A corroborative illustration of the subjective contribution to
deceptions of this type--the part that "always comes out of our
head," in Professor James's phrase--is furnished by M. Binet's series
of photographs, taken at the rate of ten or twelve per second, of the
hands of the performer during a sleight-of-hand performance; for the
photographs do not show the essential illusion which the eyes seem to
see, but which is really supplied by the fixed interpretative habits
of the spectators.
The conclusion thus experimentally arrived at by Messrs. Hodgson
and Davey is reinforced by other investigators. After witnessing a
séance that was merely a series of the simplest and most glaringly
evident tricks, Mrs. Sidgwick was expected to have had all her doubts
entirely removed, and was assured that what she had seen was better
than the materializations at Paris. "Experiences like this make one
feel how misleading the accounts of some completely honest witnesses
may be; for the materializations in Paris were those which the Comte
de Bullet had with Firman, where near relatives of the Count were
believed constantly to appear, and which are among the most wonderful
recorded in spiritualistic literature. And, after all, it appears
that these marvelous séances were no better than this miserable
personation by Haxby."
The Seybert Commission finds that "with every possible desire on the
part of spiritualists to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth, concerning marvelous phenomena, it is extremely
difficult to do so. Be it distinctly understood that we do not for an
instant impute willful perversion of the truth. All that we mean is
that, for two reasons, it is likely that the marvels of spiritualism
will be, by believers in them, incorrectly and insufficiently
reported. The first reason is to be found in the mental condition of
the observer; if he be excited or deeply moved, his account cannot
but be affected, and essential details will surely be distorted.
For a second reason, note how hard it is to give a truthful account
of any common, everyday occurrence. The difficulty is increased a
hundredfold when what we would tell partakes of the wonderful. Who
can truthfully describe a juggler's trick? Who would hesitate to
affirm that a watch, which never left the eyesight for an instant,
was broken by the juggler on an anvil; or that a handkerchief was
burned before our eyes? We all know the juggler does not break the
watch, and does not burn the handkerchief. We watched most closely
the juggler's right hand, while the trick was done with his left. The
one minute circumstance has been omitted that would have converted
the trick into no-trick. It is likely to be the same in the accounts
of the most wonderful phenomena of spiritualism."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account