Medicine in the Middle Ages: Extracts from "Le Moyen Age Medical" by Dr. Edmond Dupouy; translated by T. C. MinorDupouy, Edmond
History
Medicine in the Middle Ages: Extracts from "Le Moyen Age Medical" by Dr. Edmond Dupouy; translated by T. C. Minor
Dupouy, Edmond
Medicine, Medieval
During the three years that I have experimented in psychology with Dr.
Puel and his friends, there has been no _seance_ where we have not
been able to determine more or less important phenomena of percussion.
An experiment I love to make is that of striking my fingers on the
table, either to imitate the music of a band with drum accompaniment
with some known air, and the same sound is immediately produced on the
under surface of the piece of furniture, with the same rhythm appearing
to be invoked by an invisible hand performing under the table. This
phenomenon is manifested sometimes spontaneously upon my demand or
that of my assistant. I observed it one evening at my own house for
more than a quarter of an hour from, the moment I entered the room;
in this case the noise was a rolling, which appeared to arise from
the metallic surface of a table. It was a member of my family who
called my attention to the abnormal noise, so much the more curious,
inasmuch as I could produce it at will, giving shades and variations
expressed by the movements of my hand. In order to respond in advance
to any objection, I will say it was two o’clock in the morning when
this phenomenon was produced, and there was no passing carriages in the
street to make any kind of a vibration.
These phenomena of percussion are sometimes produced with a most
extraordinary intensity, as in the observations of Kate Fox in the
house at Hydesville; these were probably only phenomena of percussion
similar to those observed at Louviers, in the home of Madame Gay,
under the mediumship of Francoise Fontaine, in 1591, manifestations
which were then attributed to the Devil, or later to a condition of
hallucinations, among the witnesses, according to the _materialistic
psychologists_ of the nineteenth century.
CLASS III.—_Alteration of the weight of bodies._
The experiments made by Mr. Crookes, in regard to the alterations
in the weight of bodies, enters the category of psychic phenomena
examined with the most mathematical exactitude, by the aid of accurate
registering apparatus. It is in these experiments that the celebrated
English physician was able to witness _Psychic Force_ developed by his
_medium_.
The description and designs of the apparatus thus used may be found in
the “_Moniteur de la Policlinique_,” of the 7th and 14th of May, 1882,
and in “_Le Spiritisme_” of Dr. Paul Gibier, published in the year 1887.
This article is too lengthy for reproduction in this work, but we have
the right to consider it as the point of departure for experimental
psychology, for not only have they not been denied in France and other
countries, but _they have been recognized as absolutely true_, by
several colleagues of Mr. Crookes, belonging to the _Royal Society of
London_.
CLASS IV.—_Movements of heavy bodies at a distance from the medium._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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