Evening star., 1937-04-17
TELEPATHY PUT
TO TEST AT DUKE
CIairvoyance Is Also Dem.
onstrated by Dr.. Rhine
of Faculty.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

| BY THOMAS r. HENRY.
DURHAM, N. c., April l7-Has
man some mental eye which can see,
however dimly, through stone walls
and regardless Of distance?
Can one read another's mind, de-
prived of such clues as intimate ac-
| quaintance, facial expressions and
voice infections?
These questions are being put to
a rigid scientific test in the psyche
logical laboratory of Duke University
here. DR.. Joseph B. Rhine OF the
Duke faculty and his assistants DEM
onstrated their methods and told OF
their latest findings yesterday at .
meeting arranged by the National
Association OF Science Writers and
attended by DR.. Irving Langmuir.
noted chemist and vice president Of
the General Electric Co.
Something to Telepathy.
Their findings indicate, in brief,
that there is something to both clair
voyance and telepathy. At least,
neither the science writer's nor DR..
Langmuir could put finger on any
obvious flaw in their procedures, no.
body questions the honesty and sin
cerity, and DR.. Rhine and his as
sociates and some of their foremost
experts on statistical methods in the
world have checked up on their
mathematical treatment Of their re-
suits.
Chance apparently Is ruled out, for
this mathematical analysis shows the
chances are one in the biggest figure
anybody ever imagined-l0 to the
1,200th power or 10 followed by 1900
cyphers-against some of the things
happening that have happened in
that Duke laboratory. And that is
several times the number OF all the
atoms in the universe
Anecdotally there have been in
Vulnerable instances Of clairvoyance
and telepathy. Almost everybody
knows, in his personal experience or
that Of his immediate family, Of very
queer things that have happened Un-
fortunately, however well substan-
tiated, these anecdotes are not valid
scientific evidence because there is no
way of ruling out the factors of COIN
cidence, of unconscious mistakes in
reporting, etc. A valid test requires
that every factor be controlled-and
that is exactly what the Duke psy-
biologists are doing.
Perhaps it is we'll to insert here
that none of the science writer's,
with one possible exception, showed
the slightest ability in either of these
occult lines. I myself was a woeful
failure a. telepathic reading, making
the remarkable score Of 100 per cent
wrong, but showed up trifle above
the average on clairvoyance.
Procedure Is Simple.
The procedure is basically simple
enough. DR.. Rhine has a special
pack Of 25 cards, the size of ordinary
playing cards. On the faces, how
ever, are printed geometrical figures
in place of the playing card symbols.
There are five stars, five crosses, five
squares, five circles and five waves.
The subject of the experiment, with
|
card without looking at them with
these five symbols Now, by pure
chance with large number Of trials
five cards should be matched cor
rectly on an average for each trial
There is one chance out of five that
the card I match with star will
itself carry the star symbol.
| &c ct1 ho 1l>{ IN; Z
with many thousands of trials with
a card shutting machine. One pack
is shuffled and the cards laid face
up. Then the second pack is shut
fed and the cards laid face up against
those of the first pack. One card
out of five will be correctly matched
on an average for a hundred trials
or more. A man or woman, with nc
clues, should do no better nor nc
worse than the machine.
But suppose for 100 trials one
matches an average of seven cards
correctly. Supposing he does it fol
thousand trials or, as in the case o1
one of DR.. Rhine's subjects, gets ar
average of correct out Of the 25
If this happens it is considered evil
dence that something has come into
the picture to abrogate the laws Of
pure chance. The more cards one
matches correctly and the greater the
number of the trials, the less the like.
lihood that the matching is follow.
ing the mathematical laws of prob.
ability
May Be Miles Apart.
Telepathy is tested in much thl
same way. except the two work TO-
gether One knows the card which
the other calls. Generally person!
gifted in these faculties do as vel
but no better at telepathy as at pur,
clairvoyance 1t doesn't make an,
difference whether the two are sit.
ting across the table from each other
in two different buildings on th'
campus or miles apart.
The abilities differ enormousl,
from person to person, most ever,
one succeeding no better than chance
But one subject time after timt
matched Is out of the Is cards cor
rectly and on at least one occasion
i matched all rs. The ability quickl
deteriorates. the best performers afte
}, a few months falling back to pur,
chance again. Narcotic drugs inter
fere with it badly, bit after declin
5 it can be restimulated by caffeine.
1 All this, of course, is very far from
the ghoulish atmosphere of the seance
There are no dim lights and f,lm,
, draperies, no mysterious voices ou
: of the darkness. The rooms are bar
and we'll lighted. There is no emo
tional element in the performances
. Nobody can get very excited abou
matching decks OF cards a hundred
times. No directions are given Th
hatcher follows the hunch OF tn
moment, or just lays the cards dowl
at random without any lunches.
L