Evening star., 1954-01-11
Ghost Phenomena
Studied by Scientists
Experts From Ia Countries
Have Session at Utrecht
By Thomos R. Henry

Hollands ancient and Super-reSpect-
able University Utrecht, whose ivied
halls date from the 17th Century, was
the scene OF strange gathering of
ghost hunters" recently.
Eminent psychologists, physicists,
mathematicians and astronomers from
IA countries met to consider the "psi
gamma anC psi kappa state" in other
words. such phenomena as telepathy
and table-lifting. Considered with sus-
picion in the past, they have been raised
to the dignity of scientific looking
Greek letters, according to a report
Of the gathering to the American AS
ISOLATION for the Advancement of Sci
ence by DIR. Gardner Murphy of the
Menninger Foundation, Topeka. one Of
the American delegates. Eminent SCI
entists assembled at Utrecht, he reports,
included DR.. j. F. NJ. Stratton, profess
Sor of astrophysics at Cambridge; DR..
Hans Schafer. professor of physiology
at Heidelberg; DR.. S. G. Soal, professor
CT mathematics at the University Of
London, and Prof. r. A. Mcconnell Of
the biophysics department of the Uni
versity Of Pittsburgh.
The Problem Stated.
The meeting, DR.. Murphy explains,
was to consider problems which arise
in the investigation of types of reported
communication between individuals not
explicable in terms of contact through
the sense organs and types of contact
between individuals and their physical
environment not explicable in terms
of contemporary physics and biology.
The various scientific groups discussed
the possibility OF developing a theory
sufficiently comprehensive to give some
sort of order to the variety of phenom-
ena described.
Although most of the problems have
been investigated TOR many years by
individual scientists, the spread of in
terest has been notable in recent years
and primary activity of the conference
was to develop a scientific program to
deal with all types of unknown relations
between individual and environment.
There was, for example, marked in
tereSt in unexplained or unorthodox
healing transcending the present con-
cepts of psychosomatic medicine. A
medical committee was established to
take the first steps toward organization
of research center for investigation
and Interpretation of such phenom-
ena."
Duke Z. Represented.
Among the American institutions
represented was Duke University. CEN
ter of the so-called parapsychology or
apparent communication by thought
transfer of some sort.
Ghost hunting" has long sought.
but never quite attained, scientific
respectability. although some of the
most eminent scientists of the earlier
years of the century-including Sir
Oliver Lodge and Sir William Crookes
in England, the great astronomer
Camille Flammarion in France. and
William James in the United States
were associated with it. The repu-
tation of all of them suffered All
apparently were deceived by trickery.
and the insight of the physicist was
no match for the trickery of the sleight-
of-hand performer. The amount Of
deceit actually uncovered has left all
other apparent phenomena in this field
subject to grave suspicion.
New Fields Of knowledge.
The new investigators, however. will
have fields of knowledge at their dis
posal which were completely unknown
to the older workers and there still
is much more in Heaven and earth
than has been dreamed Of" in philoso-
phies.
Renewed scientific interest perhaps
comes at an opportune time because
of the squirt Of concern which natu-
rally follows any great war in which
many persons have died. The mourners
often become easy victims of charla-
tans using trickery thousands Of years
old.
A real hope of the scientists who
gathered at Utrecht will be to fit the
supposed ghost phenomena into the
natural order and take as much of
the supernatural as possible out Of
them.