902, p. 234). He was using it in 1886 when a note in Science reported that James was a philosopher in an age when psychology James demonstrated a hypnotic suggestion that changed was taught as an area within philosophy. He had no prob- one perception but did not affect other perceptions lem exploring from both the perspective of the sciences (James 1986, p. 382). He used it to explore the nature of and the perspective of the humanities. James's philosoph- the medium-trance of Ms. Piper. ical method was of reasoned argument, utilizing human Because posthypnotic suggestion leads to percep- experiences. The most important human experiences to tions and produces activities that need have no conscious pursue are those that are the most dramatic, for if we involvement and are not consciously recallable, it pro- explain these, then we can explain the less dramatic. This vides strong evidence for the subconscious. Coming is seen clearly in Varieties with its detailed reports of the from experiences with hypnotism, including posthyp- religious experiences of people such as George Fox and notic suggestions, which produced behaviors based in with his numerous case studies in the Essays. James nonconscious processes (James 1986, pp. 204-211), places an emphasis on idiographic, unique events that is James had a strong belief in the subconscious, which is typical of the humanities but departs considerably from vital background for understanding either book. For psy- the nomothetic science as defined in the 20th century. To chic phenomena, automatisms and extensive knowledge Streams of William James Volume 5 Issue 1 Spring 2003 Page 27 Similarities and Differences between Religious and Psychic Phenomena by Richard L. Gorsuch when in a trance that otherwise seem unknown were sug- In Essays James strongly emphasized methods, just gested to be based in the unconscious (James 1902, pp. as others have done in the years since. Too many exam- 116-126). For religion, the unconscious plays several ples of distortions were found to assume that reports of roles. This ranged from self-surrendering conversion to psychic phenomena were therefore true. An interesting revelation (James 1902, pp. 208, 481-484). But the stron- facet of James's approach to psychic phenomena is the gest statement James made was that "whatever [religion] constant search for alternative explanations. Although he may be on its farther side, the 'more' with which in reli- was not as systematic as Campbell and Stanley (1963) gious experience we feel ourselves connected is on its some 60 years later, the application of this type of think- hither side the subconscious continuation of our con- ing to actual data is impressive. For example, when evalu- scious life" (James 1902, p. 512). ating spiritualists' messages reputed to be from his James by nature was sympathetic to other people colleague R. Hodson after the latter's death, James lists and their views. He took seriously the reports of religious the following as possible explanations for information people and of psychic effects, even while he refused to seen to be supportive of a post-mortem communication endorse them. An example of that is his treatment of from Hodson: Eusapia Paladino, a psychic for whom "everyone agrees that she cheats in the most barefaced manner whenever 1. Lucky chance-hits. she gets an opportunity" (James 1986, p. 362). "Yet her 2. Common gossip. credit has steadily risen, and now her last converts" 3. Indications unwarily furnished by the sitters. include "our own psychical researcher, Carrington, 4. Information received from R. H. during his lifetime, whose book on The Psychical Phenomena of Spiritualism by the waking Mrs. P. and stored up, either supralimi- (against them rather!) makes his conquest strategically nally or subliminally, in her memory. important" (James 1986, p. 363). To offset the obvious 5. Information received from the living R. H., or others, cheating, James takes time to tell of a lecturer in physics at sittings, and kept in Mrs. Piper's trance-memory, who gave a demonstration in class to show that the cen- but out of reach of her waking consciousness. ter of gravity remains unmoved despite movement of the 6. "Telepathy," i.e., the tapping of the sitter's mind, or peripheral parts. The demonstration was successful that of some distant living person, in an inexplicable because, unbeknown to the students, the professor had way. nailed down the center! As is clear in Essays, however, 7. Access to some cosmic reservoir, where the memory this is told in a "forgiving sense," for, James noted, the of all mundane facts is stored and grouped around per- phenomenon is well known and for the apparatus to mal- sonal centres [sic] of association. (James 1986, p. 255) function-as it did without the nail-would teach stu- dents the wrong lesson. One may need to act "for the In terms of psychic data, James reported finding larger truth" (James 1986, pp. 364-365). Therefore, he is some support for cross-correspondence, which is the willing to give some latitude to those who, despite the fre- reporting of materials that would have been only known quency of her cheating, still felt some of Paladino's ses- to a very few people by the medium (who is assumed to sions were valid. have had no prior access to the knowledge). It goes Further, he was of the notion that ideas that continu- beyond the medium's giving of information that seems ally reappeared probably had some underlying truth even arcane but actually is true of almost everyone. It may con- if it were not addressable scientifically. The longevity of sist of special general knowledge, such as of classical lit- religion was probably impressive to him even as it has erature, or specific knowledge only known by a few been to other psychologists, such as Leuba and Cattell, people. Revelations of cross-correspondence were almost who were nonbelievers (Gorsuch 2002). Despite his the only case in which James felt that he found clear evi- investigations and other investigations that challenged dence of the existence of a psychic phenomena, but this the validity of psychism, believers in psychic phenomena was with primarily one medium, Mrs. Piper. Even then continued and, in his time, included a number of sophisti- he had to assume that her low level of education meant cated people James respected. "How often has 'Science' that she was unacquainted with classical literature. This killed off all spook-philosophy, and laid ghosts and raps point may have been true during the first of the 12 to 15 and 'telepathy' away underground as so much popular years that people such as James followed her closely, but delusion. Yet never before were these things offered us might not the interest of these learned people have stim- so voluminously, and never in such authentic-seeming ulated her curiosity? And we must remember that the shape or with such good credentials" (James 1986, p. lack of formal education is only a general predictor of 363). But this seems to be a poor rationale. With it, for less exposure to classic literature, not a universal predic- example, human sacrifice to the sun could be justified tor. because that was, in terms of thousands of years, "offered Despite all the negative evidence James found up voluminously." And I am also skeptical of his occa- against psychic phenomena, the widespread reports of it sional reliance on the rationale that the medium was too kept him convinced that there was something to it and it uneducated to report, for example, knowledge from clas- should continue to be investigated. In his last major sic writings. paper, he suggests that the best mediums have "really Streams of William James Volume 5 Issue 1 Spring 2003 Page 28 Similarities and Differences between Religious and Psychic Phenomena by Richard L. Gorsuch supernormal knowledge that cannot be traced to the James, but rather that religion is a major force, whereas ordinary sources of information" (James 1986, p. 372). To psychical phenomena remains at a relatively primitive explain this, James postulates a "cosmic environment of state in terms both of their impact on individual lives and other consciousness of some sort which is able to work in terms of being able to systematically characterize how upon them" (James 1986, p. 373). And in matters such as they function. these, James felt it best to stay with the facts of personal James approached both religious and psychic phe- reports wherever they may lead. nomena with similar questions in a similar manner and reached some similar conclusions. The basic question Implications and Conclusions was whether they were true or helpful. The data included nomothetic and idiographic. One of James's conclusions The major point in which we could expect James to was that both religion and psychic phenomena are worth differ from contemporary psychology of religion is in the pursuing scientifically because so many believe in each. inclusion of personal, idiographic experiences of an indi- Other conclusions differed radically between reli- vidual as prime data. Contemporary science is too con- gion and psychic phenomena, particularly the "bottom cerned with seeking objective and replicable data to take line" for a philosophy of pragmatism. For James, psychic one individual's personal experiences as a research phenomena are extremely difficult to prove and are bor- approach. And this is rightfully so, but that does not ingly trivial (as trying to read the Essays validates). For mean that that such idiographic experiences are unim- James, religion changes people's lives, has a place in his- portant for the larger picture. It just means that they are tory, and is humankind's "most important function" not the area in which science can make a contribution (James's letter to Frances Morse in 1900, quoted in (Gorsuch 2002a, 2002b). Smith 1985, p. XV; cf. James 1902, pp. 50-51). Although it is inappropriate for psychology, being a science, to take idiographic data into account, we must -Dr. Richard L. Gorsuch is Professor of Psychology at remind ourselves that psychology (and science) are not Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA. His most recent book is Integrating Psychology and Spirituality? the only ways of examining the human condition. The (Praeger, 2002). This article was originally prepared for humanities also have a rightful role. The success of the symposium on "Historical Readings of James's Variet- James was that he thoroughly understood the psychol- ies, sponsored by Division 26 and the William James Soci- ogy of his time and also philosophical approaches to the ety, at the 110th Annual Meeting of the American human condition. The result was Varieties, which inte- Psychological Association, August 22, 2002, Chicago, IL. Dr. Gorsuch may be reached via e-mail at grates both approaches, using both nomothetic and idio- rgorsuch@fuller.edu. graphic data. That dual approach is needed but difficult because it involves integrating science and humanities. References The temptation is for us in one discipline to assume that Campbell, D. T., & Stanley, J. C. (1963). Experimental and quasi- we can do the other discipline's work as well as our own. experimental designs for research. Chicago: Rand McNally. But that comes from disciplinary egotism ("we can do it Gorsuch, R. L. (1988). Review of William James's Essays in psychical all") and leads to disciplinary imperialism ("who needs research, vol. 16 in The works of William James. F. Burkhardt & F. Bowers, Eds., 1986. Review of Religious Research, 30.1, p. 94. the humanities?"). Rather, bridges need to be built by Gorsuch, R. L. (2002a). Integrating psychology and spirituality? West- which the unique contributions of both science and the port, CT: Praeger Press. humanities can be brought to bear on the human condi- Gorsuch, R. L. (2002b). The pyramids of the sciences and humani- tion (Gorsuch 2002a). James was able to do this, but he ties: Implications for the search for religious truth. American had background and experience in both the discipline of Behavioral Scientist, 45, pp. 1820-1836. philosophy and the budding discipline of psychology. His Gorsuch, R. L., & Spilka, B. (1987). Varieties in historical and con- temporary contexts. Contemporary Psychology, 32, pp. 773-778. work was at a time when psychology held a very limited James, W. (1897) The will to believe and other essays in popular philos- area. With the explosion of psychological knowledge of ophy. New York: Longmans, Green. the past 100 years, it is difficult for anyone to encompass James, W. (1902). The varieties of religious experience. New York: psychology by itself, let alone both relevant areas of psy- Longmans, Green. chology and philosophy. It is my experience that the James, W. (1986). Essays in psychical research. In F. Burkhardt, & F. major problem students have with Varieties is separating Bowers, (Eds.), The works of William James. Vol. 14. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP. out what are psychological questions and what are philo- Marty, M. E. (1982). Introduction. In W. James, The varieties of reli- sophical ones; the necessary training in both areas is gious experience (pp. vii xxvii). New York: Penguin Books. lacking. McDermott, A. (1986). Introduction. In W. James, Essays in psychi- An approach toward understanding the importance cal research (pp. xiii-xxxvi). Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP. of psychic and religious phenomena for James is to con- Murphy, G., & Dale, L. A. (1961). William James on psychic research. sider James' behavior towards each. Although he spent New York: Harper & Row. more time investigating psychic phenomena than reli- Smith, J. E. (1985). Introduction. In W. James, The varieties of reli- gious experience (pp. vi-1). Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP. gious, he helped dissolve the American Society for Psy- chic Research while he devoted the Gifford lectures to religion. It was not that one was "truer" than the other for Streams of William James Volume 5 Issue 1 Spring 2003 Page 29 11 April 2019 The archives at the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington Connecticut contain several letters from William and Alice James to the owner of the Hill-Stead residence, Theodate Pope (later Riddle). These letters written to Theodate in the years 1906-1908 usually reference her sustained interest in psychical research, an area of professional interest to Mr. and Mrs. William James for more than two decades prior to this interchange. The archives also contains photographic evidence of the James's visit there in 1907, and perhaps on other occasions. There are repeated references to other researchers and interested parties in this area, John George Piddington, Richard Hodgson, Hubert Livingston Carrington, and James Henry Hyslop- and of course George B. Dorr. A letter from Alice (7.14.1908) is most revealing for she hopes "that George Dorr's work of this Past winter will prove to be a solid one. He has tried to make it such and he certainly has taken good care of the 'light.' He is building a summer cottage for Mrs. Piper at Owl's Head [Rockport, ME] where she will be near to Margaret Bancroft, and SO looked after a little." Therein she also refers to the "unwise" efforts of Ethel Sands who wrote "warning letters to G.B.D." William james writes (9.2.1907) to Theodate beginning "A first-rate week with Dorr at Bar Harbor, and two hour talk with Carrington last evening." In a letter from Oxford (5.8.1908) he refers to a letter to Dorr which he now sends Theodate {not included], remarking that "knowing of G.B.D.['s] recent devotion to the cause and admirable investigations, [I] felt put out at what seemed an attempt to get at Mrs. Piper from London, over his head as it was." He compliments Theodate and states that "similar explanations [were given] to D[orr] which will make him also see it in the true light. He has struck quite a new lead, and 'Myers' is developing a novel type of manifestation. There seem to be no end of them!" William also writes to Theodate (8.14.1907) that "we are going to Geo. Dorr's on the 22nd," after three days with Miss Pope at Farmington. Ronald H. Epp Hill-Stead& William James 352 Members and Associates [PART 160] Members and Associates 353 story HONORARY ASSOCIATES. record Dallas, Miss H. A., Bellevue Hotel, Hurstpierpoint, Sussex. Hill, J. Arthur, Claremont, Thornton, Bradford. Hoernlé, Professor R. F. A., University of the Witwatersrand, MEMBERS AND ASSOCIATES. Johannesburg, S. Africa. Irving, Rev. W. S., Oxenhall Vicarage, Newent, Glos. DECEMBER, 1939. Morton, Dr Eva, 24 Park Crescent, Portland Place, London, W.1 Muirhead, Professor J. H., Dyke End, Rotherfield, Sussex. Richmond, Kenneth, 82 North End Road, Golders Green, London, PRESIDENT-PROFESSOR HENRY HABBERLEY PRICE. N.W. 11. Sage, Prof. Charles M., rue de Coulmiers 33, Paris XIVe, France. ViCE-PRESIDENTS. Spinney, G. H., 4 Overhill Gardens, Dulwich, London, S.E. 22. Tanagra, Dr A., Odos Aristotelous 67, Athens, Greece. The Right Hon. the Earl of Balfour, P.C., LL.D., Fishers Hill, Woking. Tenhaeff, Dr W. H. C., Adm. V. Gentstraat, 53 bis, Utrecht, Netherlands. George B. Dorr, 18 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Mass., U.S.A. Professor Hans Driesch, Ph.D., M.D., LL.D., Zöllnerstrasse 1, Leipzig, Thouless, Professor R. H., Yorke House, 83 Newmarket Road, Cambridge. Germany. Wereide, Dr Th., The University, Oslo, Norway. L. P. Jacks, LL.D., D.D., Far Outlook, Shotover Hill, Oxford. Sir Lawrence J. Jones, Bart., 39 Harrington Gardens, London, S.W. 7. Sir Oliver Lodge, F.R.S., Normanton House, Lake, nr. Salisbury. Professor Gilbert Murray, LL.D., Litt.D., Yatscombe, Boars Hill, Oxford. MEMBERS AND ASSOCIATES. J. G. Piddington, Fishers Hill, Woking. Sir J. J. Thomson, O.M., F.R.S., Trinity Lodge, Cambridge. An asterisk is prefixed to the names of Members. *Agar, Miss E. M. F., York Corner, Chertsey, Surrey. HONORARY MEMBERS. *Aitken, Lionel G., 82 Portland Place, London, W.1 *Albemarle, Countess of, Quidenham, Norwich. Professor R. A. Fisher, F.R.S., University College, London, W.C. *Albery, George C., K.C., City Hall, Meaford, Canada. Miss Alice Johnson, 1 Millington Road, Cambridge. Allan, Miss J., Invergloy House, Invergloy, Inverness-shire. Miss I. Newton, 259 Holly Lodge Mansions, Highgate, London, N.6. Allen, Professor H. J., Marley Orchard, Kingsley Green, Haslemere. Count Perovsky-Petrovo-Solovovo, 43 Elm Park Mansions, Park Walk, *Allison, Mrs E. W., The Beverly, 125 East 50th Street, New York, London, S.W. 10. U.S.A. Sir Joseph J. Thomson, O.M., F.R.S., Trinity Lodge, Cambridge. *American Society for Psychical Research, 40 East 34th Street, New York, U.S.A. CORRESPONDING MEMBERS. *Anderson, Lady, Ballydavid, Woodstown, Waterford. Anderson, Mrs Henry C., 20 Hermitage Drive, Edinburgh. Professor Henri Bergson, Bd de Beau Séjour 47, Paris, France. Andrews, Dr Marion B., Orsett, 14 Derryvolgie Avenue, Belfast. President Nicholas M. Butler, Columbia University, New York, U.S.A. Anstey, Brigadier E. C., R.A., D.S.O., 1 Ashdown Road, Epsom, Dr Max Dessoir, Speyererstrasse 9, Berlin, W. 30, Germany. Surrey. Professor Pierre Janet, rue de Varenne 54, Paris, France. Dr C. G. Jung, Seestrasse 228 Kusnacht, E. Zurich, Switzerland. *Arbuthnot, Miss Mary E., Davies' Hotel, 10 Brompton Square, London, S.W. 3. Count Carl von Klinckowstroem. *Ardron, G. H., Thatched House Club, St. James's Street, London, S.W.1. Maurice Maeterlinck, Villa des Abeilles, Nice, France. *Arnold, Miss Edith J., 27 Ardingly Drive, Goring-by-Sea, Sussex. Professor T. K. Oesterreich, Nauklerstrasse 23, Tübingen, Germany. *Assheton-Smith, Lady, 30 Queen Anne's Gate, London, S.W. 1. Dr Eugène Osty, Avenue Niel 89, Paris, France. *Auden, Harold A., Dalemere, Lynn Lane, nr. Lichfield, Staffs. Dr Rudolf Tischner, Ditlindenstrasse 18, Munich, Germany. Austen, H. W. C., M.D., Dormy Pool, Saxmundham Road, Aldeburgh. Carl Vett, 13 Kongen's Nytorv, Copenhagen, Denmark. Bacon, Mrs Sewell, Gate House, Northwood, Middlesex. 186 Marlborough Street. Boston, Mass., U.S.A. *Baker, Miss Mabel. 17 Ivvdale Grove. London. S.W. 16.