Evening star., 1937-11-23
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress in Field,
Laboratory and Study.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

1t is only fair to say that many, perhaps
most, psychologists look askance at ESP.
They are perturbed at the seeming
avidity of the public to accep1as proven
supposed claiwoyant and telepathic card
reading results reported by Prof. j. B.
Rhine of Duke University.
Il have in my files writes Dr. Steuart
Henderson Britt, assistant professor Of
psychology at George Washington Uni
versity. six different newspaper articles
which accept the Rhine experiments as
true. have vet to find single news
paper article which reports the expert
ments at other universities where extra
senSory perception has not been proved"
He takes this column to task for what
appeared to be an Endorsement Of ESP,
although not so intended. Nobody would
be in a position to indorse DR.. Rhines
claims without repeating great part of
his work or taking the word of majority
of competent eXperimenters. Without
doubt, since ESP has become a popular
card game. lots of folks have had runs
of luck and have jumped to the conclu-
sion, after ten or twenty trials in which
they ran ahead of chance, that they
themselves are "clairvoyant" Prof Britt
points out, altogether justly, that such
evidence is worth exactly nothing.
The George Washington psychologist
writes: orthodox psychologists are doing
what intelligent investigators in any field
of science would do. They are checking
up on the Rhine experiments. This is
being done in two ways--first. by check
ing the Rhine results themselves: second,
by conducting their Cwn Investigations
at other universities" DR.. Britt says that
psychologist from a leading American
university wrote him recently: Il went
to Duke year and half ago and. while
was most cordially entertained, all the
subjects (they knew I went there pri-
marily to get tests of my own. and prom
ised me subjects) had lost the ability
except one who was inaccessible
Prof. Britt furnishes list of references
to experiments at other universities
mot one of which has given any evidence
OF extra -sensory perception either in the
average person of the group investigated
or in any particular individual of the
group" These references are as follows:
An article by Prof. Chester E. Kellogg of
McGill University, in the October Scien-
tlfic Monthly which presents in detail at
least ten possible sources of error, statisti-
cal and otherwise, in DR.. Rhine's pub
lished data; "An Experiment on Extra
sensory Perception" William S. Cox of
Princeton University, Journal of Expert
mental Psychology, August, 1886: Report
Of a Minor Investigation of Extra
sensory Perception" Kenneth H. Baker,
University of Minnesota, Journal of
Experimental Psychology, July, 1887;
Further CardGuessing Experiments" R.
R. Willoughby of Brown University, Jour-
nal of General Psychology, July, 1887.
I'm this last experiment particularly"
says DR.. Britt, "the conditions approached
as closely.as practicable to those used by
Rhine"
DR.. Britt questions whether every ma
terial factor which might influence the
results has been eliminated in the Duke
set-up. "Yes, all of them except the
following" he says: "The possible selec-
ton of favorable temporal sequences;
adequate control of the shutting of the
cards. sufficiently long unsolicited series,
a minimum of about 200 consecutive m-
selected trials under the same conditions
for each subject, without preliminary