, 1885-01-03
TALK WITHOUT WORDS.
Tho Mysterious Investigations of the
Society for Psychic Research
Tho Phenomena of the occuIt-A
common aud Successful Exper--
ment-A Philosopher Who
VIII Not Believe.


lOnlcARO lf1bune-l
Few persons who played with planchette a
few years ago, when that conscious toy was
the rage, or who nave m "a themselves
with the rather Observation-Disclosures OF tho
mind reader, or have frequented the seance,
or have Joined hands to lift tables by the fin
g~er-tips, or lave benumbed some delicate
friend by amateur mesmerism, had any idea
that they we're doing anything so dignihed
as lowering on the borders Of a Dark CONT
nent Of science But such seems to be the
case. Scientific men Of high position hero
and in Europe are making these diversions
Of the curious and sports Of the superstitious
the subject Of deep study and careful
experiment. A society has been formed in
England to prosecute these studies under the
title Of the Society for Psychic Research
For president IL has no less steady a head
than Professor Sidgwick, of Cambridge, and
Its vice president is Lord Rayleigh, who pre-
sided over the deliberations Of the recent
meeting at Montreal Of the Association for
the Advancement of Science
For tho most part the occurrences the In
vestigators Of these psychical phenomena are
turning their attention to may be classed as
instances Of communication between mind
and mind, near or far, without the use Of
words or any means that could be called
physical according to the present nomencla-
ture Of science. There are committees to In
vestigate the influence Of mind on mind by
other than the ordinary means Of communi-
.ation-the phenomena OF mesmerism, trance,
clairvoyance, the study of persons Chased as
'sensitives,r apparitions at the moment of
death, s~piritualism on its physical side, etc.
One Of the most common and successful
experiments of the member OF the society Is
to place behind one of the persons known as
- ~ = i
charged with some distinct image, as of u
person, or coin, or picture, or other object,
and whose only effort in the experiment is ito
stand behind the sensitive" and think as
hard as he can of the thing in his mind.
The sensitive" will then draw a representa-
ton OF what is In the mind of the operator
behind him. This experiment has been de-
veloped to such a point that objects selected
at random by any one present and simply
held up behind the sensitive" a been por-
trayed by him. In the published proceedings
Of the society many fao-similes Of the origi-
mails and the copies made by the @sensitives"
under these circumstances are given. No
mediums or professionals take part In these
experiments.
The supernatural cast once given to occur
renceso of this kind-from the performances of
planchette to tho mysteries Of Spiritualism-
are dismissed by these scientific men as an ac-
cidental color, like the supernatural aspect
which poetry, government, books, fire,
everything took on when men first came to
them. They believe that there Is a field Of
fact there to be investigated; that these
phenomena are glimpses of a force which
men have not heretofore developed to tho
point Of recognizing, but which it is no more
scientific to reject than 1t would have been
to refuse to examine the phenomena of com-
bustion because tho legends of mythology
claimed that fire was brought down from
Heaven by Prometheus.
1t is not easy to see how any scientific mind
could find fault with such inquiry; but
Helmholtz is quoted by III Nation as NV
ing lately told an English scientific acquaint-
ance that il all his friends should assert that
the phenomena reported by the Society for
Psychical Research were true, and that II
then be were to see them all with his own
eyes, and with all the precautions he could
devise, he would not believe them. This Is
more like the ignorant sort of talk which
greeted the first hints Of the wonders OF cleo
tricity than the uttsfances OF a true man of
science always ready to open his eyes to
more light"