Metapsychical Phenomena: Methods and ObservationsMaxwell, J. (Joseph)
Philosophy
Metapsychical Phenomena: Methods and Observations
Maxwell, J. (Joseph)
Parapsychology -- Investigation
2. Only the persons _en rapport_ with her—in the sense given to this
word by de Rochas—could make an impression upon her; contacts and
pinching by other people were not perceived by her. I did not observe
these two peculiarities under conditions sufficiently precise to
warrant me affirming, that my observation was good; but I indicate
them, for to me they appeared probable.
Then, phenomena were forthcoming. Madame Agullana said she was in the
street, outside of the house. I asked her to go and see what one of
my friends, Monsieur Béchade, was doing—a man whom she knew well. It
was twenty minutes past ten o’clock. To our great surprise, she told
us that she saw ‘Monsieur Béchade half-undressed, walking bare-footed
on stones.’ This did not seem to us to have any sense. I saw my friend
the next day, and, although he is well acquainted with spiritistic
phenomena, he seemed to be astonished at my recital, and said to me,
word for word: ‘I was not feeling very well yesterday evening; one of
my friends who lives with me advised me to try Kneipp’s method, and
urged me so strongly, that, in order to satisfy him, I tried last night
for the first time to walk barefooted on cold stone. I was, in reality,
half-undressed when I made the first attempt; it was then twenty
minutes past ten o’clock; I walked about for some time on the first
steps of the staircase, which is built of stone.’
Perhaps this also is a coincidence, but this fact, which was witnessed
by several people, presents very strange coincidences all the same.
The hour, the costume, the unusual operation, are circumstances of too
special a nature for mere hazard to suffice to explain them, it seems
to me. I cite this case because it came under my personal observation,
and because it shows a variety of telepathic phenomena; it is what the
ancient magnetisers called lucidity, clairvoyance or, more exactly,
vision at a distance. It appears to me to be a development of the facts
pointed out by de Rochas; it looks as though the entire sensibility was
exteriorised to variable distances. This is telæsthesia, a phenomenon
in the sensitivo-sensorial domain, analogous to motor telekinesis.
Experimenters, who might be desirous of verifying these facts, should
not forget, (1) it is necessary to have a sensitive who has often been
_magnetised_—I do not say _hypnotised_; (2) sleep must be pushed
very deeply—passes must be continued for more than half an hour after
somnambulism sets in. The time is reduced with sensitives who are well
developed.
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