Metapsychical Phenomena: Methods and ObservationsMaxwell, J. (Joseph)
Philosophy
Metapsychical Phenomena: Methods and Observations
Maxwell, J. (Joseph)
Parapsychology -- Investigation
The attentive observation of the relation, existing between the
phenomena and the will of the sitters, permits of the demonstration
of other facts. Firstly, the bad effect of discord between the
sitters. It often happens that one of them expresses a desire to
obtain a certain given phenomenon; if the requested phenomenon be not
immediately forthcoming, the same experimenter will demand a different
one. Sometimes, several of the sitters ask for several contradictory
things at the same time. The confusion which reigns in collectivity is
generally manifested in the phenomena, which, in their turn, become
vague and confused.
Still, things do not altogether happen as though the phenomena
were directed by a will, which was only an echo of the will of the
experimenters. The phenomena often manifest great independence, and
refuse decidedly to yield to the desires of the experimenters. By
admitting even Janet’s hypothesis on the secondary personalities
of mediums, stretching it from cases of somnambulism to cases of
telekinesis, a fact which is very curious from a purely psychological
point of view is to be met with occasionally: the secondary personality
sometimes manifests itself at the same time as the normal personality,
and a conflict between them is the result. I have seen this with
Eusapia, when, for example, she wanted to drink, and the table
violently opposed itself to her wishes.
To sum up my observations upon the first of my conclusions: There is
a close and positive connection between the movements effectuated
by the medium or the sitters, and the displacement of articles of
experimentation; there is a relation between these displacements and
the muscular contractions of the experimenters; a probable relation,
whose precise nature I am unable to state, exists between the will of
the experimenters and paranormal movements.
II. Certain peculiar sensations accompany the emission of the force
employed. I hesitated before deciding to formulate this conclusion,
because, notwithstanding the great number of observations I have
made, I am only able to present this proposition with much reserve.
The sensations I am going to describe are purely subjective, and may
consequently give rise to all sorts of error and illusion. Some of
these sensations may be explained by fatigue or prolonged immobility.
In spite of these causes for error, which are, I acknowledge, very
numerous and very real, it seems to me, that the impartial analysis
of the facts observed tends towards showing that illusion, error,
fatigue, and immobility do not explain them all.
I will put aside visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, gustatory
sensations; these are, moreover, very rarely observed. I will limit
myself to examining certain ill-defined sensations, which appear to
depend upon the general sensitiveness, and not upon the sensory organs
properly speaking. From the observations I have made, I am inclined to
discern five principal sensations:—
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