Metapsychical Phenomena: Methods and ObservationsMaxwell, J. (Joseph)
Philosophy
Metapsychical Phenomena: Methods and Observations
Maxwell, J. (Joseph)
Parapsychology -- Investigation
“It appears that M. Meurice attracted several objects—pieces of bread,
forks, etc.—yesterday during lunch. But he could not reproduce the
phenomena in my presence. We had, however, raps and numerous slight
movements without contact—raps almost _ad libitum_. Automatic writing
followed, but contained nothing of interest; it was impossible to
obtain replies to mental questions: subjectivity.
“_P.S._—I am adding a postscript to my letter from the medium’s house;
for we have just received some fine phenomena. The raps were, as usual,
very abundant; but we also received two fine series of parakinetic
movements.
“1. I brought a small mahogany table up to the sofa on which M. Meurice
had thrown himself. I sat down beside him, taking a shawl which I threw
over him and the table. Instantly, raps resounded on the table. M.
Meurice could not possibly have touched the table without my noticing
it.
“The table swayed about, now on this side, now on that; and then
dragged itself towards me by jerks, first one side, then the other.
When I squeezed M. Meurice’s hand or gave him a slight tap on the
shoulder, there was a synchronous movement in the table. The latter
also moved in response to request. Then it gently raised itself up on
the two feet which were nearest to me; this side lost contact with the
floor and rose to a height of four inches.
“2. We were both carefully watching this interesting phenomenon, when I
heard raps on another table which was about a foot away from the sofa
and two feet away from the table with which we were experimenting.
This second table had no contact whatsoever either with the sofa or
with the shawl: it was isolated. Hearing the raps, I looked at the
table and saw it rise up, or to be more correct, sway about—only
three of its legs touching the ground. M. Meurice had not noticed
this phenomenon; when I drew his attention to it, he became suddenly
nervous, and complained of feeling tired. I pointed out to him how much
this sensation of fatigue was subjective and out of all proportion with
the energy expended. But new or unexpected phenomena always upset him;
he experiences a sort of anguish blended with something like fear in
presence of a new phenomenon.
“These movements of the second table lasted for several minutes; they
were synchronous with our own movements and muscular contractions, but
were also forthcoming at request. We were operating in broad daylight.
Chappe informed us, by raps, that he was the operator on this occasion.”
“_11th July 1904._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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