Metapsychical Phenomena: Methods and ObservationsMaxwell, J. (Joseph)
Philosophy
Metapsychical Phenomena: Methods and Observations
Maxwell, J. (Joseph)
Parapsychology -- Investigation
I will terminate these remarks by the recital of another fact of
the same order, which I witnessed at Madame Agullana’s. It occurred
during an afternoon seance at her house. The medium, and two or three
persons whom I did not know, were seated round a small table. One of
the visitors was a small landed proprietor near Bordeaux. This visitor
came for the first time; he was accompanied by a rural constable, whom
I knew. All at once Madame Agullana said to the newcomer, ‘I see some
one, who says he is your uncle; he wears a cap; his face is red; he
has a long beard; he has sandy-coloured hair; he smokes a short pipe;
he seems to have something the matter with his right arm, it is bent
across his chest.’ ... She also gave other details. The visitor did not
speak, a fact of which I took pains to assure myself.
When the details were all given, the visitor said that if the
apparition claiming to be his uncle, was really his uncle, would he
kindly say how he was addressed in his family. The table dictated
typtologically, ‘Touton L. P.’ The stranger then said that Madame
Agullana had given him the exact description of a second cousin[7] who
had been dead for some months, and who, because of his inveterate habit
of smoking, was nicknamed ‘Touton-la-Pipe.’
[7] In France, a male cousin once removed is sometimes called
‘oncle à la mode de Bretagne.’
I have seen several sincere, trustworthy people receive facts of the
same kind through Madame Agullana. There is notably the history of
the discovery of a lost debenture, which is curious and interesting;
I was able to follow the different phases of this discovery. The
indication appeared to emanate from the deceased husband of the
owner of the debenture. Notwithstanding the interest which these
observations presented, I cannot analyse them seriously, for they are
insufficiently proved. The character of the medium has always seemed
to me irreproachable, and her good faith above all suspicion; but the
circumstances do not permit of an exact judgment. Neither do I consider
myself authorised to affirm that the personality of ‘Touton-la-Pipe’
was quite unknown to the medium. The discovery of the debenture is
perhaps only a coincidence. I have, however, related these facts to
indicate the possibility of an order of research of a particularly
suggestive nature. Some of the more influential members of the English
Society for Psychical Research, Myers, Lodge, Hodgson, Hyslop, have
entered upon these studies under excellent conditions of observation,
and consider that they have been in communication with their deceased
friends. I have not had the same chances, and my own experiences tend
to make me adopt a different way of thinking. It is very possible that
my colleagues are right, and I am wrong.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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