Sinclair, Mary Craig, 1883-1961; Sinclair, Upton, 1878-1968; Telepathy; Telepathy -- Case studies
Next objection, that I am “a man without scientific training.” The
acceptance of that statement depends upon the definition of the word
“scientific.” If it includes the social sciences, then I have had
twenty-five years of very rigid training. I have made investigations and
published statements, literally by thousands, which were criminal libels
unless they were true and exact; yet I have never had any kind of libel
suit brought against me in my life. As to the scientific value of the
particular experiments described in this book, the reader can do his own
judging, for they have been described in detail. I don’t see how
scientific training could have increased our precautions. We have
outlined our method to scientists, and none has suggested any change.
Next, the fact that in the past I have shown myself “naïve and credulous
at times.” No doubt I have; but I have learned by such experiences, and
I am not so naïve and credulous as when I was younger. Neither do I see
how these qualities can play much part in the present matter. I surely
know the conditions under which I made my drawings, and whether I had
them under my eyes while my wife was making her drawings in another
room; I know about the ones I sealed in envelopes, and which were never
out of my sight. As for my wife, she certainly has nothing of the
qualities of naïveté and credulity. She was raised in a family of
lawyers, and was given the training and skeptical point of view of a
woman of the world. “Trust people, but watch them,” was old Judge
Kimbrough’s maxim; and following it too closely has almost made a
pessimist of his daughter.
Next, that Craig is “in poor health.” That is true, but I do not see how
it matters here. She has often been in pain, but it has never affected
her judgment. She chose her own times for experimenting, when she felt
in the mood, and her mind was always clear and keen for the job.
Next, “a husband and wife are a bad pair to make telepathic experiments.
Living so much together, their common life does tend to make them think
of the same thing at the same time.” This is true; but how does it
account for the half-dozen successes with a brother-in-law, twenty or
thirty with a secretary, and many with Jan? How does it account for the
covers and jackets of books in which I had no interest, but which had
come to me by chance, and which Craig had never even glanced at, so far
as she remembers?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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