Metapsychical Phenomena: Methods and ObservationsMaxwell, J. (Joseph)
Philosophy
Metapsychical Phenomena: Methods and Observations
Maxwell, J. (Joseph)
Parapsychology -- Investigation
(_e_) I have already said a few words about the sudden sensation of
fatigue, which is felt when an important phenomenon occurs. I have
carefully examined the state of the assistants before and after the
seances, and I have invariably noticed that most of the experimenters
were tired after a successful seance. This fatigue appears to be in
fairly exact proportion to the results obtained. I speak of parakinetic
and telekinetic results; for it must be noted that the fatigue
determined by these abnormal movements is not identical—at least in the
case of the medium—with the fatigue which other phenomena appear to
occasion.
Movements without contact entail a lassitude, comparable to that
ensuing after a long walk or prolonged physical exercise.
III. The last observation leads me to the examination of my third
proposition. This is, that the force employed in the production of
para or telekinetic phenomena has, probably, a connection with the
organism of the experimenters. The analysis I have just made allows one
to surmise the very serious reasons, which lead me to formulate this
conclusion so precisely. The first of these reasons is the correlation,
existing between the movements and muscular contractions of the sitters
and the paranormal movements. I have pointed out that this connection
appears, in reality, to reside in the muscular contraction rather than
in the free movements of the limbs: this is a first ascertainment.
There is yet another, that provoked paranormal phenomena are,
apparently, approximatively proportional to the movement executed by
the experimenter and the effort he makes.
These two first points appear to me to be acquired, and the correlation
observed between the muscular effort and the paranormal movement,
indicates reciprocal dependence between these two phenomena. We may go
further, and try to discover whether the relation indicated resides in
the fact, itself, of muscular contraction, or in the physiological fact
which provokes it—that is to say, the nervous discharge. Observation
tends to show, that it is with the nervous influx that the relation
pointed out appears to be made manifest. In support of this opinion I
will indicate:—
(_a_) The attraction and repulsion which the palm of the hand
exercises to the almost total exclusion of the back of the
hand;
(_b_) The diverse sensations which I have analysed;
(_c_) The influence of the mental condition and dispositions of the
experimenters;
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