Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1905-10-13
Work Of Society for PsychicaI Research
and Some Of the Conclusions
Reached.
Between Deaths and ASPIRATIONS Of
the Dying Connection Not Due
to Chance Exists.

feSSor w. F. Barrett. who. in common
with several other Englishmen of
scientific attainments. had for some
time been conducting independent in.
quirieS into the nature of the various
phenomena alleged to have evidential
value in support of the belief that the
dead can. and do, communicate with
the living, and that. as an inevitable
cOrollary. there is existence beyond |
the grave. writes H. Addington Bruce I
in Public Opinion.
Acting on hints conveyed by Mr.. |
Quincy and his colaborers, the soci-
ETY., side by side with the unremit |
ting examination of the ghost stor-
les, tales of possession narratives |
of spirit communication ETC., that
began to pour in on it from every |
quarter of the civilized world, under
took number of elaborate expert |
ments to determine the possibility |
of the transference of thought from |
mind to mind withouto the interven
ton of any known means of commun-
ication. The details of these expert
ments, in which hypnotism played a
prominent part, are given in full in
the earlier volumes of the society's
proceedings" to which, from con-
Sideration of space, | must refer the
reader. Suffice it here to say that the
results obtained were such as to salts
fly the experimenters of the actually
of Thought transference," or "tele
pathy,' to use the term now common
ly employed. 1t was. indeed. found
! rl,t
but feeling. Thus as early as 1883
successful experiments in community
of sensation" were carried out by Mr..
Quincy and others. the hypnotized sub
ject on one occasion correctly localiz
ing on his own body 90 out of "a
pinches inflicted on the body of an
other. Experiments in community of
sensation" were also fairly success
full with the factor of hypnotism alb
sent. But it was observed that, what
ever the experiment, hypnotizer
'percipient" in the waking state, and
from this it was conjecturei that the
successful transmission of telepath-
ic message involved an abnormal slim
ulation of the process of the mind.
Whence this stimulation or how it OPP
Grated was more difficult.
- SCUSuS VI tVdIiuCVIdS'otS.
Meanwhile, in 1889, the telepathic
experiments still proceeding. the So
ciety entered into another novel in
Quiry. A committee. consisting of six
of it's most careful Investigators
Professor and Mrs. Sidgewick. F. w.
H. Myers and his brother DR.. A. r.
Myers. Miss Alice Johnson of New
ham College, Cambridge. and Frank
70 oh n
census of Authorizations" for the pur
pose % of ascertaining what proper
ton of persons experience sensOry
Authorizations, and 90 of securing de-
tails tending to throw light on the
course and significance of such eX
periences Over 400 collectors" were
enlisted, and each Of these was in
structed to address to 25 adults, ire
spective of the probability Of securing
an affirmative answer, the question:
Have you ever, when believing your
slf to be completely awake, had a WV
id impression of seeing or being touch
ed by living thing or inaminate OBJ
ject, or of hearing a voice; which i'm
preston, SO far as you could discOv-
er, was not due to any external ply
steal cause?"
Question $1,000 People.
In all, 100 people We're thus ques-
toned, and after careful deductions
We're made for experiences (such as
Authorizations occurring during ill
ness) outside the scope of inquiry, it
was ascertained that almost 10 per
cent (9.9 per cent, to be exacD, of the
answers received We're in the affirm
alive Still more interesting, out of
a total of $50 recognized ASPIRATIONS
of living persons no less than 65 were
death conincidences," that is to say,
the hallucinatory experience occurred
to the "percipient' within from one
hour to ~ hours of the death of the
"agent" or person seen. Sitting these
cases scrupulously, the committee for
various reasons rejected SO. leaving
a total of 80 death condolences.
At the same time, the total of recog-
nizeI ASPIRATIONS Of living persons
was raised from $50 to 1900 in order
to make the most generous allowance
for the number Of such apparitions
forgotten by the 'percipients,' fFor
details of the calculations by which the
correction for forgetfulness was made,
see the society's proceedings" Vol.
X, which contains the complete re-
port on the census of hallucinations.'
This gave a final result of about 90
death condolences ont of 1900
cases, or a proportion of about one in
Az Computing from the average an
nual death rate for England and Wales.
it was calculated that the probable
ity that any one person, taken at ran
dom, would die on a given day was
about one in 1900; in other words,
out of every 1900 ASPIRATIONS of liy-
ing persons there should occur, by
chance alone, one death coincidence.
The actual proportion, however, as es-
tablished by the census, was equiva-
lent to about 44o in 10000, or 44O
times the most probable number, and
this when the apparitions reported
were considered merely as having been
seen at any time within from one hour
to ~ hours of death. A large number
on the other hand, We're reported as
having been seen within one hour OF
the time of death, and for these the
improbability of occurrence by chance
alone was, of course. II times 44D
All this led the committee to declare
without reservation: Between deaths
and apparitions of the dying person
connection exists which is not due
to chance"
Problem Still Unso'ved.
The problem of the casual neXus a
once arose. To some the spiritistic
hypothesis seemed to offer not only
the simplest. but the only possible so
luton. Others argued that telepath
iC action was of itself sufficient to ac