New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-01-18
4 CENSUS OF HALLUCINATION.
COLLECTING QUEER AND CURIOUS EXPERT
ENCESs
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE IN ENGLAND BY THE
SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH-IN-
TDRESTTNG GASES WITH SOME
EXPLANATIONS.

SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEAhOH-AN-
TDRESTTNG GASES WITH SOME
EXPLANATIONS.
The Society for Psychca Research is still buslly en-
gagged in taking census of Authorizations, WORK
started in Paris in 1880 at the International congress
Of Experimental Psychology. In England the cchS"'
IL under the care of Professor Henry sdgwlcA Oh 'a
bridge University president of the Psychlcal society III
Franco Leon Marier is collecting experiences "'U
in the United states Professor william James, Vi na'
ward University has assumed charge of the work Inc
experiences which st Is sought to enumeraoe arc
scientifically described casual halluclnatohs Vi
sane person. including under this term pnahtash'"
appearances, which deny to be haiiuciNa'.oi''
because they believe them to be ghosts Inc oOIoo
90 this nouirv is to ascertain the proportion Oh per
sons who have had such experiences, ana W oo
details Of these experiences so that some Insight "'
be gained into their cause and meaning. Inc geher"'
orostiop Is framed I'm this way Have you ever
bcn belleyinC Yourself to be completely awake I'D"
vivid immersion of seeing, being touched Dy
living being or nanlmate object, or oil nearing
voice; which IMPRESSION so far as You couiu "'9,
was not due to any external physlcal causc' Va
course, for a census the answer no Is do i"po ,
a. the answer yes but result OF the CELSIUS 'u'
far has been to show that the affirmative answers aro
rare and infrcquent .,o,
Professor sidgwick has recently made puohc Pc" ''"
ronort n his work on this census in England III ta'
country AL answers have been received to the qes
,Ion given above; Of these. 3,6l7 have been Ho"'
women: and 727 have been "yes" answers p'A
ccntagc of IL Of the total number re'e'Neu
hundred and nine women answer q" yes anu 10 ~
furnish the rest Of the yes answers Oh Uo Nv
answers = G46 are by men, and BIOS by "oheh' 20
tho yes experiences in 474 cases the sense q" S's
yvos affected: in 90 voices were heari Without any
accomranying visual impression; and In ~ cases ulo
sense Of toucl only was affected In about - CASES
Of the whole number more than one sense was dIo 10
at the same time. but 1t is pointed on; that IL i u'"'
in tho case OF sounds, especially OF noh-voa Soui''
such as stlng, footsteps, etc. t0 ascertain ""o'i''
they were hallucinaOry or not. There arc s'"o
cases bordering on glo,tland. which there Is SOME
reason 10 regard /, purely subjective 1hu' tcIo "''
six cases Of the figure and one Of the voice OF dead per
son, "phantasmally seen heard when the percpleh
was unaware Of the DEATH There ar' nine cases
where apparently the figure Is independently Scc
Ly more than one person on different occaSi"hS'
OF considerable importance. rs indicating a corrobo
ration Of pcrcncc the siAtyalN collective cas
cases I'm which more than person shares the eN
pcricncc More than half Of The visual collective caSc'
occurred ont Of doors while Of the visual eases OCCURRING
IA single perclpient only about ncsevenh occufrci
ont ~ doors, on this point Professor sldG"lcK %
serves:
Now though supposed apprtonS seen op' o, u'or
are quite a. obviously true hal!ncnatons a. some ." "
seen indoors.
.,,,i .,sons why real human beings are more hk"F "
be mistaken for apparitions out OF doors u'n ',1
Further II the figure be unIecogni1ed MS can Se'4
regarded a., evidence Of It's haucnaory character V'
doors vbi, 10 would often afford evidence huoo'H ''
IL l. not usual Tor strangers to walk INTO rooms "'1
any one In the house knowing anything about IT, Anu
again thu mode Of appearance and disappearance u %
nrurc Is much more often c'arly imlH@-Ioe l'F ~
ror.on indoors than oct u doors The Rur' MAJ
o.. Instance 90 through locked door. or through 'hn
vail or into room into which II Is at once followed anu
where IL 4, not found. out OF doors IL i o''." '
rroy that the vanished figure has not simply fh"l n
house or been hidden by some ts'a'''' N''i ,
all allowances however thrre remains certain num-. w
coctlye case, In whbh the objects seen can ha'uF o
been real people or things H., com,
Professor sldgwcl then proceeds 10 give eo'"'
remarks on the nature and origin OF ha'lu' ''.'''
and noiot, ont tina; the common origin OF 'ollecu'c
n,,,,rin,,ions NAV be tecpathic Csome other nina
,.,i.,, the common pcrcp.cnts similarly ana
-i,uuit,ncou,ly) or 10 may be due to what ne 'nls
.. rbysical suggestion "by which mean so"o i'l
external causc--ay sound Ike ioo'''p 80
bv suggestion a similar Authorizations hai'"' i"
,io,. > ~, adds "arc so rare in the experience Oh
n,,., ~ H.. that il NAV fairly bc argued that when
&c SEQ them We are not quite IN norm" S'''
ana I think there !, reason to believe that SUI
,c,c.tlon sometimes operates during hllIu'l"F
finn for IL is sometime, difficult other"I'" l" a.
count for the occasional agreement oil t"p s'"'c,'
For instance a adY I'm the dark feels her h'SU"'"
nrc,euce then putting out her hand ice' Ms Goa.
,ecvc and then hears him speak The husband.
meanwhile. Is absent and Vvldy Hnasl'"s "
10 bc bringing her bad news" ,,.,.
Tuo more explanations Of collective Authorizations
arc set forth the that sHcS huIh'll'"on
first and then conveys it by word or gesture l" u
the other that the hallucination Of one percipehV
c,uscd by mental suggestion or thought ranserence
from tho other An Interesting experiment Illustrating
tho latter hypothesis /, given to conclude Professor
sidgricl's account Of the work on the census IL Is
an experiment I'm thought tDnsfcrcnce with TWO hyp
Noticed persons conducted by Mr., sdgTick and Mr.
smith Here (, the experiment "a described IN ITO
fcssor Sdew.ck's words;
Two person, were hypnotiled in different rooms we
,,uI cali then, Mr. p and Miss u. You are no dout
aware that good hypnotic subjects De mad" to have
ros, hypnotic Authorizations. told while MW"t1ed
that thcy Will see specific cbJcc: when they awake
,hov d. see H. though i nothing u the sort there
Mr. Smi, told MI p. TIA: Mrs Sidevlck would show HIM
MIXTURE and then went u the and tod Miss H.
that she would picture which MI T. would $40" Der
,,hc, bor eyes were OPEN While he away Mrs Sldg
wick tod Mr. T. that she going - show him picture
~ a r.a;chasc with two goats. Then Nh. Smith camo
hack awoke Mr. p and left again Immediately. After
which Mrs Sdrwick gave Nj. p blank card as picture
and he almost Immediately It the pictnr" Of goat
h,l.e and Two goats much pleased with It. Mrs
Sdewc asked him 70 take II upstairs and show IL "a Mas
H. but to be- careful tell her what II This he
did Miss b. at only something black on the
card hon degrees she first some Wheels then "a
nice little carriage ana presently some aulhaIS III
front which identified two goats This seems u be-
4 case Of collective hslucination aud which
ycycd to Miss b. by thought.tran ference from MIR. p
The census inquiry Is also proceeding in America,
France Germany and Italy, but no detailed reports
have vet been received from these countries. \
port on the Is be made to the international
Congress Of Experimental Psychology in 1892, and 1t
/, hoped that 900 will be received by that
time Professor William James, of Harvard Uni
versity will willingly supply the necessary forms to
any ono in this country WHO is interested in this
subject
NlrIAA- LIZ n z IL ID fERIInS