New-York tribune., 1885-01-12
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
psYCHICAL RESEARCH.

pSYCHICAL RESEARCH.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY FOR PsYCHiOALt t
ca. Ncw.York Il. 4 J. W. Young & Co.
Tn January, 1882. the Society for Psychicai Ke-
...-.h was organ zed by a number OF Investigators,
whose puroose IS related in the printed explanation
of the objects of the society, follows: " IL mas
been widely felt that the present is an opportuhe
time for making All organized and systematic az
tempt to investigate that large group OF depa'a"io
phenomena designated by such terms as mesihci
ic psychlca and spirituahstic. From the rec''"eu
testimony of many competent witnesses p"'s On"
preseut including observations recently made oy
scienti6c man of eminence u various countries
tbcre annears TO be- amid much illusion and de-
caution an important body of remarkable phe-
pomena which are prima facis inexplicable on any
generally recognized hypothesis, and WHICH,
fncontestaby established. wOuld be OF the hlshes'
posslble value The task of examining sucs res'"-
nal phenomena has often been undertaken py iu
diyidual effort but never hitherto Dy u sc.cn."v
society organized on a sufficiently broad DasiS'
The new society had for its president PROFESSOR
Sidgwick. Professor -Balfour Stewart fro1essor
Rsrrett. Professor Moses. DIR. Robertson, DR..
Vivid. Mcssrs. Edmund Gurney, Frederick w.
Fl. Myers and other well-known men were on the
council IL at once distributed its work to special
committees rs outlincd: Q.) An examination OF
the nature and extent of any influence which may
be exerted by oae miad upon another apart IRON
any recognized mode of perception 20 Ihe stuay
of bvppotism. and the forms of socalled mesmerlc
trance, with its alleged insensblity to pam;
clarvovance and other allied phe-
pomena 49, critical revision of kelchenpachs
researches with certain organizations caiieo
sensitive, and an inquiry whether such organlza-
tions possess any power of perception peyond
highly exalted sensibility of the recognized SELL
sorry organs. AZ A careful investigation OF any 10
ports resting on strong testimony, regarding appa-
rtions at the moment of death, or otherwise OF re-
carding disturbances IN houses reputcd to be haunt.
ed (5j An inquiry into the various physical
phenomena commonly called Sprituaistic; +;
with an attempt to discover their
oauses and general laws. t6) The col
lection and collation. of existing materials
bearing on the history of these subjects. ;
Having thus laid out a programme the society
proceeded to enter upon It, and the SIX parts pcoro
s contain the more important of the proceedings Oh
the committees The first subject of investigation
was the so-called mind-reading" or teiepathy.
Patient and prolonged experiments were hao' out
the conclusions to be derived from them have not
yet been formulated. The evidence goes to snow
that communications from mind to mind uu-
consciously, or through some mode OF
muscular Interpretation beyond the ordinary per-
ception. are quite possible, and not at all
rare. But the inquiry is thus far in purely ten
tatiyc stage. The same may be said of the inves-
tiqat,ous of the Reicbenbach Committee. though
this body has apparently satisfied Itself that Reich
cpbach was right in his statements concerning Tue
affection of sensitIves by emanations from mag
nets. minerals and other substances. Many OF the
expcumen nts made in a pitch-dara room, where the
sensitives were deprived of every possible cew 10
the actual conditions seem TO be, as far as tney co.
conclusive.
The WORK of the Committee on Haunted houses
Ii is Of course difficult TO regard as part OF the pro-
ceedncs of scientific society, Jecause of the asso-
ciations of the subject. But while the earlier IN
our,es of this committee necessarily elicit num-
her of stories which seem sensational, the ultimate
object of the inquiry has been pursued steadily
and all expression of opinion to the value or sig
nifcanee of the evidence collected is carefully ab-
stained from No investigation OF the phenomena
of Spritualism has vet been made, or at ieaT'
No record of such investigation has been
published The hope OF the society Is
according to its own statement, that
by beginningas il were on the outcrmost margin ol
the great Geld of obscure phenomena. some glimpse
of the undery ug natural laws and processes may
he Obtained which will perhaps throw hight upon
the darker and less comprehensive phenomena to
be encountered further
The six parts of the socety's proceedings already
published exhibit truly scientific spirit OF pre-
canton, patient and thorough research and dread
of premature and crude conclusions, aud very
good illustration Of this is give1 in the treatment
of "apparitions" So far the cases sought have
been those of appar.tions not involving the
death of the person appearing or cases where the
suppOsed appariilOn conceded IN limo WIN lhe
death of the person seen. The controversy which
has arisen over this subject in the magazines ana
press shows how hard il is TO keep from jumping 10
conclusoLs of some kind such matters. But
the Society for Psychicsi Research has refused TO
commit itself TO any hypothesis, and 10 all tho I'M
patient demands for ITS opinion 1T calmly responds
that much more evidence Is needed before any
opinion can be formed.
There IL a GOOD deal of curious matter in the pro-
ceedings and some refreshIngly lucid and we'll
wrltten reports OF statements by Professor Sidg-
wick who is evidently devoting much time aud
energy to the work. Apparently, however two or
three wears will elapse before the society IS III
position 10 give the world its conclusions on the
difficult subjects ii has undertaken to eiucidate'