Psychic phenomena : $b a brief account of the physical manifestations observed in psychical researchBennett, Edward T.
Philosophy
Psychic phenomena : $b a brief account of the physical manifestations observed in psychical research
Bennett, Edward T.
Parapsychology
I am not aware that Professor Sidgwick ever expressed any opinion as to
the reality of the ordinary physical spiritualistic manifestations. It
is clear that he believed a large proportion to have been fraudulently
produced. As to some psychical phenomena, his convictions were very
strong. For instance, in the final paragraph of the "Report on
Hallucinations," which occupies the whole of the tenth volume of the
_Proceedings_ of the Society, and to which he appended his name, these
two sentences occur: "Between deaths and apparitions of the dying person
a connection exists which is not due to chance alone. This we hold as a
proved fact."[76] And Professor Sidgwick speaks of this as corroborating
the conclusion already drawn by Mr. Gurney nearly ten years earlier.
Mr. Edmund Gurney's name stands next. His earthly work came to a sudden
termination in 1888. "Phantasms of the Living" is his enduring memorial.
Although two other names are associated with his on the title-page, the
greater part of the two volumes was written by him alone. For most of
the views expressed Mr. Gurney is solely responsible. In a chapter
devoted to "The Theory of Chance-Coincidence" as an explanation of the
order of natural phenomena to which "Phantasms of the Living" belong,
Mr. Gurney says:--
"Figures, one is sometimes told, can be made to prove anything; but I
confess I should be curious to see the figures by which the theory of
chance-coincidence could here be proved adequate to the facts. Whatever
group of phenomena be selected, and whatever method of reckoning be
adopted, probabilities are hopelessly and even ludicrously
overpassed."[77]
This is the conclusion referred to above by Professor Sidgwick. With
exclusively physical phenomena Mr. Gurney did not much concern himself.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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