The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-05-31
Copyright, 1919, by the International
 News Bureau, Incl
By LORD RAYLEIGH, O. NJ,

| By LORD RAYLEIGH, O. M 1 (Preddent Physical Research Society | of Great Britain.)
 Having always taken an interest I in questions such as those considered by the Psychica1 Research Society, I | might perhaps as well give a short ac- l count of what I have seen, for it | would at any rate help to explain my l attitude and serve as a foundation for | comment.
 | Beginning with what Is now called hypnotism, I recall an exhibition of ! the powers of Mime. Card in a friend's s l room at Cambridge in the sixties of | the last century. I think eight or ten !of us were tried, including myself We | were made to gaze for a time at a ! magnetic disc; afterwards she made passes over our closed eyes, and fin | ally defied us to open them. and some others experienced difficu1- ty; and naturally she discarded us and developed her powers over those 1 about half the sitters-who had I failed or found difficulty. Among the | latter were personal friends of my own and two well-known University athletes. One was told that he could not give his name, another that he would have to cross the room toward her when she beckoned him, and so on. In spite of obvious efforts to re- | sist her influence, they had to obey. In conversation afterwards they as ! sured me that they could not help l it; and indeed they made such fools | of themselves that I had no difficulty ! in believing them- From that even | ing I have never felt any doubt as
 to the possibility of influencing un- | willing minds by suggestion; and I have often wished that on other occa- sions. where dubious phenomena were
 in question, conviction one way or | the other had followed this prece- | dent.
 Sir W. Crooks Inquiries. i After this experience I was not dis 1 inclined to believe that what was, or | at any rate had recently been, orthodox | opinion might be quite wrong, and ac- | cordingly became interested in what l I heard from friends of the doings l of Home and other so-called mediums. ! The interest that I felt was greatly i stimulated by the appearance of Sir 1 W. Crooke's Notes of an Enquiry | into the Phenomena called Spiritual | during the years 1S70-73," published l in the Quarterly Journal of Science, | January 1874.
 l I am tempted to quote one or two | passages against which I find my old pencil marks.
 l Under the heading-The Appear ance of Hands either with Self-lum- | inous or Visible by Ordinary Light. T have retained one of these hands | in my own, firmly resolved not to let | it escape. There was no struggle or | effort made to get loose, but 1t grad | ually seemed to resolve itself into | Fo in haf from my grasp
 I believe that the rationaiSttc ex- planation is that the hand was an in l Hated glove, like a rubber balloon, ! from which the air gradually leaked away but gave Sir w. Crookes credit l for being able to retain the rubber. | Another incident of an entirely diff ferent character I thus describe. | "A lady was writing automatically by means of the planchette. I was ! trying to devise a. means of proving what she wrote was not due to 'un- conscious cerebration.' The Planchette as it always does insisted that. al- though it was moved by~the hand and arm of the lady. the intelligence was that of an invisible being who was playing on her brain as on musical instrument and thus moving her muscles. I therefore said to this in- telligence. Can you see the contents of this room?' Yes wrote the plan chette. Can you see to read this news paper?' said I, putting my finger on CODY of the Times, which was on the table behind me, but without looking at it. Yes was the reply of the planchette. We'll I said, if you can
 see that, write the word which is now covered by my finger and I will believe you.' The Planchette com
 menced to move. Slowly and with great difficulty the word however was covered by the tip of my fin ger. I had purposely avoided looking at the newspaper when I tried this experiment.; and 1t was impossible for the lady, had she tried, to have seen any of the printed words, for she was sitting at one table, and the paper was on the other table behind, my body intervening"
 Home and Mrs. Jencl<en. The two mediums whose names were mentioned in the article, and with whom most of the observations were made, were Home and Miss Fox afterwards Mrs. Jencken. A highly desirable characteristic of Homes me- diumship was the unusual opportun- f ity allowed to the sense of sight | Home always objected to darkness at ! his seances. Indeed, except on two 1 occasions. everything that I have 1 witnessed with him has taken place In | the light" I found (and. indeed. still 1 find) it difficult to accept what one | may call the "knave and fort theory" | of these occurrences: but. failing that | it would seem to follow that one must admit the possibility of much that | contrasts strongly with ordinary ex- l perience, and was naturally anxious to obtain first-hand information on which I could form an Independent judgment. Home was no longer avail able. but was able to obtain the CO., operation of Mrs Jencken, who stay ed in my country house as guest dur ing two or three visits extending al- together, suppose. over 14 days or so.
 The results were upon the whole disappointing and certainly far short of those described by Sir w. Crookes Nevertheless, there was good deal not easy to explain away. BeIore