Mysterious Psychic Forces: An Account of the Author's Investigations in Psychical Research, Together with Those of Other European Savants
John Stuart Mill · en
There is, then, a gradual preparation required, at least for the
majority of operators. Does this preparation consist in a modification
that takes place in the operator, or in the inert body on which he
acts, or in both? In order to resolve this problem, experimenters who
had been practicing at one table went over to another, operating on
which they found their full power unabated. The preparation therefore
consists in a modification that takes place in the individuals, and
not in the inert body.[58] This modification occurring in individuals
is dissipated rather rapidly, especially when the chain of
experimenters is broken.
_Inner Development of the Operators._--It is only after a certain
period of waiting that the operators, who have not so far acted, cause
even the easiest movement,--that of rotation with contact. It is
during this time that the force, or the conditions determining the
manifestation of the force, develop themselves. From that time on, the
developed force has nothing to do but to increase. That which takes
place, therefore, in this time of waiting, is a very important thing
to be considered. We already know that it is the operators themselves
who are modified. But what is it that takes place within them?
It must be that a kind of activity is set up in the organism, an
activity which ordinarily requires the intervention of the will. This
activity, this work, is accompanied by a certain fatigue. The action
is not aroused in all operators with equal ease and promptness. There
are even persons (the author estimates their number at one in ten) in
whom it appears that it cannot be produced at all.
In the midst of this great diversity of natural aptitudes, it is
observed that children "can secure obedience from the table just like
grown folks." Nevertheless, children do not magnetize. Thus, although
several facts seem to show that magnetizers (or mesmerizers) have
frequently a strong power over the tables, yet one cannot admit the
identity of magnetic power and power over the tables; the one is not
the measure of the other. Only, the magnetic power would constitute
(or presume) a favorable subjective condition.
A will simple and strong, animation, high spirits, the concentration
of the thought upon the work to do, good bodily health, perhaps the
very physical act of turning around the table, and, finally,
everything that can contribute to unity of will-power among the
experimenters,--all these things help to make efficacious the commands
addressed to the table with force and authority.
The tables (says M. de Gasparin) "wish to be handled gaily, freely,
with animation and confidence; they must be humored at the start with
amusing and easy exercises." The first condition necessary for success
with the table is good health and the second, confidence.