Science in Short ChaptersWilliams, W. Mattieu (William Mattieu)
Science
Science in Short Chapters
Williams, W. Mattieu (William Mattieu)
Science
the 1000th part of a grain of arsenic to be carried through the sides
of a gas tube in which pure water is hermetically sealed.”
These and other requirements are stated by Mr. Crookes, together with
further exposition of the principles of strict inductive investigation,
as it should be applied to such an inquiry. A year after this he
published an account of the experiments, which I described in a former
letter, and added to his own testimony that of the eminent physicist
and astronomer, Dr. Huggins and Serjeant Cox. Subsequently, that is, in
the last number of the “Quarterly Journal of Science,” he has published
the particulars of another series of experiments.
I will not now enter upon the details of these, but merely state that
the conclusions of Mr. Crookes are directly opposed to those of the
Spiritualists. He positively, distinctly, and repeatedly repudiates
all belief in the operations of the supposed spirits, or of any other
supernatural agency whatever, and attributes the phenomena he witnessed
to an entirely different organ, viz.: to the direct agency of the
medium. He supposes that a force analogous to that which the nerves
convey from their ganglionic centres to the muscles, in producing
muscular contraction, may by an effort of the will be transmitted to
external inanimate matter, in such a manner as to influence, in some
degree, its gravitating power, and produce vibratory motion. He calls
this the _psychic force_.
Now, this is direct and unequivocal _anti_-spiritualism. It is
a theory set up in opposition to the supernatural hypotheses of
the Spiritualists, and Mr. Crookes’s position in reference to
Spiritualism is precisely analogous to that of Faraday in reference to
table-turning. For the same reasons as those above-quoted, the great
master of experimental investigation examined the phenomena called
table-turning, and he concluded that they were due to muscular force,
just as Mr. Crookes concludes that the more complex phenomena he has
examined are due to psychic force.
Speaking of the theories of the Spiritualists, Mr. Crookes, in his
first paper (July, 1870), says: “The pseudo-scientific Spiritualist
professes to know everything. No calculations trouble his serenity;
no hard experiments, no laborious readings; no weary attempts to
make clear in words that which has rejoiced the heart and elevated
the mind. He talks glibly of all sciences and arts, overwhelming the
inquirer with terms like ‘electro-biologise,’ ‘psychologise,’ ‘animal
magnetism,’ etc., a mere play upon words, showing ignorance rather than
understanding.” And further on he says: “I confess that the reasoning
of some Spiritualists would almost seem to justify Faraday’s severe
statement—that many dogs have the power of coming to more logical
conclusions.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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