Telepathy, Genuine and FraudulentBaggally, W. W. (William Wortley)
Science
Telepathy, Genuine and Fraudulent
Baggally, W. W. (William Wortley)
Parapsychology -- Investigation; Telepathy
Amongst the members of the Committee were Mr. Zancig and Mr. William
Marriott. Both of these gentlemen I have had the pleasure of knowing for
some years. They, together with Mr. Charles Guttwoch (a friend of Mr.
Marriott), three or four other gentlemen, and myself, were the only
members of the Committee who actively endeavoured to ascertain whether
Yoga Rama's experiments depended for their success on trickery or on
other causes. The other members of the Committee remained passive
spectators. As regards the lady members with whom Yoga Rama tried a few
experiments, they declared themselves, at the conclusion of the
performance, to be believers in his alleged supernormal claims.
Before the experiments commenced, Yoga Rama asked that some one should
blindfold him with some articles which lay on a small table in the
centre of the stage. These consisted of two pieces of folded paper just
large enough to cover the eyebrows and eyes, a piece of porous plaster
perforated with holes, a thin white cotton handkerchief, two gloves, and
a long red silk scarf. Mr. Marriott offered to blindfold him. I stood
close to him while this was being done. Mr. Marriott placed the pieces
of paper first on Yoga Rama's eyes, then the porous plaster, then the
cotton handkerchief, after this the two gloves, and finally the red
scarf which he wound several times round his head. The tip of Yoga
Rama's nose could be seen under the plaster, the white cotton
handkerchief, and the scarf. Yoga Rama, who remained standing, then
requested some one to sit on a chair in front of him, to think of a
name, then to hold his left hand (_i.e._ the sitter's left hand) in
front of the sitter's face, and to trace on the palm of the left hand
with the forefinger of the right the first letter of the name thought
of. The sitter was then asked to give taps on his left hand or make
movements in the air with his right hand corresponding to the number of
letters of which the name thought of consisted. When Yoga Rama suggested
(as he subsequently did) that the name of a flower or of a city should
be thought of, he requested that the same procedure of tracing the first
letter of the name and giving a number of taps or making movements with
the right hand corresponding to the number of letters should be
followed, but when he suggested that a play of Shakespeare should be
thought of he only asked that the first one or two letters of the title
should be traced on the palm of the left hand of the sitter with the
forefinger of the other hand. He did not then ask that taps or movements
of the right hand should be given or made. About an hour and a half of
the first part of the performance was taken up by experiments of the
above nature. These were varied only by one experiment of telling the
title of a hymn which a lady thought of, one of reading the thoughts of
a young lady, and one experiment with playing cards.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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