The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-09-30

the race concerns M even more nearly than the
mode Of its operation. and one Il impelled,
therefore, 20 ask whether the faculty. as we
know II Is but the germ OF = more splendid
capacity. or the last vestige Of a power grown
stunted through disuse. Mr.. Podmore thinks
that the latter alternative will be preferred by
those who view the matter simply as a topic of
natural history. The possible utility OF telep-
athy as n supplement TO gesture, etc, at q time
when speech and writing were not yet evolved
IL too obvious for comment. On the other hand,
such a faculty can with diffculty be conceived
a. originating by any physical process Of evolu-
tlon in our modern civilization. More direct
evidence Of the traces Of telepathy In
human development Is not wanting. There
are indications that the consciousness
that lies below the threshold and with which the
activity Of telcpathy Is constantly associated.
may be regarded as representing an earlier
stage In the consciousness OF the individual, and
even IL may DO an earlier stage In the history OF
the race. The rcadicst means Of summoning
into temporary activity this subterranean con-
seriousness is the hypnotic trance. Now the
consciousness displayed by the hypnotized sub
ject includes, as u rule, the whole OF the normal
consciousness, and also extends bevond It. That
Is, the hypnotizcd subject Is aware not only OF
what goes on in the trance, but also OF his nor
I1hl llt NhNh hho VNNhN' " VIZ
trance have passed from his memory, and are
not revived until the next trance period. Our
workaday consciousness would seem TO be, In
fact. a selection from a much larger field OF po-
tential consciousness. To put IL in another way,
the pressure on the narrow limits OF our work.
ing Consciousness is so great that ideas and SEN
satlons are continually being crowded out and
forced down below the threshold. The sublim-
inal consciousness thus becomes the receptacle Of
lapsed memories and sensations; and, up TO a
certain point In the history of each Individual,
these lapsed ideas can be temporarily revived.
From such considerations IL might be argued
that tclepathy Is the relic Of a once servicenble
faculty which eked out the primitive alphabet
Of gesture. and helped to bind our ancestors Of
the cave or the tree In "a yet inarticulate COM
munity. DR.. Jules Hericourt, indeed, goes
further and suggests that we find here traces
Of the primeval, unspecialized sensitiveness
which preceded the development OF q nervous
system-a heritage shared with the amnba and
the sea-anemOne. But the author of this book
is too sensible to maintain that such considera.
tons do more than Justify n suspension Of
judgment. We are not yet called upon TO decide
whether telepathy is ~vestigial or a rudimentary
faculty; whether its manifestations are gov
erned by forces correlative with heat and cleo
tricity, or whether we are justified in discern
ing in them the operation of some vsster cosmic
agency. The first stage Of the inquiry has not
yet been traversed. II would be futile to debate
what manner Of new agency one purposes to be-
lieve in until IL ia generally admitted by COM
petcnt persons that the facts are not to be
attributed to such recognized causes as illusion,
Misrepresentation. and the su~b-conscious quick
ening Of normal faculties.