Metapsychical Phenomena: Methods and ObservationsMaxwell, J. (Joseph)
Philosophy
Metapsychical Phenomena: Methods and Observations
Maxwell, J. (Joseph)
Parapsychology -- Investigation
Facts of this kind are very numerous. Perhaps they are only simple
coincidences, but, as with sensory automatisms already described, I
cannot help thinking, that coincidence does not explain everything. The
concording details are often so numerous, that the probabilities in an
extremely large proportion are against pure hazard. Richet, however,
has carefully studied the Calculus of Probabilities, and I will not go
into the question. I simply give my impression, persuaded as I am that
those who study these facts impartially will come to the conclusion,
that hazard does not explain everything.
The two dreams which I have taken as examples offer us cases of
telepathy, that is to say, the impression perceived in a way which the
ordinary senses do not explain. Telepathy has been carefully studied
by Myers, Gurney, Podmore, Sidgwick, Ermacora, and discussion on this
question can only be pursued, if the work of these savants has been
studied. Telepathy appears to me to be established in a definitive
manner, but I have no personal example to cite. However, a very great
number of cases have been related to me, by persons who have received
telepathic impressions. I know of many people who have had veridical
hallucinations, either during sleep or when awake. The following are
some examples borrowed from my circle of friends or relations:—
One of my great-uncles had married a coloured woman at Martinique.
This lady, though highly respectable, was the victim of tenacious
prejudice on the part of the white creole families on the island, and
my uncle’s marriage aroused the displeasure of his family. He left
Saint-Pierre, and came to Bordeaux. His wife’s mind suddenly gave way;
she had dangerous attacks of fury, but the union between my great-uncle
and his wife was so close, and their reciprocal affection so profound,
that my relation would not consent to a separation and have her cared
for in an asylum. He fell a victim to his devotion; his wife killed
him in an attack of high fever. One of my great-aunts, the dead man’s
sister, living at Paris, was awakened in the middle of the night by
her brother’s voice calling her. This hallucination coincided with the
death of my great-uncle.
An intimate friend of my mother’s, a creole living at Bordeaux, had
been present at the embarkation of a family belonging to Martinique,
that was returning to Saint-Pierre. Some time afterwards she had a
dream in which she saw a steamer founder; the stern of the vessel rose
above the waves, and she was able to read the name of the boat; it was
the one on which her friends had embarked. The vessel was lost and not
a life saved.
Here is another interesting fact, in which (1) a sentiment of anxiety,
the cause unknown to the conscious personality, corresponds with the
serious illness of a near relation; (2) the telepathic, premonitory
hallucination of a telephonic call preceded the real call by two hours.
This fact was communicated to me by one of my friends.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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