The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-09-30
I 4.

The reader ia probably by this time convinced
that the writer Of this book is a sober and eau
tious person, determined to subject all phe-
nomena of IN anomalous kind to cool and
wary scrutiny before admitting them TO the
category even Of prima facie proof. Now,
let US SEQ what conclusions Mr.. Podmore
is inclined to accept in view OF the data
brought forward, sifted, and analysed In
these pages. In his judgment the experimental
evidence has shown that a simple sensation or
idea may be transferred from one mind to
another otherwise than through the known
channels Of the senses. and that this transfer
renee may take place not only in the hypnotic
trance. but also in the normal state. In his
opinion 1t has likewise been demonstrated that
the transferred idea may be produced in the
percipient's organism under various DISCUSSES;
at one time II may cause great distress or terror,
or a blind impulse 10 action; under other cir
cumstanccs II may inspire definite and compli-
Gated movements, such as those involved In
writing. Again, IL may induce sleep. or even
more deep-seated organic effects, such as hys-
terra or local anesthesia dnsensibility TO pain.
Finally, II may he embellished with imagery
presumably furnished by the percipient's own
mind. and may appear rs a dream or hallucina-
tlOH representing TIC ulSJdH' hScht- licoc
various results may be obtained either by de-
liberate experiment. or as the result OF some
crisis affecting another mind, or, lastly. as
following on some peculiar state Of receptivity
established under conditions not yet clearly
ascertained in the percipient's mind.
This is all that Mr.. Podmore considers proved
at the present time. but he thinks II premature
TO assume that this is all that will be proved
hereafter. lie pronounces IL unreasonable to
infer that the few hundreds or thousands of ex-
amples collected during the last twelve years
by n few groups of Investigators exhaust the
possibilities or define the limits OF telepathic
action. BY those, at all events, who accept the
demonstration of telepathy as a real agency 1t
will scarcely be anticipated that its action
should be confined to tho comparatively few
cases which have thus far been found to pre-
sent condolences sufficiently striking to be
quoted. That the distribution OF telepathic
seRsitiveness at the present time should be
sporadic-as the distribution OF a musical ear
or the power of visualizatlon is sporadic
might a priori appear not improbable. We
should be prepared TO find instances OF its pre-
sumptive operation, which fall below the level
of demonstration, and might, with almost equal
plausibility, be referred to some other cause.
Such instances we do seem to find In simultane-
Gus dreams and In vague presentiments. and In
innumerable condolences OF thought and ex-
preston in ordinary life. The writer Of this
book submits as worthy OF consideration the sug-
gestion whether the power OF telepathy may not
serve as an auxiliary to more completely sys-
tematized modes OF expression in cases where
proof is unobtainable. Is it not conceivable, he
asks, that 1t may aid the intercourse OF a mother
will her infant child, that the influence OF the
orator may be due not merely to the spoken
word, and that, even In our daily conversation,
thoughts may pass by this means which ind
no outward expression2 Mr.. POdmore is in
clined TO regard the personal influence OF the
operator In hyDnotism as a proof presumptiye OF
telepathy. or course, when all the phenomena
OF "mesmerism" were attributed by the few
who believed in them to the passage of a fluid
from the mesmerist to his patient it was natural
TO credit the successful operator with as large
an endowment OF available fluid as the facts
might seem to require. But, from those who
assert that the results are not merely applicable,
but solely applicable as due 10 suggestion alone,
no entirely satisfactory explanation has been
forthcoming OF the observed differences between
one operator and another. Must we as
sumo that Liebeault, Bernheim, Schrenck-
Nothing, Van Eeden, Lloyd Tuckey, Bran
well. etc, have succeeded where so many
others have failed, simply through the
exercise of greater patience, or the possession OF
an established reputation, which, after all, is
based on the successes which It Is now invoked
70 explainf The fact that a large proportion Of
well-known hypnotists have acted as agents in
successful telepathic experiments of an unusual
kind Is brought forward as a further argument
In the same direction. There are, moreover,
some more dubious beliefs, for the most part dis
credited by educated persons, but persisting with
a singular vitality which receive in telepathy
a simple and possibly sufficient explanation. II
has been shown in this hook that some of the
mAryels OF DIR. Dee and the Specularii have
been pAralleled by recent visions in The
Crystal revealing events then passing At a
distance and unknown 10 the seer. Some rea-
sons also have been given for thinking that the
nucleus OF fact In certain legends of ghosts
and haunted houses Is to be sought In a tele-
pathic hsllucinAtion. Many OF the alleged
wonders of wltchcrAft and the ancient magic in
general, when disentangled from the accretions
formed around them by popular myth and su-
perstitiOn, present . marked resemblance to
some Of the facts recorded in this book.
Admitting, for the sake Of argument, the ex-
istenoe Of a telepathic faculty, what was It's
origin, and what may we expect To be its fu-
turer The writer OF this book suggests that a
clue TO lis origin may perhaps be found in the
close connection Of the activity OF thought
transferencs with the subliminal consciousness
the consciousness which appears In hypnosis,
and occasionally in dream life. aud In spon-
tAneOus trance and GutomEtism. Undoubtedly,
the future place 0f tslsP@thy In the history Of