A Theory of the Mechanism of Survival: The Fourth Dimension and Its ApplicationsSmith, W. Whately (Walter Whately)
Philosophy
A Theory of the Mechanism of Survival: The Fourth Dimension and Its Applications
Smith, W. Whately (Walter Whately)
Fourth dimension; Parapsychology
The first is that although Dr. Crawford has not yet succeeded in
photographing the structure _in situ_, he has obtained a photograph of
what appears to be the same substance issuing out of the medium.
Furthermore, the existence of the structure has been confirmed by
clairvoyants, and this fact, taken in conjunction with the photographic
results and with what I said about "etheric" or "ultra-violet"
clairvoyance in Chapter III, forces us once more to the conclusion that
this elusive substance possesses the property of emitting or reflecting
ultra-violet light.
The second point is that the extrusion of this substance from the
medium results in superficial insensibility, although she is in full
possession of all her normal faculties.
Dr. Crawford discusses this point at some length in an article which
appeared in the _Psychic Gazette_ for September 1916. Into the minutiæ
of the discussion I need not enter here. It is sufficient to say that
the medium is to some extent insensitive and that in Dr. Crawford's
opinion "It seems likely that the want of sensibility to heavy and
varied reactions which undoubtedly occur upon the medium is due to some
peculiar condition of her organism during the period of phenomena."
Now, these various experiments although they may be individually weak
do seem rather to hang together. There is an appearance of possible
connection between the experiments of Joire and recent views on the
"aura"; and it is possible that what MacDougal weighed and Baraduc
photographed are the same thing.
It is obvious that all these experiments ought to be checked and
re-checked by independent investigators and further experiments
undertaken to discover whether there is any real connection between
them.
But for the present purpose I think it legitimate to extrapolate and to
assume that they are reliable and connected in the way that I suspect.
The experiments of de Rochas, of Joire and of Kilner suggest that a
temporary loss of sensibility is accompanied by the extrusion from the
body of a sensitive substance of peculiar properties.
In the Baraduc and MacDougal experiments a total and permanent loss of
sensibility seems to be accompanied by the extrusion of a substance of
somewhat similar properties.
Finally in the case of Dr. Crawford's researches we find that the
extrusion of an apparently very similar substance is again accompanied
by a certain insensitivity.
Somewhat similar conditions are to be found in cases of
"materialisation"--compare, for example, the work of Dr.
Schrenk-Notzing and Mme. Bisson or Dr. Geley's paper in
Part I. of the "Annales des Sciences Psychiques" for 1919.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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