CONTENTS
Chapter I What is Telepathy
Chapter II The Nature of the Problem
Chapter Ill Experimental Telepathy
Chapter IV The English Experiments
Chapter V More English Experiments
Chapter Vl The Weltmer Experiment
Chapter Vll Results of the Weltmer Experiment
Chapter Vlll Results of the Weltmer Experiment (Continued)
Chapter IX The Theories
Chapter I
What is Telepathy
The term “telepathy” is of quite recent origin. A few years ago it was not to be found in any of the standard dictionaries, and its use was confined to the small circle of investigators who were pursuing experiments in thought- transference, and who regarded the Society for Psychical Research of England as their centre of influence. At the present time, however, the word has passed into popular usage, is found in the current editions of the dictionaries and heard frequently on the streets. It was derived from the two Greek words, tele, meaning “afar,” and pathos meaning “feeling.” The term itself has been severely criticized as conveying a wrong impression, for thought-transference is not the same as “feeling”-transference. Some authorities have preferred the term “Telxsthesia,” which, freely translated, means “perception by the senses at a distance.” The present writer has sought to introduce the term “Telementatian” which, freely translated, means “mental action at a distance” and the said term has met with considerable favor among scientific investigators of the subject. But, in spite of the objections, the public clings to the original term, and “Telepathy” is generally used to designate the phenomena of thought-transference, or as the dictionaries state it: “The action of one mind on another at a distance and without communication by means of the senses.”
Thought-transference is not a new thing in the thought of the world, although it may seem to the ordinary reader to be a recent discovery. Its beginning is lost in the haze of the history of the primitive peoples of the race. The ancient writings of India give us many instances of the effect of one mind upon another at a distance. And the occult legends of other ancient peoples give evidence that the belief in the effect of mind upon mind at a distance was quite common. In many of the old occult writings we find traces of this almost universal belief in thought-transmission and thought-force, and we have every reason to believe that the old alchemists were fully acquainted with the phenomena.
In India, especially, has the belief in thought-transference prevailed from time immemorial. Passing over the legendary tales, and coming down to the time of recent history, we see many instances of the acceptance of this idea by the people of that old land of the strange and mysterious. The English who lived through the great uprising in India in the last century have passed on to us many tales of the strange power of the native Hindus which enabled them to flash from one part of India to another the news of great battles and uprisings. It is recorded by those who passed through this great uprising that the Hindus were noticed to be agitated in a strange way about the time of the actual occurrences in far distant parts of the land, and seemed to be fully informed regarding these occurrences, while the English were compelled to wait for days until their couriers brought them the news in the regular way. In other words, the natives maintained a mental-telegraphic system, while the English were compelled to rely upon couriers, the days of the electric telegraph not having as yet arrived.
But, so far as the subject of modern Telepathy is concerned we may as well assume that Telepathy had its birth into modern scientific thought at the time of the formation of the English Society for Psychical Research in 1882. One of the stated objects of the said Society was “to conduct an examination into the nature and extent of any influence which may be exerted by one mind upon another, apart from any generally recognized mode of perception.” While the latter years of the Society’s existence has been devoted principally to an investigation of the phenomena of clairvoyance, spirit-return, trance- mediumship, etc., its first decade was almost entirely devoted to the investigation of telepathy, thought-transference, and similar phenomena. The early experiments of the Society have been fully reported, and these reports, which comprise several volumes, have given the world a record of psychic phenomena of the greatest value to science.
The celebrated Sidgwick experiments, conducted under the auspices of the Society for Psychical Research in 1889 and 1890, excited great interest in scientific circles, and placed the subject of Telepathy upon a basis which science could not afford to refuse to perceive. And the result has been that many careful scientists have freely acknowledged that “there may be something to it,” some going so far as to openly advocate Telepathy as an established scientific fact, although there are many scientists who still adhere to the opinion that Telepathy remains to be proven scientifically, while some of the ultraconservatives go so far as to insist that Telepathy is scientifically impossible, this latter opinion being calculated to cause a smile to one who remembers how many “scientifically impossible” things have afterward been proven to be not only scientifically possible, or probable, but also actually existent. It is either a very bold man, or else a foolish one, who in these days can positively assert that anything is scientifically impossible. In this connection one is reminded of the learned body of scientists who sitting in conference solemnly decided that it was scientifically impossible for a vessel to cros the ocean by the power of steam. While the decision was being recorded on the minutes, the word was received that a steamship had actually made the voyage across the ocean, and was that moment entering the harbor. One also recalls the story of the eminent English scientist who had for a lifetime positively disputed the possibility of certain facts, and who in his old age, when asked to witness the actual demonstration of the disputed fact, refused to look into the microscope for the purpose, and left the room, angrily shaking his head and saying, “It is impossible.” Yesterday’s “impossibilities” are often tomorrow’s “proven facts.” In view of what has been said above, the following opinions of certain well-known scientists may prove of interest to the reader as indicating the change in the mental attitude of science toward the phenomena of Telepathy.
Sir William Crookes, in an address delivered several years ago at Bristol, England, before the Royal Society (of which he was president), said:
“Were I now introducing for the first time these inquiries to the world of science, I should choose a starting point different from that of old, where we formerly began. It would be well to begin with Telepathy; with the fundamental law, as I believe it to be, that thoughts and images may be transferred from one mind to another without the agency of the recognized organs of sense—that knowledge may enter the human mind without being communicated in any hitherto known or recognized ways. Although the inquiry has elicited important facts with reference to the mind, it has not yet reached the scientific stage of certainty which would enable it to be usefully brought before one of the sections. I will therefore confine myself to pointing out the direction in which scientific investigation can legitimately advance.
If Telepathy take place, we have two physical facts—the physical change in the brain of A. the suggestor, and the analogous physical change in the brain of B. the recipient of the suggestion. Between these two physical events there must exist a train of physical causes. Whenever the connecting sequence of intermediate causes begins to be revealed, the inquiry will then come within the range of one of the sections of the British Association. Such a sequence can only occur through an intervening medium. All the phenomena of the Universe are presumably in some way continuous, and it is unscientific to call in the aid of mysterious agencies when with every fresh advance in knowledge it is shown that ether vibrations have powers and attributes abundantly equal to any demand—even the transmission of thought.”
The same eminent authority also says:
“It is supposed by some physiologists that the essential cells of nerves do not actually touch, but are separated by a narrow gap which widens in sleep while it narrows almost to extinction during mental activity. This condition is so singularly like that of a Branly or Lodge coherer (a device which has led Marconi to the discovery of wireless telegraphy) as to suggest a further analogy. The structure of the brain and nerves, being similar, it is conceivable that there may be present masses of such nerve coherers in the brain, whose special function it may be to receive impulses brought from without through the connecting sequence of ether waves of appropriate order of magnitude. Roentgen has familiarized us with an order of extreme minuteness compared with the smallest waves with which we have hitherto been acquainted, and of dimensions comparable with the distances between the centers of the atoms of which the material universe is built up; and there is no reason for believing that we have reached the limits of frequency. It is known that the action of thought is accompanied by certain molecular movements in the brain, and here we have physical vibrations capable from their extreme minuteness of acting direct upon individual molecules, while their rapidity approaches that of the internal movements of the atoms themselves.”
Prof. Camille Flammarion, the well-known French astronomer, says:
“We sum up, therefore, our preceding observations by the conclusion that one mind can act at a distance upon another, without the habitual medium of words, or any other visible means of communication. It appears to us altogether unreasonable to reject this conclusion if we accept the facts. There is nothing unscientific, nothing romantic, in admitting that an idea can influence the brain from a distance. The action of one human being upon another, from a distance, is a scientific fact; it is as certain as the existence of Paris, of Napoleon, of Oxygen, or of Sirius There can be no doubt that our psychical force creates a movement of the ether, which transmits itself afar like all movements of ether, and becomes perceptible to brains in harmony with our own. The transformation of a psychic action into an ethereal movement, and the reverse, may be analogous to what takes place on a telephone, where the receptive plate, which is identical with the plate at the other end, reconstructs the sonorous movement transmitted, not by means of sound, but by electricity.”
Prof. Ochorowicz says:
“Every living being is a dynamic focus. A dynamic focus tends ever to propagate the motion that is proper to it. Propagated motion becomes transformed according to the medium it traverses. Motion tends always to propagate itself. Therefore when we see work of any kind—mechanical, electrical, nervic, or psychic—disappear without visible effect, then, of two things, one happens, either a transmission or a transformation. Where does the first end, and where does the second begin? In an identical medium there is only transmission. In a different medium there is transformation. You send an electric current through a thick wire. You have the current, but you do not perceive any other force. But cut that thick wire and connect the ends by means of a fine wire; the fine wire will grow hot; there will be a transformation of the current into heat. Take a pretty strong current and interpose a wire still more resistant, or a very thin carbon rod. The carbon will emit light. A part of the current then is transformed into heat and light. This light acts in every direction around about, first visibly as light, then invisibly as heat and as electric current. Hold a magnet near it. If the magnet is weak and movable, in the form of a magnetic needle, the beam of light will cause it to deviate; if it is strong and immovable, it will in turn cause the beam of light to deviate. And all this from a distance, without contact, without special conductors. A process that is at once chemical, physical and psychical, goes on in a brain. A complex action of this kind is propagated through the gray matter, as waves are propagated in water. Regarded on its physiological side, an idea is only a vibration, a vibration that is propagated, yet which does not pass out of a medium in which it can exist as such. It is propagated as far as other like vibrations allow. It is propagated more widely if it assumes the character which subjectively we call emotive. But it cannot go beyond without being transformed. Nevertheless, like force in general, it cannot remain in isolation—it escapes in disguise…. Thought stays at home, as the chemical action of a battery remains in a battery; it is represented by its dynamic correlate, called in the case of the battery, a current, and in the case of the brain—I know not what; but whatever its name may be, it is the dynamic correlate of thought. I have chosen the term ‘dynamic correlate.’ There is something more than that; the universe is neither dead nor void. A force that is transmitted meets other forces, and if it is transformed only little by little, it usually limits itself to modifying another force at its own cost, though without suffering perceptibly thereby. This is the case particularly with forces that are persistent, concentrated, well seconded by their medium; it is the case with the physiological equilibrium, nervic force, psychic force, ideas, emotions, tendencies. These modify environing forces without themselves disappearing; they are but imperceptibly transformed, and if the next man is of a nature exceptionally well adapted to them, they gain in inductive action.”
It is quite gratifying to find such eminent scientific authority expressing its conviction of the reality of thought-transference. But the average person, in the end, believes in Telepathy not so much because this scientist or that one thinks it reasonable, but because he or she has had some personal experience or bit of individual proof. Who of us has not had the experience of thinking of someone whom we have not seen or heard of for months or years, only to see the individual in person shortly afterward? Often in speaking to another person, we will find that he will utter the very words that we had in mind. It is not uncommon for two persons to start in at the same moment to say precisely the same thing to each other. How often has the person of whom we have been speaking walked unexpectedly into our presence. The old saying, “Speak of the angels, and you hear the rustle of their wings” voices the common experience of the race in this respect. Several years ago, Mark Twain wrote a magazine article in which he stated an experience common to many others. He said that he was in the habit of writing a letter to a person, and then, after duly addressing it, destroying it instead of mailing it. He added that he had noticed that very frequently he would receive an answer to the unmailed letter, written by the person addressed about the same time that the original letter was written, addressed and destroyed, and that these answers frequently covered the identical points mentioned in the original letter.
Moreover many persons have experimented with “the willing game” and similar parlor feats along the lines of “mind- reading,” and have found that there “is something in it, after all.” The rise into popularity of the teachings of the New Thought or Mental Science has familiarized many persons with the idea of thought-transference in some of its varied forms, until to-day we find that the majority of persons are prepared to admit that “there must be some fire where there is so much smoke.” We trust that we will be able to make the subject somewhat clearer in this little volume.
Chapter II
The Nature of the Problem
Many persons who are interested in the phenomena of Telepathy, and who accept the proofs offered by its advocates, seem to regard these phenomena as quite ordinary and as fully in accord with the more familiar manifestations of Nature’s forces. We frequently hear Telepathy compared to the manifestation of electricity, particularly in the phase of wireless telegraphy. But the matter is not so simple as this—it cannot be lightly dismissed or placed in any ordinary category. It is, scientifically, sui generis—in a class by itself; unique; peculiar. While we shall not attempt to put forward any special hypothesis at this point, we invite you to consider the following statement from the lips of an eminent English statesman, himself an earnest investigator of Telepathy. After reading his statement, you will begin to appreciate the full nature of the problem confronting those who, while admitting the proofs of Telepathy, would seek to account for the same by scientific principles.
The Right Honorable A. J. Balfour (afterward Prime Minister of England) in an address delivered in 1894, while he was the President of the Society for Psychical Research, said in relation to Telepathy:
“Now I will give you a case of what I mean by a scientifically extraordinary event, which, as you will at once perceive, may be one which at first sight, and to many observers, may appear almost commonplace and familiar. I have constantly met people who will tell you, with no apparent consciousness that they are saying anything more out of the way than an observation about the weather, that by an exercise of their will they can make anybody at a little distance turn round and look at them. Now such a fact (if fact it be) is far more scientifically extraordinary than would be the destruction of this globe by some celestial catastrophe. How profoundly mistaken then are they who think that this exercise of will-power, as they call it, is the most natural thing in the world, something that everybody would have expected, something which hardly deserves scientific notice or requires scientific explanation. In reality it is a profound mystery, if it be true, or if anything like it be true, and no event, however startling, which easily finds its appropriate niche in the structure of the physical sciences ought to excite half as much intellectual curiosity as this dull and at first sight commonplace phenomenon.
“Now do not suppose that I want you to believe that every gentleman or lady who chooses to suppose himself or herself exceptionally endowed with this so-called will-power is other than the dupe of an ill-regulated fancy. There is, however, quite apart from the testimony, a vast mass of evidence in favor of what we now call Telepathy, and to Telepathy the observations I have been making do in my opinion most strictly apply. For, consider: In every case of Telepathy you have an example of real or apparent action at a distance. Examples of real or apparent action at a distance are, of course, very common. Gravitation is such an example. We are not aware at the present time of any mechanism, if I may use the phrase, which can transmit gravitational influence from one gravitating body to another. Nevertheless, scientific men do not rest content with that view. I recollect it used to be maintained by the late Mr. John Mill that there was no ground for regarding with any special wonder the phenomenon of action at a distance. I do not dogmatize upon the point, but I do say emphatically that I do not think you will find a first-class physicist who is prepared to admit that gravity is not a phenomenon which still wants an explanation. He is not ready, in other words, to accept action at a distance as an ultimate fact, though he has not even got the first clue to the real nature of the links by which the attracting bodies mutually act upon one another.
“But though gravitation and telepathy are alike in this, that we are quite ignorant of the means by which in either case distant bodies influence one another, it would be a great mistake to suppose that the two modes of operation are equally mysterious. In the case of Telepathy there is not merely the difficulty of conjecturing the nature of the mechanism which operates between the agent and the percipient, between the man who influences and the man who is influenced; but the whole character of the phenomena refuses to fit in with any of our accepted ideas as to the mode in which force may be exercised from one portion of space to another. Is this telepathic action an ordinary case of action from a center of disturbance? Is it equally diffused in all directions? Is it like the light of a candle, or the light of the sun, which radiates equally into space in every direction at the same time? If it is, it must obey the law—at least, we should expect it to obey the law—of all other forces which so act through a non-absorbing medium, and its effects must diminish inversely as the square of the distance. It must, so to speak, get beaten out thinner and thinner the further it gets removed from its original source. But is this so? Is it even credible that the mere thoughts, or, if you please, the neural changes corresponding to these thoughts, of any individual, could have in them the energy to produce sensible effects equally in all directions; for distances which do not, as far as our investigations go, appear to have any necessary limit? It is, I think, incredible, and in any case there is no evidence whatever that this actual diffusion ever takes place. The will power, whenever the will is used, or the thoughts, in cases where the will is not used, have an effect, as a rule, only upon one or two individuals at most. There is no appearance of general diffusion. There is no indication of any disturbance equal to equal distances from its origin, and radiating from it alike in every direction.
“But if we are to reject this idea, which is the first which ordinary analogies would suggest, what are we to put in its place? Are we to suppose that there is some means by which telepathic energy can be directed through space from the agent to the patient, from the man who influences to the man who is influenced? If we are to believe this, as apparently we must, we are face to face not only with a fact extraordinary in itself, but with a kind of fact which does not fit in with anything we know at present in the region either of physics or physiology. It is true, no doubt, that we do know plenty of cases where energy is directed along a given line, like water in a pipe, or like electrical energy along the course of a wire. But then in such cases there is always some material guide existing between the two termini, between the place from which the energy comes and the place toward which the energy goes. Is there any such material guide in the case of Telepathy? It seems absolutely impossible. There is no sign of it. We cannot even form to ourselves any notion of its character, and yet, if we are to take what appears to be the obvious lesson of the observed facts, we are forced to the conclusion that in some shape or other it exists. For to suppose that the telepathic agent shoots out his influence toward a particular object, as you shoot a bullet out of a gun, or water out of a hose, which appears to be the only other alternative, involves us seemingly in greater difficulties still.
“Here, then, we are face to face with what l call a scientifically extraordinary phenomenon, as distinguished from a dramatically extraordinary one. Anyone who has endeavored to wade through the mass of evidence collected by our Society on the subject will be prepared to admit that it is not exciting or interesting in itself, that it does not arouse a foolish wonder, or appeal unduly to any craving for the marvellous. But dull as these experiments may seem, dull indeed as they often are, their dullness is really one of their great advantages. It effectually excludes some perturbing influences that might otherwise affect the cool analysis of the experimental data; and in consequence it makes those investigations, in my judgment, the best starting point from which to reconsider, should it be necessary, our general view, l will not say of the material universe, but of the universe of phenomena in space…. Even if we cannot entertain any confident hope of discovering what laws these half-seen phenomena obey, at all events it will be some gain to have shown, not as a matter of speculation or conjecture, but as a matter of ascertained fact, that there are things in Heaven and earth not hitherto dreamed of in our scientific philosophy.”
Chapter III
Experimental Telepathy
Beginning with the year 1882, and continuing for several years thereafter, the English Society for Psychical Research conducted an important series of experiments in Telepathy, the records of which have been preserved in the several reports of the Society which are on file in the principal libraries of the world. In the “Glossary of Terms used in Psychical Research” by the Society, we find Telepathy defined as “the communication of impressions of any kind from one mind to another, independently of the recognized channels of sense.”
In 1882, the President of the Society, Prof. Henry Sidgwick, appointed a committee to “investigate Thought-Reading or Thought-Transference,” the members of the committee being Prof. W. F. Barrett, Professor of Physics in the Royal College of Science for Ireland; Edmund Gurney, M. A., Late Fellow of Trinity College; and F. W. H. Myers, M. A., Late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. The purpose of the inquiry by the committee was stated as follows: “Is there or is there not any existing or attainable evidence that can stand fair physiological criticism, to support a belief that a vivid impression or a distinct idea in one mind can be communicated to another mind without the intervening help of the recognized organs of sensation? And if such evidence be found, is the impression derived from a rare or partially developed and hitherto unrecognized sensory organ, or has the mental percept been evoked directly without any antecedent sense-percept?”
The committee classified the phenomena of Thought- Transference as follows:
- Phenomena manifested, in which the hands of the operator are in contact with the subject.
- Phenomena manifested without contact with the person willing or sending the thought-impulse.
- Phenomena manifested, in which some number, word or card is guessed without any apparent physical communication between the operator and subject.
In the first class of phenomena the committee places the ordinary “mind reading” of the public performer, in which the operator places his hands upon the subject, or in which he is placed in some kind of physical contact with the latter. It has been held that this class of phenomena really comes under the head of “muscle reading,” inasmuch as there is transmitted to the subject some slight muscular impulse, often given involuntarily and unconsciously by the operator. This theory was first advanced by Dr. W. B. Carpenter, the distinguished English psychologist, who held that “the communications are made by muscular action on the part of one person and automatically interpreted by the other.” Dr. Carpenter explained this involuntary muscular action by his celebrated theory of “unconscious cerebration,” in which there is “the intermediation of those expressional signs which are made and interpreted alike unconsciously.” The familiar “willing game” so often performed for parlor amusement belongs to this category, as do also the performances of many of the celebrated public “mind readers.” The committee conducted numerous series of careful experiments with phenomena of this class, and, while the results were very interesting, it was felt that the constantly present possibility of “unconscious muscular movement” rendered the phenomena unsatisfactory from the scientific standpoint.
The second class of phenomena came more nearly under the true classification of Telepathy, for if there be communication without physical contact it is reasonable to assume that some new hypothesis is necessary. If the subject was able to select and proceed to some object previously agreed upon by the operator or the roomful of people, in the “willing game,” without knowing the object and without physical contact with any person knowing it, then it would seem that there must be some transmission of thought images “without the intervening help of the recognized organs of sensation.” But so careful were the members of the committee, and so closely did they adhere to the strictest scientific methods, that they discarded this class of phenomena as unsatisfactory and unconvincing, and as open to the suspicion that the subject may have received involuntary guidance from the eyes of the company, or perhaps from the different shades of tone in the conversation as the subject approached or receded from the selected object to be found. Even though the subject might be blindfolded, it was possible for impressions to be received through the sense of sight.
The writer remembers an instance in which, in his opinion, a well-known “mind-reader” visiting in this country received impressions through her sense of hearing, although carefully blindfolded. The following quotations are from the account written by him at the time, and give an idea of the modus operandi (the name of the performer is omitted here, although appearing in the original publication of the account) :
“The room was well filled with intelligent people, eager for an exhibition of the wondrous phenomenon of telepathy. Miss —— appeared and delivered a short address upon her wondrous power.. She then placed two long-stemmed flowers on the platform, and was led away into another room to be blindfolded. During her absence two persons stepped up to the platform, as per instructions, and each touched a flower. Miss was then led back into the room, blindfolded with a silk handkerchief, and started in to find the persons who had touched the flowers. She succeeded and handed each the flower previously touched. She then ‘united a separated couple,’ by finding one and leading him to the other. She then located the weapon with which an imaginary murder had been committed, the murderer, the hidden body, and (wonder upon wonders) even found the policeman to arrest the criminal. She found a piece of jewelry and restored it to the owner. She correctly disclosed the number of a bank-note. The audience was pleased and many went away apparently convinced that here was telepathy that telepathed. It does look wonderful—now, doesn’t it? We have given you an idea of how it seemed to the general observer, now let us tell you how it appeared to those who were ‘on the inside.’
“In the first place, Miss was a much cleverer performer than the average ‘mind-reader.’ She performed her feats with much less ‘personal contact’ than any other public performer whom we have seen. She went about her work without loss of time and with an air of confidence and assurance which created a good effect. It appeared to us, however, that her feats could be fully accounted for upon the theory of the use of the five senses, sharpened by practice, and that any of the feats could be duplicated by one familiar with the subject, without the aid of telepathy.’ Of course, Miss may have performed her feats by ‘mind reading’ nobody but herself can speak positively on that point,—but we say that the same feats can be performed by the use of the five senses alone. In the first place, the ordinary blindfolding does not shut out the senses of sight and hearing, as you may ascertain by a little personal practice. Then the sense of feeling is free for one’s use, and when it is remembered that ‘thought takes form in action,’ and that the average person will give unconscious movements in the direction of the object or person thought of, it readily will be seen that a performer who has developed touch and perception to a high degree will be able to find a person or thing upon which a number of people are concentrating their thoughts, without being compelled to fall back upon telepathy. This is quite simple when contact is had with the audience, but more difficult when contact is not resorted to.
In Miss ‘s flower feat, it was noticed that the entire audience was looking intently in the direction of that one of the ‘thought of’ persons who happened to be the nearer to her. Many people in the room were whispering, but as she approached the desired person the whispering decreased until almost a perfect silence prevailed when the proper person was reached. Miss placed her hands upon a
number of persons before reaching the proper one, but as soon as she placed her hands on the right one the audience applauded loudly, and the search ended. It was noticed that some of the ladies present were so carried away with sympathy and enthusiasm that, unconsciously, they would whisper, ‘No. no!’ ‘Yes, that’s right!’ ‘This way, this way!’ ‘To the right, right!’ etc, etc., and by other involuntary exclamations and motions give cues which could be taken advantage of by a performer depending upon the use of her sharpened senses. In short, it was an up-to-date variation of the old game of ‘hot and cold,’ familiar to our childhood days.
“You all know how expert some of your crowd of boys and girls became in this game, and how soon the hidden object was found by the aid of the ‘hot and cold’ suggestions. You all remember how some sympathetic and enthusiastic little girl would become so excited that when you neared the hidden object she could scarcely keep her seat, and her ‘hot, hot, HOT!’ fairly sent you spinning toward the hidden handkerchief. We well remember our own childhood days, when this was our own favorite game, and when we were the champion lightweight ‘hot and cold’ finder of our juvenile set. And we remember, oh, how well we remember, that little fairfaced girl with the long golden curls and that sweet little trick of demurely lifting her big blue eyes to meet our own boyish gaze. We well remember how our youthful heart would beat when those eyes of blue would—but that’s another story. What we wished to say was that that little girl was our mascot in the game of ‘hot and cold.’ Even when she was singing ‘cold, cold, cold,’ she would be looking intently toward the hidden object, and even leaning in that direction. And when we would draw near to the object, we could have found it if we had been deaf and dumb, provided we retained our sense of sight. That little girl was our guiding star, our compass.
“There were many ‘grown-ups’ that evening who reminded us forcibly of the ways of that little golden-haired fairy. They ‘just wanted’ Miss to find those chosen people ‘the worst way,’ and they nodded their heads, shook them, frowned, smiled, inclined in the indicated direction, rose to their feet when she got ‘hot,’ and when the right person was finally reached led the applause. Bless their hearts, they were just sending thought waves to help her along, and, then, wasn’t she blindfolded, so what difference did it make after all? Oh, it just made us homesick for a sight of that long-lost little girl, the resemblance was so perfect. Well, Miss found the people who had touched the flowers, and each received the choice blossom as a reward of merit. She then started in to reunite a separated couple. It was the same thing over again—the same feat, same method, same result. New name, that’s all. This time we experimented. We turned our back when ‘the couple’ was being selected, so that we might not know who were the guilty individuals. When the hunt began we turned around and found that we were able to pick out the separated twin-souls simply by means of the ‘hot and cold’ suggestions being given, although remember that we had to depend on sight and hearing, our sense of feeling not being called into play. We could easily tell when Miss was getting ‘hot’ and, in short, were able to point out to our companion the progress of the hunt.
“When it is remembered that the chosen person nearly always gives an involuntary indication to the trained observer who is touching him, it will be seen that experience, training and quickened powers of perception are the prime requisites for the performance of the majority of these so-called ‘telepathic’ feats.’ In some of the subsequent feats some doubting Thomases would occasionally applaud when Miss — reached some person other than the right one. On such occasions she would stop just where she was and would apparently think that the right party had been reached, until an ominous silence would reveal the fact that she was ‘cold.’ This, of course, may have been merely a series of coincidences, and we simply state it as an item of interest.”
It is interesting to note that the same performer, at a later exhibition, in which she was subjected to scientific test conditions (including the proper covering of the eyes by means of little ovals of surgeons’ cotton, placed neatly one over the other, and a bunch on top of all, and then the handkerchief bound over that; and the filling of her ears with cotton, with another handkerchief bound around them) failed utterly to perform the feats that she had so successfully performed at the previous exhibition. She claimed that her failure was due to the audience being “against her,” and even accused the person who had brought about her failure of having hypnotised her. The opinion of the scientific investigators present was that she was unable to receive the impressions, consciously or unconsciously, through the senses of sight or hearing, and hence failed. We have related the case merely to show that it is possible for these feats to be performed without contact by means of the ordinary senses. It is possible that this performer may have been self-deceived—such cases are common in the history of experimental psychology.
In view of what we have said, it may be seen why the committee of the Society for Psychical Research ruled out this second class of phenomena as not being above the suspicion of error and “unconscious cerebration.” If the proofs of Telepathy terminated here the decision would have to be the old Scotch verdict of “not proven.” But as we proceed to a consideration of the third class of phenomena we will see that the inquiry has only begun.
Chapter IV
The English Experiments
By reference to the preceding chapter you will see that the third class of phenomena of Thought-transference, according to the classification adopted by the English Society for Psychical Research, comprises cases in which “some number, word or card is guessed without any apparent communication between the operator and subject,” so far as the ordinary senses are concerned.
The experiments of the Society were eventually confined to this class of phenomena. It was recognized that if it were possible to establish the existence of this class of phenomena, in which the operation of the ordinary senses was inhibited, then there would be laid the foundation for a rational scientific belief in the reality of Thought-transference. Voluntary or involuntary transmission of information by means of the five senses being rendered impossible, it will be seen that the only element of danger was that of collusion or trickery. This latter contingency was fully recognized by the Society and its committee took steps to guard against the danger. It was ruled that experiments conducted before a general audience were always open to the danger of collusion and trickery, and that, therefore, results obtained therein lacked true scientific value. Accordingly, the experiments of the committee were conducted before a limited number of persons, the individuals being persons familiar with scientific methods and having no personal interest in the results.
One of the early series of experiments by the committee was that commonly known as “The Creery Experiments.” The subjects were the four children of the Rev. A. M. Creery, B. a., of Derbyshire, England. Mr. Creery had experimented with his children for a period of several years, beginning with the familiar “willing game,” and then gradually rising to higher phases of phenomena such as the “guessing” of names, numbers, cards, etc. Mr. Creery reported to the committee in these words: “We began by selecting the simplest objects in the room; then chose names of towns, people, dates, cards out of a pack, lines from different poems, etc., in fact, any thing or series of ideas that those present could keep before the mind steadily.. They seldom made a mistake. l have seen seventeen cards chosen by myself named right in succession without any mistake. We soon found that a great deal depended on the steadiness with which the ideas were kept before the minds of the thinkers and upon the energy with which they willed the ideas to come to pass.. l may say this faculty is not by any means confined to members of one family; it is much more general than we imagine. To verify this conclusion l invited two of a neighbor’s children to join us in our experiments and equally satisfactory results were obtained.”
The committee investigated Mr. Creery’s statements, and coming to the conclusion that he was acting in good, faith and upon reasonable evidence, they began this remarkable series of experiments which continued over the period of about one year. The following report will give an idea of the scientific methods employed, and the precautions taken. The committee reports: “The inquiry has taken place partly in Mr. Creery’s house and partly in lodgings or in a private room at a hotel occupied by some of our number. Having selected at random one child, whom we desired to leave the room and wait at some distance, we would choose a pack of cards, or write on paper a name or a number which occurred to us at the moment. Generally, but not always, this was shown to the members of the family present in the room; but no one member was always present, and we were sometimes entirely alone. We then recalled the child, one of us always assuring himself that, when the door was suddenly opened, she was at a considerable distance, though this was usually a superfluity of caution, as our habit was to avoid all utterances of what was chosen. On re-entering she stood—sometimes turned by us with her face to the wall, oftener with her eyes directed to the ground, and usually close to us and remote from the family—for a period of silence varying from a few seconds to a minute, till she called out to us some number, card or whatever it might be.”
The result of the first experiment was that the child succeeded in naming the object selected, in six cases out of fourteen. In the card tests she succeeded six times out of thirteen. In the name tests she succeeded in five cases out of ten. And in the naming of small objects held in the hands of members of the committee she succeeded in five cases out of six. This percentage was considered so remarkable, and so much greater than the average expectancy would indicate, that the committee felt that they were considering a case of genuine Thought-transference. And accordingly other experiments were begun.
The following is a short report of one of the most interesting of the Creery experiments: “One of the children was sent into an adjoining room, the door of which I saw was closed. On returning to the sitting room and closing its door also, I thought of some object in the house, fixed upon at random; writing the name down I showed it to the family present, the strictest silence being preserved throughout. We then all silently thought of the name of the thing selected. In a few seconds the door of the adjoining room was heard to open, and in a very short interval the child would enter the sitting- room, generally appearing with the object selected. No one was allowed to leave the room after the object had been fixed upon; no communication with the child was conceivable as the place was often changed. Further, the only instructions given to the child were to fetch some object in the house that I would fix upon and, together with the family, silently keep in mind to the exclusion, so far as possible, of all other ideas. In this way I wrote down, among other things, a hair-brush—it was brought; an orange—it was brought; a wineglass—it was brought; an apple—it was brought; etc., etc.”
Many other experiments of the greatest interest were performed, which we must omit for want of space. The following summary, however, will give an idea of the remarkable success attending the series. A total record of three hundred and eighty- two separate experiments appears in the reports. A calculation of the chances of success are given as follows: “In the case of letters of the alphabet, of cards, and of numbers of two figures, the chances against success on a first trial would naturally be 25 to 1; 51 to 1; and 89 to 1; respectively. In the case of surnames the chances against success would of course be indefinitely greater. Cards were far most frequently employed, and the odds in their case may be taken as a fair medium sample, according to which, out of the whole series of three hundred and eighty- two trials, the average number of successes in the first attempt by an ordinary guesser would be seven and one-third.” In view of the above stated calculation of chances against success, it is interesting to note that in the series of trials 127 successes at the first attempt were reported; 56 on the second attempt; 19 on the third attempt, making the remarkable total of 202 successes out of a possible 382.
But one of the special experiments reveals a still more remarkable result. The committee selected a card without revealing it to the family. At one time five cards running were guessed correctly on first attempt. The odds against this happening were over 1,000,000 to 1. Another time there was a sequence or run of eight cards successfully guessed at first trial, against which the odds were estimated at 142,000,000 to 1; and a sequence or run of eight names successfully guessed at first trial, the odds against such a happening being almost beyond calculation. The committee in making its report said that they felt that all chance of fraud or collusion had been practically eliminated, and that the hypothesis of coincidence being overborne by the above stated calculations, there remained but the conclusion that the phenomena was really a manifestation of Thought-transferance.
Prof. Balfour Stewart, LLD., F. R. S., who was present at a number of these experiments, reported as follows regarding certain points noticed by him:
“ln the first instance, the thought-reader was outside a door. The object or thing thought of was written on paper and silently handed to the company in the room. The thought-reader was then called in, and in the course of perhaps a minute the answer was given. Definite objects in the room, for instance, were first thought of, and in the majority of cases the answers were correct. Then numbers were thought of, and the answers were generally right, but, of course, there were some cases of error. The names of towns were thought of, and a good many of these were right. Then fancy names were thought of. l was asked to think of certain fancy names and mark them down and hand them round to the company. l then thought of and wrote on paper, ‘Bluebeard,’ ‘Tom Thumb,’ ‘Cinderella,’ and the answers were all correct.”
Later in the year, the committee resumed the experiments with the Misses Creery, this time, however, not at their own home but at the residence of Mr. F. W. H. Myers in Cambridge, England. These experiments continued over a period of ten days. The results were as remarkable as those obtained in the earlier experiments. For instance in the card tests made with the full pack of fifty-two cards, out of 248 trials the girls guessed 22 absolutely correct; on the first trial; and 18 on the second trial; besides which there were 69 guessed partially correct. As the chances of correct guesses should have been but 1 out of 52 trials, it will be seen that the experiment was a decided success. On one day of the series, out of 32 experiments 5 were completely successful at the first attempt, and 20 partially correct. On this day there was a record of the suit being named correctly 14 times in succession, the chances against such an occurrence being 4,782,969 to 1.
In the experiments with figures known alone by the committee, out of 64 trials with figures ranging from 10 to 99, the girl guessed 5 correct at first trial; and 6 at second trial. The average, of course, would be but 1 in 90 trials, according to the law of average, whereas the girls succeeded in a very much greater degree.
Chapter V
More English Experiments
Another Series of experiments conducted by the English committee which has attracted the attention of investigators, is that known as the “Blackburn-Smith experiments.” These experiments were conducted before the committee under the direction of two of its members, Messrs. F. W. H. Myers and Edmund Gurney. Mr. G. A. Smith was the percipient and Mr. Douglass Blackburn was the recipient. The place of the experiments was Brighton, England.
The recipient, Mr. Smith, was blindfolded, and sat with his back toward the percipient, Mr. Blackburn. Every precaution against fraud was observed. In order to shut out the only sense possibly available to the recipient, that of hearing, his ears were covered with heavy bandages; and in certain experiments his ears were filled with putty which was in turn covered by a thick bandage, over this was drawn a bolster case, and then his entire head and body was covered by a blanket. Moreover the committee grouped itself around Mr. Blackburn, the percipient, so as to prevent his attempting to communicate with the recipient in any way, Mr. Blackburn being also required to sit perfectly still and quiet some two feet behind the recipient. The results were obtained under these strict and rigid requirements.
The names, figures, etc., were given by the committee, one at a time before each experiment, to Mr. Blackburn, the percipient, who then closed his eyes and concentrated his mind upon Mr. Smith the percipient, who shortly after named the object, etc., thought of, or else drew with a pencil the figure selected.
The following is the record of the results obtained:
Color Selected.…………………………………………………… Answer.
Gold………………………………… Gilt (color of picture frame.)
Light Wood… ………………………………… Dark Brown, Slaty.
Crimson… ……………………………………… Fiery Looking, Red.
Black……………………………………………………………… Black
Oxford Blue… ………………………………… Yellow, Gray, Blue.
White… ……………………………………………… Green, White.
Orange…………………………………………………Reddish Brown.
Black……………………………………… I am tired. I see nothing.
Names Chosen.…………………………………………………… Answer.
Barnard… …………………………………………Harland, Barnard.
Bellairs…………………………… Humphreys, Ben Nevis, Benaris.
Johnson… ………………………………………… Jobson, Johnson.
Regent Street…………………… Rembrant Street, Regent Street.
Queen Anne……………………………………… Queechy, Queen
Wissenschaft…………………………………… Wissie, Wissenaft.
Then followed a series of experiments in which pain was inflicted on the body of Mr. Blackburn, the percipient, and Mr. Smith, the recipient, told what part of his own body felt the pain.
Part of Body.……………………………………………………… Answer.
Left Upper Arm… ……………………………… Left Upper Arm.
Lobe of Right Ear…………………………………Lobe of Right Ear.
More English Experiments
Hair on Top of Head… …………………… Hair on Top of Head.
Left Knee…………………………………………………… Left Knee.
Then followed a series of remarkable experiments in which geometrical and similar figures were visualized by the percipient, and reproduced by the recipient, the reproduction, however, usually being in reverse order and upside down. Out of a series of 37 drawings submitted, only 8 were considered to be failures. In four cases the recipient failed to see anything, and in four cases the reproduction was so imperfect that it was Classed as a failure. The original drawings and the reproductions thereof are given in the Society’s reports, and must be seen to be appreciated.
In the committee’s report, the results obtained are summarized as follows:
“Thus giving every experiment when the chances against success were beyond 50 to 1, we find upward of 40 per cent correctly answered…. Pure chance would have given certainly less than from 1 to 2 per cent.
As the chance of hitting, by pure guesswork, on a fictitious name, invented by one of us, would be at least one to many thousands, and as none of the chances was less than 1 to 50, we may roughly say that if pure guesswork only were concerned, we should not have had more than one quite right in one hundred trials; whereas our experiments showed we had, if first responses only be allowed, one quite right in 4 1-3 trials. In these results we have not included the recent experiments on the reproduction of drawings. Here, obviously, an incalculable number of trials might be made before pure guesswork would hit upon a resemblance as near as that obtained in almost every case by Mr. G. A. Smith.”
In addition to many series of experiments, similar to those recorded above and in the preceding chapter, the Society for Psychical Research gathered a large volume of testimony from various sources, in which reputable persons related cases of involuntary telepathy which had come under their personal observation and in their own experience. It is impossible to reproduce these accounts at length, but the following may be quoted as a fair representative case:
“The late Bishop of Wilberforce was in his library at Cuddeson, with three or four of his clergy with him at the same table. The Bishop suddenly raised his hand to his head and exclaimed: ‘I am certain that something has happened to one of my sons.’ It afterward transpired that just at that time his eldest son’s foot was badly crushed by an accident on board his ship, the son being at sea. The Bishop thus records the case in a letter to Miss Noel, dated March 4, 1847: ‘It is curious that at the time of the accident I was so possessed with the depressing consciousness of some evil having befallen my son, Herbert, that at the last, on the third day after the 13th, I wrote down that I was quite unable to shake off the impression that something had happened to him, and noted this down for remembrance.’”
The Society also reports upon a number of interesting cases of voluntary telepathy at a distance, but from the nature of the case these experiments could not be conducted under the same strict test conditions, and the results lack the positive quality possessed by the class of experiments we have mentioned. I omit a special reference to these “long-distance” experiments in this chapter, more particularly because I intend calling your attention to a well known series of such experiments conducted by Prof. S. W. Weltmer, of Nevada, Missouri, and his son, Mr. Ernest Weltmer, which is generally known as “The Weltmer Experiment,” and which has attracted marked attention from investigators of the subject both in this country and in Europe: In offering the result of the English experiments I make no attempt to prove any special hypothesis, or theory, but merely desire to lay the facts before you that you may intelligently determine for yourself whether “the proofs of Telepathy” are worthy of careful consideration and account. Northcote W. Thomas has well said, in his work on “Thought Transference”:
“Nothing is more difficult than to sum up the net result of experiments so diverse in their nature and outcome as the various series described above. With the exception of the card series, none of the trials embraced any great number of separate experiments, and in none of the brief series is the possibility of chance coincidence excluded, however improbable it may appear in certain cases. The results of the card experiments, on the other hand, are hardly sufficiently decisive for it to be possible to base any conclusion on them. l am less disposed to sum up the miscellaneous experiments here published…as it is, a priori, certain that no argument based upon them is likely to affect any one’s convictions. Those who are satisfied that telepathy ‘and all that nonsense’ is impossible, will not be moved, even if an angel come from heaven. Those who hold that the mass of evidence is yet too small, or that in many of the previous trials the conditions have not been such as to exclude undesired perturbations, will not find in the present contribution matter of sufficient weight to turn the scale in favor of telepathy. Perhaps those who are already convinced that thought transference is a fact will think me unduly exacting, when l demand more evidence and especially more recent evidence than any which the Society of Psychical Research has put before us.. l adopt, therefore, the safer plan of leaving my readers to make up their minds on the subject of these experiments for themselves. If l venture to express my own conviction on the subject, it is that much more effort, and particularly, much more systematic effort, is needed before we can safely assert that telepathy is a proved fact. (By this l mean proved by direct experiment. When we take into account crystal gazing and the spontaneous cases, the weight of evidence in favor of telepathy is considerably greater). No inquiry can lay claim to be scientific which expresses Its results in general terms when it can give them in precise. terms.. The Society for Psychical Research was formed to investigate telepathy as well as spiritualism. At present all its energies seem to be directed towards inquiries into trance mediumship, automatic writing, and the like, to the exclusion of the work which should really form the foundation of the whole structure of Psychical Science, the establishment of the theory of telepathy, if true, and its formulation in the most definite terms possible.. For if thought transference is ever to be proved, it must be by showing that it is a faculty common to the human race and not absolutely limited to a few individuals. Reasonably or unreasonably, if thought transference cannot, with sufficient patience and sufficiently delicate methods of analysis, be demonstrated on the corpus vile, or rather the anima vilis, of the ordinary man, it will for the mass of scientific men remain at any rate on the borderland, if not in the limbo of superstitions and delusions. If a hundred, or five hundred, or five thousand, persons were prepared to try, under proper conditions, experiments of the sort described here, leaving the discussion and analysis to experts, it might be possible, if not to demonstrate thought-transference from the results, at any rate to say more definitely than we can at present, whether the ordinary person shows any traces of such a faculty,”
Chapter VI
The Weltmer Experiment
Perhaps the best known series of experiments in Telepathy conducted by investigators in America is that known as “The Weltmer Experiment.” conducted by Prof. Sidney A. Weltmer. and his eldest son. Ernest Weltmer, of Nevada, Missouri. Prof. Weltmer is the head of the “Weltmer Institute,” of Nevada, Missouri, at which institution healing by suggestion and other mental agencies, including “absent treatment” by means of telepathy, has been practiced successfully for many years. Mr. Ernest Weltmer has investigated the subject of telepathic phenomena for many years and has conducted a great number of personal experiments along these lines. Feeling, however, that it was advisable to institute a series of experiments on a much larger scale and covering a much broader field, the Messrs. Weltmer began the celebrated “Weltmer Experiment” in 1907.
In the August, 1907, issue of “Weltmer’s Magazine,” the following announcement appears: “For the past year we have been conducting a class (in addition to the regular course in healing) for the investigation of psychic phenomena, and the results we have achieved convince us more than ever that it is possible to apply careful methods of observation to the study of the unseen as well as to the seen world. We have made a great many experiments in telepathy, with ofttimes remarkable results, and now we wish to extend our researches to broader lines and in one series of experiments gather more material than would ordinarily be obtainable in a life-time of hard work. We are going to begin a series of experiments in telepathy to test the possibility of a large number of people receiving messages from one sender. We are well fitted to make this experiment successful. We have a magazine which reaches a large number of people each month, through which we can communicate with the ones who are helping to make the experiments, and we have a centre around which to gather a great deal of effort and from which to send weekly messages to all who are trying to receive them. We have men who are trained to send thoughts to others, who understand perhaps as well as anyone at the present time, the action of the natural laws which make these things possible, and, in fact, we think we have everything necessary to give the experiment a large chance of being a success. We believe that we can send to a thousand people as well as to one any thought upon which we concentrate; that the difficulty will be in getting receivers, not so much in getting senders, although, of course, for the latter is required a man of trained mind who can think what he wishes to think; and further, we believe that there will be little trouble in teaching people how to receive, if they are willing to make an effort to learn, as our experience has shown us that it is comparatively easy to teach, the main thing being an effort on the part of the pupil to learn.
“Telepathy is a proven fact. It has been proven so many times under strictly test conditions that it is no more questioned now than is hypnotism, and only, as one would expect, by the same people, to wit: those who know nothing whatever about what has been done in either of these lines; in other words, by the ignorant. We do not expect in this experiment to prove anything new so far as ordinary telepathy is concerned, but we expect to conform what is already proven, and we wish to discover, if possible, whether one person can send messages to a large number of people at the same time…. Then we will carry the experiment a step further and endeavor to determine whether a large number of persons can be made to feel the same sensations at a certain time from one volition of the sender, without their consciousness of the sender’s intention. This would make a further basis for an absent method of therapeutic treatment.
“Our plan for this experiment is as follows: We are printing a blank in this number of the magazine which we expect at least five hundred of our subscribers to cut out, sign properly and return to us, thereby promising to spend half an hour, more or less, each week, in trying to receive a message to be sent from here and to report immediately after the trial the thoughts they think they can identify as being the message they have been trying to receive. We shall publish four blanks each month for them to use in making their weekly reports, which will save them much trouble of writing letters and make it easier for us to take care of the mass of material that will have to be arranged in firm what is already proven, and we wish to dis-publish a time table for trying the experiment, making the time suit for the whole world, so that when the sender is trying to reach the receivers they can all be waiting for the message. Then each week at the time set, one of our trained senders will concentrate his mind on some thought for the purpose of sending it out to all who are making an effort to receive it. He will also write the words expressing the thought, on a slip of paper which he will have witnessed by a notary on the same day, making it impossible to substitute a bogus message for the real one sent, and giving the evidence obtained from an agreement of the thoughts received with the message sent, strong value in the minds of the most skeptical. Or, if this will not do he will be given the message to be sent after entering the room in the presence of witnesses who will make affidavit to this fact. These messages will be published each month, together with all the replies sent in, and then when the receiver gets his magazine he can see what success he has had and how others who are trying the experiment have prospered. As the enrollment blanks are received we shall number them and when we publish the replies of the respondents we shall publish only the numbers, but we shall also keep on file all the original replies signed with the full name of the writer so that if any of them are called in question by the skeptical we can prove them genuine.
“This manner of conducting the experiment will make its results conclusive, and if we are successful in proving that these things are possible…with data of this sort it will be possible to make a science of telepathy which shall have a right to the name.”
In the September, 1907, issue of the same magazine, the editors state: “The Telepathy Experiment is a ‘go.’ We have over three hundred receivers enrolled to-day, and every mail brings a big sheaf of new applications. All those who are enrolled will receive a sheet of instructions, timetables, etc., enclosed in their magazine.”
The following quotations from the “Instructions” sent to the Receiver in the Weltmer Telepathy Experiment, will give an idea of the methods followed, etc:
“Telepathy is a function of the deeper, subconscious mind, both as to the sending and receiving of messages. Thoughts sent by the subconsciousness come to the consciousness of the sender only incidentally or perhaps not at all. Messages received by the subconsciousness arise to the consciousness of the receiver while his mind is in a condition which places the ordinary sensory thoughts in the background, and as the result of the transmitted vibrations causing a movement or condition in the receiver’s mind similar to that which in the sender’s mind produced consciousness. Telepathic messages are neither sent nor received directly in consciousness, whether voluntary or involuntary. However, since all of the thinking faculties, those which normally produce consciousness and those which do not, are under control of the consciousness-producing or conscious mind, controlled by the conscious will, it is possible to so train the subconscious sending faculty that one can determine the messages sent, by the thoughts which arise to consciousness. He can also learn to raise to consciousness all desirable messages received by the conscious receiving faculty. This is a matter of education and practice and the first step toward proficiency in the art of sending and receiving messages is to learn to receive them. To teach this is the object of these lessons.
“About the only thing that is fully proven about telepathy is that there is such a means of communication; that minds can communicate without any of the ordinary physical aids. This is proven, but no one understands fully how this is accomplished. To discover this is one of the aims of this Telepathy Experiment. The other end for which we are working is to teach men to use this means of communication so that it may be applied in every day life, assisting us with the work: we are doing with our head and hands. Our principal object at present, however, is experimentation. In order to get the best results we must lay a plan upon which to work. This plan must point the road to success, the way to reach the end of the journey we are undertaking. It must be formulated from a knowledge of the ground over which we shall travel. We have the same use for it that the arctic explorer has for the plan of the road he shall travel to find the Pole, and we must be, as he is, always ready to abandon it at any time when it proves inadequate or seems liable to lead us astray. He takes his maps and all the accounts he can find of arctic travels and from the meager information they give him he sketches out the probable course he shall have to follow and forms some idea of the nature of the country over which he shall pass and the difficulties he is likely to meet.
“So we take our knowledge of telepathy gleaned from our own experiences and all the trustworthy accounts of the experiences of others we can get, and studying these, we evolve an explanation, so far as we are able, of this phenomenon, and from this explanation we lay a plan for future work. This explanation and plan we call a hypothesis, which is proposed to account for something not understood, a plan through which we expect to get an understanding of the phenomenon, and a full knowledge of the truth. There are many hypotheses proposed to account for telepathy, but none of these seems to us to be founded on the facts as they occur, appearing rather to be statements of the preferences of their makers, expressions of their hopes rather than foreshadowings of the truth; therefore we have discarded all of them for the one which we shall give here, believing that this is the most comprehensible, the sanest and most logical conclusion, from the nature of the facts for which we are to account.
“Our Hypothesis”
“1. Mind acting in the normal capacity of thinking, produces vibrations in ether.
(“So far as we know, every expression of intelligence and force is through some form of substance by some mode of motion. Conscious thought is an expression of an intelligence and force and requires substance for its expression. What this substance may be, whether brain or mind, or both, (if we may speak of mind as substance,) we do not know, but we find we cannot think of motion apart from something to move. We conceive that there must be motion associated with thought, not only because we find motion back of every expression, but as well because we cannot really think of it as apart from substance. The motion of mind is not, strictly speaking, in brain substance, but it is in ether and expressed through brain substance, just as heat is not in the rod but is a movement of the ether expressing itself through the glowing, red-hot iron. The whole thinking process, as such, is subconscious, and produces consciousness only as a result of certain little understood conditions. Below every conscious thought there is a very complex process of mental activity and a basis of etheric movement.)
“2. Ether, capable of being set into vibrations by mental activities, fills all space.
(“We do not mean to be definite in this statement but rather to express the idea that we can place no limits to the extent of ether and do not know of anything which it does not permeate, in which it does not exist. We cannot know whether it fills all space, because we do not know all space. We do know, however, that telepathic messages have been received from the farthest corners of the earth and that therefore, so far as we are concerned as human beings, it fills all of extended space; that it at least fills all the space we occupy.)
“3. Ether transmits thought vibrations to every part of its mass.
(“This is another statement which is descriptive rather than definite. We could not, of course, say that the whole mass of ether is disturbed by thought vibrations in any one part of it, but this idea is necessary in our conception of the etheric body which is of an infinitely extended and exceedingly attenuated but at the same time more or less solid substance. Here again we find that it matters little whether or not our statement is exact, since vibrations have been transmitted from the antipodes, which means that so far as we are practically concerned our statement is true. That vibrations are transmitted through ether is proven by the fact that messages are transmitted, and it is a necessary conception in our hypothesis that thoughts produce vibrations in ether. In the absence of any physical medium of transmission in telepathy we conceive that ether serves this purpose just as the wireless telegrapher conceives that waves of electricity are carried by ether when he sends messages from one machine to another without using wires or any other visible means of communication.)
“4. The etheric transmission of thought vibrations is independent of the conscious volition of the producer.
(“Many instances come in the experience of every one in which messages have been sent and received without any effort on the part of either sender or receiver.)
“5. The transmission of thought vibrations can be directed and intensified by the conscious volition of the sender.
(“For instance, I may consciously will that my telepathic suggestions shall reach and affect a certain person in a definite manner, and experience proves that the effect produced is proportional in some degree to the intensity of my volition. This is possible, not because the conscious thinking of the sender produces a stronger effect through stronger conscious activities. This is so because Will is, po-[1] which, under the influence of the consciously directed will, produces a stronger conscious effect, produces also a stronger etheric wave through subconscious activities. This is so because Will is, potentially[2] at least, master of all the faculties and powers of man.)
“6. Mind can receive and translate thought vibrations.
(“Every instance of telepathy proves that mind receives thoughts in some manner from distant minds. Our hypothesis assumes that the manner of transmission is in the form of vibrations. Hence, it is necessary that we conceive that mind can receive these thought vibrations and translate them into conscious thoughts.)
“7. Mind receives only those thought vibrations which find a harmonious response in the receiving mind.
(“Thought vibrations are received by their producing in the receiving mind a new mode of motion corresponding with the motion of the mind which produced them. When the receiving mind is at a certain tension, which it is when thinking, or im- string on a violin is tuned to a certain tension[3], only vibrations which would be produced by a mind at the same tension can affect it. To illustrate: if a string on a violin is tuned to a certain tension[4] only sound vibrations which come from another string tuned to like tension will set it into vibration. So it is with the mind and telepathic sensitiveness. Thoughts of hope, for instance, have a pitch peculiar to themselves and require the mind producing them to have a certain tension. When the mind is tuned to the tension which produces thoughts of hope it can only answer to vibrations which have started from other minds having the same tension. For this reason the thoughts he thinks determines to what thoughts the receiver will be sensitive. This applies in every hour and minute of your life.)
“8. Thoughts of like nature produce mutually harmonious vibrations.
(“This is necessarily so since mind can receive thought vibrations at one time and translate them at a later time. It is obviously necessary that they be stored below the consciousness in some manner.)[5]
“9. A certain condition of mind called telepathic sensitiveness makes possible the conscious perception and interpretation of the stored thoughts.
(“Experience proves that the mind must be consciously withdrawn from sensory thoughts and made sensitive to the inner mind in order to raise telepathic messages to consciousness.)
“10. Telepathic sensitiveness changes the relation of the conscious and subconscious minds.
(“That telepathic sensitiveness affects only the relation of the conscious and subconscious minds is illustrated by the fact that messages received at one time can be interpreted at another; also by the fact that telepathy is not a conscious faculty. It is implied by our assumption of subconscious receptivity to vibrations.)
“11. Telepathic sensitiveness does not affect the mind in its external relations with the objects and influences of its environment except that the attention is withdrawn from them.
(“This is really a negative statement of the twelfth. Since telepathic sensitiveness consists in opening the conscious mind to subconscious activities, it could not, of course, affect its relations with the outer world, except as it withdrew all attention from it.)
“12. Thought vibrations will produce the same conscious effect upon the mind of the receiver that they produce upon the mind of the producer, except as their interpretation is warped by an imperfect condition of telepathic sensitiveness.
(“Conscious thought is the result of motion in ether, producing consciousness through the brain, depending for its nature upon the rate and intensity of this motion. Whenever the brain, through the etheric motions, is given any sort of motion, there will be produced a corresponding effect of consciousness. Therefore, when thought vibrations of a certain nature communicate their motion to the brain of the receiver, the resultant condition of consciousness will be the same to the receiver as the same motion originally caused in the mind of the producer. A faulty condition of telepathic sensitiveness might introduce certain elements of discord into the thought motion, tingeing the message received with the receiver’s own thought. This applies only to the raising of the thought to consciousness. We conceive that the message is really received in the subconscious receiver perfect and is warped only when it is in process of being raised to consciousness, although there might be some distortion below this.)
“13. An imperfect condition of telepathic sensitiveness will tend to mix the thought of the receiver with the thought of the sender, distorting the interpretation of the received thought.
(“This is obvious from the foregoing explanation. )
“14. An imperfect condition of telepathic sensitiveness may cause a received thought to be interpreted in sensations, feelings or ideas.
(“Nothing is more common than for our thoughts of things to arouse their accompanying sensations. Thus, when you sit in a train, looking out at another train which is just beginning to move on a parallel track, you appear to be moving and can feel the motion of the train, although you are standing still all the time. There is the same reaction to a thought received telepathically that there is to the idea created by false interpretation of sensory stimulation.)
“15. Telepathic sensitiveness is sometimes natural.
(“This is proven by the fact that telepathic messages are often received without any unusual conditions or voluntary effort.)
“16. Telepathic sensitiveness can be cultivated where it is not natural.
(“Common experience in teaching the art of sending and receiving telepathic messages proves this statement, making any explanations unnecessary.)
“17. Telepathic sensitiveness is best cultivated by exercises which tend to abstract one from conscious relation with his environment and produce a state of physical and mental relaxation.
(“Since telepathic sensitiveness consists in withdrawing one’s conscious attention from surroundings which will produce sensation, it naturally follows that exercises which promote this state are best adapted to its cultivation. Experience proves the theory.)
“18. While artificial telepathic sensitiveness is at first a slow and difficult process, training will enable one to produce it instantaneously at will.
(“This last statement of our hypothesis is not hypothetical at all, but is a statement of actual results obtained by us in the work of teaching telepathy.”
Following the above statement of “The Weltmer Hypothesis,” Mr. Ernest Weltmer makes the following statement, and gives the following directions for “The Weltmer Experiment:”
“For the purposes of our experiment you need to learn to receive messages; it is also better for you to have this development before you try to take up the work necessary to the successful sending of them; therefore, I shall give you instructions at present only in the cultivation of telepathic sensitiveness which is necessary to the conscious interpretation of telepathic messages received by the subconscious mind. As stated in our hypothesis, we assume that the receiving faculty or power does not belong to the consciousness-producing faculties of mind, but that it is a part of those faculties which do not normally produce consciousness, and that it needs no special cultivation of itself to exercise its functions. We further assume that when the consciousness-producing faculties are withdrawn from the senses and sensory thoughts and the attention is turned inward toward the deeper self, that the messages received by the subconscious receiving powers can arise to consciousness and be consciously known by the receiver. This condition of the mind turned inward for the perception of telepathic messages is called telepathic sensitiveness, and ability to produce this condition at will is what we must now try to cultivate.
“The first necessity for the production of voluntary telepathic sensitiveness is that the attention shall be fully withdrawn from the body, and that the body shall be placed in such a condition that its senses shall not intrude upon the mind for the time being. The physical condition that most fully insures these results is that of perfect relaxation, of the body and an equal relaxation of the mind in its relation to the body and things concerning it. In order to produce the most perfect relaxation we have recourse to one of the best known laws of psychology, to wit:—The mind sees by contrasts, and when a very strong shadow is placed by a comparatively strong light, the mind magnifies the strength of the light, etc.,—this we apply to our problem, and experience bears us out in the statement that when a period of intense activity is quickly followed by a period of comparative relaxation, the mind magnifies the degree of relaxation and makes one feel more relaxed than he really is. Here another law of psychology is brought into play, to wit:—The body reacts to the mental conditions and expresses as fully as possible the thoughts in the mind; therefore, when we produce a feeling of relaxation the body quickly follows the feeling with the actual condition. We apply these principles with the same beneficial results. The following is the manner of application: “AppLiCATiON. After having read the foregoing carefully, go into your room alone, if possible, and having prepared your bed or easy chair so that you may lie or sit at ease and comfort, take this exercise, either sitting up or lying down, or even standing. It is better to take it in the position you will maintain during your relaxation period, but if this is inconvenient and you have to take the exercise in one position and then rest in another, place yourself in the position you wish to keep, before you are ready to relax. l shall describe the exercise as if you were taking it sitting in your easy chair, and you can adapt it from this description to meet your own requirements. Extend your arms in front and keeping your attention firmly fixed upon what you are doing, half close the hands and then try to open and close them at the same time, pulling the muscles that would open them against those which would close them; half bend the wrists and then make the muscles which would bend them farther pull against those which would straighten them; bend the elbows in the same manner, and lift the arms also at the same time that other muscles are trying to hold them down; when all the hand, wrist, elbow and shoulder muscles are thus pulling against each other, suddenly relax them and let the arms fall, when you will feel a sense of bodily ease and relaxation run up your arms and spread over your shoulders. Do this several times; if you do it properly, three or four times are sufficient unless you are accustomed to this particular form of exercise. Then mentally apply the same exercise to all parts of your body, your neck, trunk, legs, etc. If you have done it right with your arms, you can by the mental application to all other parts of your body produce the same relaxation in every part. When exercising the arms, be sure that the hands do not relax when you begin bending the wrists, and that both the hands and wrist are tense when you bend the elbows, etc., so that when you come to relax, every muscle in the arms and shoulders that would be involved in such actions as those described, will be pulling as hard as possible.
“When you have relaxed your body in this manner then leave it alone; give it no further thought; forget it if possible, then give your attention to some complex problem such as the following: Ponder the mystery of the formation of a chicken out of the yellow and white parts of an egg, or the phenomenon of frost forming patterns on the windows, or the evening sky becoming red, or anything else you cannot understand that will permit of intense mental application, or if you do not like these problems, take a problem in mental arithmetic and solve it; anything will do that requires concentration and as much mental exertion as possible. When you have brought your mind to a high degree of voluntary activity suddenly let go all control of it, rest and relax your mind as you have done your body, then just let yourself alone. Make no efforts to control your thoughts; let come what will and do not even make an effort to hear or see anything. Just relax. If you go to sleep, that will not matter; you will awake after a time, and even if you do sleep all night that is all right; try to raise the message to consciousness the first thing next morning before arising. It would be well if you would practice this exercise every day, making no effort to receive anything, however, except on the nights set for the tests. You can in this manner make more rapid progress than if you practice only once a week at the time when you wish to receive a message. Every time that you practice the exercise, read the hypothesis and instructions fully, thinking of their meaning as closely as if you had never seen them before, and concentrate the whole of your attention on the exercises you are practicing. Be careful to avoid any perfunctory performance of any part of these instructions. The thought that you put into it is what will count for you.
“Directions for the Experiment:
Every Thursday night, as long as the Experiment is continued, which will be during the whole of the coming winter, at any rate; from nine to nine-thirty, Standard or Railroad Time, Central Time, Prof. S. A. Weltmer will send a message from here to all the receivers who are enrolled in the Experiment. At that time you should make yourself receptive and try to receive the message he sends. If you live in Eastern Time, you should take the time from ten to ten-thirty for relaxation; if you live in Atlantic or Intercolonial Time, from eleven to eleven-thirty, or if this hour is too late for you, relax when you are ready for bed and then, next morning before arising, try to receive the message which has been stored in your deeper mind. If you live west of Nevada, (Missouri), and your time is Western or Mountain Time, you should relax from eight to eight-thirty; if Pacific Time, from seven to seven-thirty, in order to be waiting at the time that the message is being sent. Remember that we are using only Standard Time, which is the same as Railroad Time and often very different from Sun Time. Receivers living in foreign countries can adapt the time they use to this, using mean Sun Time, which will be approximately correct.
“As soon as you receive a message write out a report of it. Be sure to report, even if you do not get anything; but there is no chance that you will fail to get something if you will follow directions, and that something may be the message. You must learn to distinguish what is the message and what is not and the reports you make will help you in this. This is one of the most difficult things you will have to learn and you cannot be too careful about reporting properly. Many people get the message correctly every time but do not know how to recognize it. This is something that you will have to learn largely through experience, by comparing your experiences while relaxed with the reports you send in and the messages sent to you. In this way you can see where you have been making your mistakes and learn to know what is from the outside and what is from the sender of the message.
“While, as I have said, experience will have to be your teacher in this, there are several ways in which you can identify telepathic messages with a fair chance of success. For instance, they will not be associated with any of the other thoughts which have previously been in your mind; they will impress you as unfamiliar; will be more or less persistent; will bring a feeling of association with the sender, making you, if you are very sensitive, feel the sender’s presence; when you have a thought that brings a feeling of the sender’s presence, that will be the message. Or, if you can learn to know just when you have become thoroughly sensitive, when the warm glow of awakening health goes all over your body, and will then pick out your first impression, it will often be the right one. Be sure to report every thought that brings with it any feeling that the sender is with you or that you have come to him, or even if there is no more than a strong feeling of association which does not reach the extreme of making you feel his presence. Do not try to govern the thoughts which come into your mind unless they should be unpleasant or undesirable. Take anything that comes, so long as it is not unpleasant. But, do not under any circumstances accept anything that is in any sense unpleasant, for we shall send nothing of the kind, and you must learn to protect yourself against the reception of anything of this kind that you may receive from any other source. You will not get into any condition where you will be unable to refuse any thoughts you do not want.”
Chapter VII
Results of the Weltmer Experiment
In the November, 1907, issue of Weltmer’s Magazine, Mr. Ernest Weltmer makes his first report of the Weltmer Experiment. He says: “Our great Telepathy Experiment has been making weekly tests since September 12th. Up to date we have been concerned with testing the hypothesis that any number of people can receive the same message at the same time from one sender, irrespective of distance or location, if they can each one become properly sensitive. I present, as follows, the results of the first four tests.” He then calls attention to a fac-simile reproduction of the statement of the committee selected for the first test, which reads as follows:
“Sept. 12, 1907.
“We. as Committee. have selected this message for Prof. S. A. Weltmer to send to-night to the receivers in the Telepathy Experiment, and we hereby testify that he has not seen or been told this message until we have given it to him at 9 P. M. this date. The message is as follows: ‘Telepathy is a fact!
(Signed) “John Wilson, Wm. Weinrich, Emma T. Metz”
Mr. Ernest Weltmer adds the following footnote to the reproduction of the above report : “The above is a photographic facsimile of the document prepared by the committee which selected this first message. Each test is carried on with the same precautions, and all these papers are kept to compare with the reported results. The dated reports, taken with the papers prepared by the various committees, give the evidence we gather a positive scientific value, and exclude, on every count, all chance of fraud.”
The results of this first test, as stated by Mr. Weltmer, show that 310 persons reported according to the requirements. Of the messages reported, the following have more or less resemblance to the message actually sent out:
“Telepathy is a grand science.”
“Telepathy is a fact; it is proven.”
“Learn Telepathy.”
“Telepathy is a grand science.”
“Thought transference.”
“Mental Healing is a fact.”
“Mental Healing is a success.”
“Fell asleep immediately after relaxing; did not awaken until 6 a.m. My first consciousness was the single word ‘Telepathy’ ringing through my brain.”
Many reports were received having no apparent connection with the message sent out.
The message sent out on September 19, 1907. was as follows: “Health is wealth.” The reports having some apparent connection with the actual message, are as follows:
“Impression. ‘Perfect Health.’ l felt the vibrations all through my right side, neck and throat where my trouble is.”
“Health went all over me and my mind was clear. l saw how to hold my mind for health.”
Results of the Weltmer Experiment
“A bounding circulation. Seemed to rise and float away, Heard beautiful music; had perfect rest. Afterward, restful sleep, then perfect health.”
The message sent out September 26, 1907, was as follows: “God is Love.” The reports having some apparent connection with the message sent out, are as follows:
“God is omnipresent.”
“God is life, all.”
“The Lord is my shepherd.”
“The word ‘Love’ seemed to be more prominent than anything else, except beautiful flowers.” “Love rules.”
The message sent out October 3, 1907, was as follows: “I smell a rose” The following reports seem to have some connection with the message:
“No message, but an odor.”
“Smelled the odor of fever bush.”
“I clearly saw Mr. Ernest Weltmer at his desk with his face buried in some beautiful pink roses; his whole attention seemed given to the act of smelling the largest one in the vase. I had the impression of the odor while I was looking at them and Mr. Weltmer. This was followed by a distinct impression of seeing you at your office sniffing the odor of some fluid substance in the tiny bottle which you held in your hands.”
Referring to this last mentioned report, Mr. Ernest Weltmer states that: “She describes very well both my father and myself as we sent the message; he with two vials of rose perfume and I with a vase of large pink roses.”
The December, 1907; issue of Weltmer’s Magazine, continues the report of the experiment.
The message sent out October 10, 1907, was as follows: “A wise head carries a still tongue.” The reports having some apparent connection with the message sent out are absent in this test.
The message sent out October 17, 1907, was as follows: “I am hopeful, I am growing strong.” This test also, failed to bring satisfactory reports.
The message sent out October 24, 1907, was as follows: “I have cast fear out of my life and now trust the law of my being” This test also failed to bring satisfactory reports.
The message sent out October 31, 1907, was as follows: “I dwell in love” About the only report seeming to have any connection with the message was one as follows:
“I do not know how to describe it except as a feeling of glory filled my being, filling me with strength and power, and love for everybody.”
The January, 1908, issue of Weltmer’s Magazine continues the report of the experiment.
The message sent out November 21, 1907, was as follows: “Love and Hope” The reports having apparent connection with the message were as follows:
“God is Love.”
“Hope is the key to Heaven.”
“God is Love.”
“God is Love.”
“Learn to Love.”
“Love thy neighbor as thyself.”
The message sent out November 28, 1907, was as follows: “Joy” Mr. Ernest Weltmer states in connection with this particular test that: “There seemed to be a total lack of receptivity all around. There were very few who reported receiving any message at all, perhaps because they did not try. This was probably due to the fact that it was Thanksgiving and those who did not
Results of the Weltmer ExpERiMENT forget entirely had their minds so occupied with thoughts of the occasion that they were unable to concentrate on the experiment.”
The message sent out December 5, 1907, was as follows: “Relax, the country is safe” The reports having an apparent connection with the message are as follows:
“l saw a large crowd.”
“l felt the presence of many persons.”
“We are the happiest people on earth.”
“Learn to relax and good will follow.”
The message sent out December 12, 1907, was as follows: “Fear not; all is well” The reports having some apparent connection with the message are as follows:
“Fear not; all is well.”
“Fear not; all is well.”
“Fear not; all is well.”
“Fear not, little flock.”
“l need fear no evil.”
“l thought l was in a crowd of people and there was some trouble and l said to one fellow, ‘Don’t be afraid; it will be all right soon, but we took no part.”
The February, 1908, issue of Weltmer’s Magazine continues the report of the experiment.
The message sent out December 19, 1907, was as follows: “Peace be unto all” The reported results are as follows:
“Peace be unto all.”
“Peace be to all.”
“Peace to all.”
“Peace be unto thee.”
“Health, happiness, health to thee.
“Peace be unto you.
“Peace and good unto all men.”
In addition, 19 reported some variation of “Peace on earth, good will to men;” 6 reported some variation of “Peace, be still;” and 25 reported some other form of “Peace” message. Mr. Ernest Weltmer reported of this particular test that: “Altogether there was eleven per cent of the reports which gave some part, or all, of the message.”
The message sent out December 26, 1907, was as follows: “A happy New Year to all.” The reported results are as follows:
“A happy New Year to all.”
“A happy New Year to all.”
“A happy New Year to all.”
“Happy New Year to all.”
“Cheer and a happy New Year unto all.”
“I wish you all a happy New Year.”
“A happy New Year.”
In addition there were 15 other reports in which some form of New Year message was mentioned, although many attributed this thought to the associations of the season.
The message for January 2, 1908, was as follows: “Prosperity awaits you.” The reported results are as follows:
“Happiness and prosperity to all.”
“Success and pleasure to all, and a brighter time coming to all.”
“Success in my efforts as a magnetic healer.”
“Health and prosperity to all through 1908.”
“Success to all.”
“A thought of peace and health to all, and then a prosperous New
Year.”
“Success to all.”
“This will be a prosperous year.”
Results of the Weltmer ExpERiMENT
“Success for all.”
“Success unto all.”
In addition there were 14 who “seemed to get the idea pretty well, but did not express it in the proper words.” The March, 1908, issue of Weltmer’s Magazine continues the report of the experiment.
The message sent out January 9, 1908, was divided into three parts, regarding which change Mr. Ernest Weltmer states: “Beginning with January ninth the message was sent out at three different hours. It was sent first at seven, then at eight, and later at nine o’clock. On this evening a different message was sent at each hour for the purpose of determining, if possible, whether time and distance had anything to do with transmission. The message sent at seven o’clock was ‘Wisdom is Mine.’ At eight o’clock the message ‘Health is Wealth’ was sent, and ‘Right is Might’ is the message which was sent at nine o’clock. The best reports were as follows:
“Wisdom is mine.”
“Wisdom and Health. You made a change in telepathy, didn’t you?
Seemed to me like you did.”
“Yours for Truth. Then seemed to come Knowledge is yours.’”
“Infinite Wisdom is Mine.”
“Health and Success.”
“Health and Success.”
“Health, Success.”
“Health is worth more than all else.”
“Health, Wealth and Success.”
“Health, Strength and Prosperity are yours.”
The messages for January 16, 1908, were as follows: “All is Right;’’ “You are growing stonger;’’ and “Love one another.” The following are a few of the best reports following this test:
“All is Right, and You are Growing Stronger, also Love One Another.”
“All is Well. The Kingdom is Within. The Recognition of that Power gives me great Peace.”
“All is Well” (This report was sent in by 6 persons.)
“All is Good.” (This report sent in by 4 persons.)
“Everything is O. K.”
“l am all right and growing stronger.”
The messages sent out on January 23. 1908, were as follows: “We are Encouraged:’ “I Will Succeed-,’’ and “Telepathy will Win.” The reports regarding the first message were very vague, but these relating to the second and third are much clearer, as will be seen below:
“l will Succeed.”
“Success will Crown You.”
“You will Rise or Succeed.”
“You shall receive that which you are Striving for.”
“Success is Yours.”
“Success. Sure.”
“Telepathy will have Success.”
“Telepathy is Proven.”
“Telepathy is Beneficial.”
“Telepathy is a Success.”
The messages sent out on January 30, 1908, were as follows: “Mental Healing has come to Stay;” “Rejoice with Me;’’ and “All is Yours.” No strictly correct answers were received, although many were received giving the thought of one of the messages, the form of expression being different; for instance: “Joy and Gladness.”
In this number of the magazine, Mr. Ernest Weltmer makes the following interesting statement:
“l have noticed that on the succeeding night there are usually almost as many who receive the message sent on the preceding night as received it the night that it was sent out. If this had happened in only one or two cases I should think nothing of it, but since it happens nearly every time I am led to believe that there may be some very good reason for it. It may have something to do with the retention of the message below consciousness and time consumed in transmission. I am not prepared to venture an explanation now.”
The April, 1908, issue of Weltmer’s Magazine contains the account of the tests of February 6, 13, 20, and 27, 1908, respectively. The messages sent out on February 6, 1908, were as follows: “We are growing stronger and better every day;’’ “I am well;’’ and “Be of good cheer” The following results are reported:
“You are growing strong.”
“Health is yours.”
“Be of good cheer.”
Besides the above, 27 are reported as “approximately correct both in the sense and the wording of their reports;” and 84 “reported the sense of the messages but not the words.”
The message sent out on February 13, 1910, was as follows: “God is Love, Life, Health and Peace” The following were the best reports:
“God is Love, Life, Health and Peace.”
“Be comforted, for God is Love and Health and Peace.”
“God is Life, Health and Peace.”
Mr. Ernest Weltmer states regarding the reports of this test: “Besides these three, which are perhaps the best, although there are many others almost if not quite as good, 25 others reported the sense and words of the message in whole or in part and may be considered approximately correct, and 70 reported the sense of the message but did not get the wording correct.”
The messages sent out on February 20, 1908, were as follows: “All possibilities are mine;’’ “All power is mine;’’ and “Truth leads me.” The reports are as follows:
“All is mine. Power is mine. Health is mine. Success is mine. Be Happy.” “Let the words of truth and love lead thee.”
“Truth is mighty.”
Mr. Ernest Weltmer says of the reports: “These three are the only ones who reported the words in anything like the right combination, although many had the sense very correctly and got part of the words right, and 66 reported the meaning but not the words of the message.”
The message of February 27, 1908, was as follows : “You can do what I do when you know what I know.” Mr. Ernest Weltmer says regarding this test: “This test was almost a total failure. No one received the message correctly, and only four and one-half per cent seemed to have any idea of the meaning of it.”
Chapter VIII
Results of the Weltmer Experiment (Continued)
The May, 1908, issue of Weltmer’s Magazine gives the results of the tests of March 5, 12, 19, and 26, 1908, respectively. Mr. Ernest Weltmer made the following statement: “For some unknown reason this month has been the least successful of any since the experiment was started. l have thought over the question from every side and l cannot discover the reason for this.. l cannot see what makes the difference, but, whatever it is, l hope that it will soon pass and that we shall begin to make progress again.. Every one of the four messages sent during this month would have been an easy one to receive if its reception had depended upon the suggestions of association, guessing or coincidence, for they are all of the nature that we would be expected to send. The first one, especially, is one which would have a strong backing of suggestion from the environment of the receivers and the season of the year, and the other three, being familiar quotations, would be as likely to come into the mind of the receivers as any of the other quotations of this character, except two or three which have been sent several times and which are reported continually.
(I wish to say, in passing, that we shall in future endeavor to prevent any committee from selecting either of the following messages:—“God is Love;” “Peace on earth; good will to men;” “Love one another;” and if anyone ‘receives’ any one or all of these messages, as so many are in the habit of doing, they may be sure that they are suggested by their own expectations and suggestions of associations of ideas and are not true telepathic messages. We endeavor to have messages chosen which have not been sent before, in order to avoid the element of association that would exist in the repeated messages. I interject this note in this place for the benefit of those receivers who continue to report the messages mentioned … That we shall shortly discover the cause for our late failures and achieve a much greater success than ever before, I am confident. I am in greater hopes than ever before, as I have said, because I am more certain that our successes have been due to telepathy and nothing else; I am in greater hopes than ever that we shall prove our hypothesis that ‘one receiver can send the same message to any number of people at the same time.'”
The message sent out March 5, 1908, was as follows: “Awake with Spring to New Life.” Not one reported the correct answer, and only three reports even faintly hinted at the meaning of the message.
The message sent out March 12, 1905, was as follows: “Know Thyself.” The results were but a shade better than those of the previous week.
The message sent out March 19, 1908, was as follows: “Life is real; life is earnest.” None seemed to receive it correctly, although “almost one and one-half per cent of those reporting seemed to have some idea of what was sent.”
The message sent out March 26, 1908, was as follows: “Truth is mighty and will prevail.” One person, living in the state of Washington, reported the message correctly, and five others “seemed to catch its meaning.”
The June, 1908, issue of Weltmer’s Magazine contained the results of the tests of April 2, 9, 16 and 23, 1908, respectively.
The message of April 2, 1908, was “Have courage; you can win” The record shows that 35 reports were received indicating that the meaning had been received, although not in the exact words of the message. Some of the best reports are given below:
“Success is certain; you cannot fail.”
“Be of good courage; you will succeed.”
The message sent out April 9, 1908, was as follows: “Be cheerful, hopeful and happy” One report was received in the exact words of the message; one, giving the words “cheerful and happy,” and 15 giving the idea in whole or in part, but not in the same words in which it was sent.
The message sent out April 16, 1908, was as follows: “Kindness is Godliness.” One and one-half per cent of the reports received were in some degree correct, although no absolutely correct report was received. The following indicate the “in some degree correct” answers:
“Be kind to every living thing.”
“Be merciful, kind and true hearted.”
The message sent out April 23, 1908, was as follows: “In our own unfettered hands lies our eternal destiny.” A number seemed to catch the general spirit of the message, but none reported it with a sufficient degree of correctness to justify a “correct” mark.
In the July, 1908, issue of Weltmer’s Magazine, the following statement of Mr. Ernest Weltmer appeared: “It was decided, on the 30th of April, to make a change in the Telepathy Experiment for the purpose of determining whether our lack of success was not due, in part, at least, to the nature of the messages we were trying to send. The committee was instructed to choose in the place of the usual sentence, some simple geometrical design, the idea of which the sender was to transmit to the receivers without their knowing “that any change had been made. The design selected was a drawing of a small flag and when this was given to Prof. Weltmer, the sender, he added to it a small cross.” The following reports relating to this test were received:
“l saw a ship passing near shore. It was in a disabled condition. On the side to the shore was an enclosure painted white, with a key, point up.” (The drawing of the “key” accompanied this report bears a very strong resemblance to the small flag with swallow-tail ends which was the design selected by the committee.)
“l think l must have had a foretaste of the Fourth of July, as all l could make of the message this time was flags, boxes and the like.”
“Cling to the Cross is a symbol of Christ, the flag means peace.”
Several others reported that they had received geometrical figures. On May 7, 1908, the committee selected a design of two circles connected by a straight line, the figure resembling the familiar “dumb-bell.” The following were the only reports received having any apparent resemblance to the selected design:
“Tadpole.”
“Two men facing each other with something between them.”
“Pair of balances.”
“A pink oblong breast-pin.”
On May 14, 1908, the committee selected the figure of a crescent. The following reports were considered to have an apparent relation to the design selected:
“A mark in the shape of a rainbow.”
“A square, and yellow crescent.”
Results of the Weltmer Experiment (Continued)
On May 21, 1908, the committee selected the figure of an anchor. The following reports have a close relation to the selected design:
“An anchor.”
“An anchor with motto ‘Health and Happiness.'”
“Hope as an anchor of the soul. I saw a sailor casting an anchor which seemed like flame.”
The August issue of Weltmer’s Magazine, 1908, contains the report of the tests of May 28, June 4, 11, and 18, 1908, respectively.
The design selected May 28, 1908, was a triangular shaped geometrical form, which might also be described as a “tripod” or an “arrow-shaped” figure. The following reports indicate a relation to the selected design:
“A triangle about five inches from corner to corner.”
“Triangle with circle through it.”
“A plow-share.”
“An arrow.”
On June 4, 1908 the design selected was a “double triangle” arranged in the form of a six-pointed star. The following reports indicate a relation to the selected design:
“Looking through an instrument at the stars.”
“Star and ring.”
“The sky was full of stars and then everything was so bright.”
“A big bright star.”
“A beautiful forest. The sky was apparently aflame. Stars appeared in the flame and seemed near the earth.”
On June 11, 1908, the design selected was a carpenter’s square. The following reports indicate a relation to the selected design:
“A large steel square and it seemed that I was holding it in my hand.”
“It seems the figure must have been an angle of some kind. The diamond or square seemed to give the deepest impression.”
“The letter ‘L.’”
On June 18, 1908, the design selected was a circle. The following reports indicate a relation to the selected design:
“Circle with a dot at its center.”
“The circle.”
“Circle.”
“A circle of bright spots.”
“A whirling circle of vibratory force which took the form of a funnel, focus away from me.”
“Whirling disc with a hole in the center.”
A number of others reported a ball or similar object.
The September, 1908, issue of Weltmer’s Magazine contains the report of the tests of June 25, July 2, 9, 16 and 23, 1908, respectively.
Of the test of June 25, 1908, Mr. Ernest Weltmer states: “On the night of June 25th, Prof. Weltmer was attending a meeting of the Ohio Association of Suggestive Therapeutics in Columbus, Ohio. When the time came to send the message he was speaking to the convention. He had decided before going onto the platform that he would impress upon the minds of the receivers the sight of his hand, with all the fingers closed except the index finger, which would be pointing. This thought was kept in mind more or less during the progress of his speech, and when he had finished he felt that many should have received the message. The following reports indicate a relation to the selected image:
“Several hands pointing.”
“A young man pointing finger to forehead.”
“Two hands holding a vase.”
Several others reported that they had received an impression of Prof. Weltmer addressing a number of persons. On July 2, 1908, the design selected was the capital letter “A.” The reported results of this test are as follows:
“Saw the letter ‘A’ stand out in bold relief, and a ‘B’ after.”
Mr. Ernest Weltmer, adds: “This is the only one who reported the letter ‘A’ but there were many who sent drawings of triangles which were so like it in form as to be almost successes.”
On July 9, 1908, the design selected was somewhat complicated, being a large circle in the centre of which was a square, a cross being drawn over the square and extending to the circumference of the circle. The reported results were as follows:
“A strong impression of a square and two circles.”
“A circle the size of a silver dollar, the inside filled with designs of something l had never seen.”
“Several times this design (a circle enclosing a cross) came to my mind.”
“Received the picture in white of a Maltese Cross and dreamed of a ring.”
“Fell asleep and dreamed of a circle with dots in the ring.”
One July 16, 1908, the design selected was “A wheel within a wheel” The reported results are as follows:
“l saw a circle and the letter ‘X.’”
“A circle inside of a circle, connected at four opposite points.”
“A series of circles something like that (accompanied by a sketch showing four circles, each enclosed within the one larger, and with a dot in the centre of the group).”
On July 23, 1908, the committee again resumed the “word” message, and the following message was sent out: “Determination conquers difficulties.” The reported results follow:
“There was such a quiet and peaceful wave, and determination on my part to conquer.”
Others reported the general meaning of the message, but in different words and forms of expression.
The October, 1908, issue of Weltmer’s Magazine contains the report of the tests of July 30, August 6, 13, 20, and 27, 1908, respectively.
The following message was sent out July 30, 1908: “When in doubt, say ‘I Can.’” One report gave the exact words, but Mr. Ernest Weltmer hesitated to admit the report owing to the fact that the postmark on the report was blurred. A number of others reported the general sense of the message, but in other words.
The message for August 6, 1908, was as follows: “Courage” The results are as follows:
“Courage, fear not.”
“Courage.”
“Never give up, or Courage.”
“I heard the word Courage, but could distinguish nothing more.”
“Courage.”
“Be not discouraged.”
The message for August 13, 1908, was as follows: “Every act is an act of faith” The following results were reported:
“Faith is the basis of all actions.”
“Faith is dynamic.”
The message for August 20, 1908, was as follows: “Faith brings knowledge” Mr. Ernest Weltmer considered this test a complete failure, as out of 363 reports received, only two could be judged to show any particular sensitiveness.
The message of August 27, 1908, was as follows: “Faith is belief in action.” This test was also a failure, as only three showed any great degree of sensitiveness and none reported the message correctly.
The November, 1908, issue of Weltmer’s Magazine contained a report of the tests of September 3, 10, 17, and 24, 1908, respectively.
The message of September 3, 1908, was as follows: “I can and I will do it now.” The results were as follows:
“I can and I will do it.”
“I can do what I will.”
“What you will to do you can do.”
The message of September 10, 1908, was as follows: “I will find a way or make one” Two persons reported the message in the exact words. Many others reported the meaning, expressed in other words.
The message for September 17, 1908, was as follows: “I will succeed” The results were as follows:
“I will succeed.” (2 persons reported this).
“I will win out.”
“I can succeed.”
The message of September 24, 1908, was as follows: “All is well” The reports show that six persons reported in the exact words of the message.
The December, 1908, issue of Weltmer’s Magazine contains the report of the tests of October 1, 8, 15, and 22, 1908, respectively.
The message of October 1, 1908, was as follows: “Truth is light.” The result was as follows:
“God is light.”
“Idea of light. Seek the light of truth.”
“All is light.”
“The thought that truth will be and is a light to me.”
The message for October 8, 1908, was as follows: “My strength is all-sufficient.” The results were as follows:
“My strength is all-sufficient.”
“Strength is given to all to bear our burden.”
The message of October 15, 1910, was as follows: “The power of the Infinite is mind” This test was a failure no reports being correct or nearly so.
The message of October 22, 1908, was as follows: “I seek perfect health.” The results were as follows:
“l want perfect health.”
“Health is mine and l shall attain it.”
“l want perfect health.”
“Health is what we seek.”
“l seek perfect health.”
“l want perfect health.”
The March, 1909, issue of Weltmer’s Magazine gives the report of the tests from October 29, 1908, to February 4, 1909, inclusive. These reports are stated briefly as follows:
October 29, 1908. Message: “Life’s music is health.” One report was in the exact words of the message, and one other nearly so (“Life, music and health”).
November 5, 1908. Message: “All is well, be content.” Fifteen reports were counted as practically correct.
November 12, 1908. Message: “Love toward all things warms my heart.” This test was a failure, not one report being correct.
November 19, 1908. Message: “I am one with all love and power.” Two reports were received nearly correct, as follows: “I am one with all power;” and “I am love, I am power, I am health, I am strength.”
November 26, 1908. Message: “I am able to do anything I want to do.” Two reports were correct, which was deemed remarkable, considering the length of the message.
December 3, 1908. Message: “I am filled with good cheer” None reported correctly.
December 17, 1908. Message: “I love my fellow men because I can” One report approximately correct.
December 24, 1908. Message: “I wish that every person in the world could know the Christ within themselves” One person reported in almost the exact words.
December 31, 1908. Message: “I will strive to see only the good, the beautiful, the true, in each person and thing that lies in my path this year” Mr. Ernest Weltmer says, regarding this test, “strange to say, two of the receivers reported this message correctly—that is, they gave its sense and the larger part of its wording.”
January 7, 1909. Message: “I live and love because I can.” One person reported the message “approximately correctly.”
January 14, 1909. Message: “He who loves his fellow man is loving God the holiest way he can” None reported correctly.
January 21, 1909. Message: “Mind is the only power, and thought the only force in the universe.” One person reported correctly.
January 28, 1909. Message: “It rained to-day.” Three persons reported correctly.
February 4, 1909. Message: “I will be strong, brave, and happy” Two persons reported correctly.
The March, 1909, issue of Weltmer’s Magazine was its last number, for that magazine was then consolidated with the “New Thought” magazine; the Telepathy Department being continued. The reports of the experiment continued during the year of 1909, and into 1910, and is still in operation at the date of the present writing (July, 1910). But as the results are practically the same as those reported in the preceding chapters, it seems useless to recount the tests at further length.
While the scientific investigator may feel constrained to hold that any experiment conducted with a large number of people in all parts of the country must, of necessity, lack some of the rigid conditions of the tests of the psychological laboratory, and be open to the danger of deception on the part of the recipients, nevertheless the results of the Weltmer Experiment must be seriously and thoughtfully considered by all investigators of the subject. It is the first experiment along this particular phase of telepathy, and the particular advantages possessed by the experimenters (the established circle of readers, students, and patients) must be taken into account. One, reading over the detailed reports issued from month to month by Mr. Ernest Weltmer, is struck by the spirit of frankness and fairness manifested by that gentleman. He refuses to accept reports when there is a possibility of doubt, and often decides cases against the success of the Experiment when others might have admitted the proof. He reports complete failures as readily as he does those of marked success, and in every way gives evidence of the possession of “the scientific spirit” and the love of truth, rather than of the desire to “make good” at any cost.
In the opinion of the writer, the “messages” of the committee were often poorly selected, in many cases being too involved or complicated, and often far too long. This is particularly true of some of the later messages. It would seem that words indicating some particular and clear concept, such as Courage, Love, Strength, Health, or those indicating some particular color, or some particular object, such as Red. Green, or Horse, Book, Hat, would be much better than such messages as: “I will strive to see only the good, the beautiful, the true, in each person and thing that lies in my path this year;” or “l wish that every person in the world could know the Christ within themselves.” This last mentioned class of messages is, in fact, decidedly unfair to the “receivers,” and to the Experiment.
The Weltmer Experiment will probably be followed by others along the same general lines. Considerable space has been given to them in this little book, that others may profit by the strong points and avoid the weak points indicated by the reports; and also that a permanent record of the tests may be had. The Weltmer Experiment is the pioneer which is blazing a path through the woods, along which path others may follow in the future. It is to be hoped that those who follow will remember to give full credit to the pioneer work performed in their behalf.
Chapter IX
The Theories
It has been well said that “Theories are but mighty soap- bubbles, with which the grown-up children amuse themselves.” Too many thinkers devote so much time to the creation and support of theories that they lose sight of the real facts lying around loose on every side of them. At the best, a theory should be regarded as but a “working hypothesis”—a “supposition or principle assumed or taken for granted in order to draw a conclusion or inference of the point in question”—“a theory assumed to account for something not understood.” As Thomas L. Harris has said:
“The simple peasant who observes a truth,
And from the fact deduces principle,
Adds solid treasure to the public wealth.
The theorist who dreams a rainbow dream,
And calls the hypothesis philosophy,
At best is but a paper financier
Who palms his specious promises for gold.
Facts are the basis of philosophy;
Philosophy the harmony of facts,
Seen in their right relation.”
And so it is in relation to the facts of telepathy. It is not necessary to accept any particular theory of telepathy in order to accept the facts. One may accept any one of the several theories advanced to account for the phenomena of telepathy- one may even refuse to accept any of these theories—and still “believe in” telepathy. It is possible—and extremely probable— that the several theories regarding telepathy may be found after all to be but mere guesses, and that the real theory is yet to be unfolded. So, to all students and investigators of telepathy, l would say: Use any theory as but a working hypothesis and not as an established law or principle—stick close to the facts, and do not waste time fighting about theories.
In order that the reader may know what working hypotheses have been advanced to account for the phenomena of telepathy, let us take a brief glance at the leading theories of the theorists.
In the first place we have the theory most commonly advanced—the theory of thought-waves in the ether. You will find this particular theory forcibly stated in the quotations from eminent scientists which appear in the first few chapters of this little book. It is held by these thinkers that just as the vibrations of light, heat, electricity and magnetism produce waves in the ether of space which are then carried to distant points where they reproduce the original vibrations, so do the vibrations of thought create ether-waves which travel until they come in contact with the brain or mind of another person and are then transformed into thought vibrations. This idea has received support from the physiological fact that there is noticed a perceptible increase in the temperature of the brain during periods of thought-activity, and that there are known to be chemical changes in the brain-substance during the process of thought—which would seem to indicate the manifestation of power, energy or force of some kind. The idea has also been strengthened by the recent discoveries in wireless telegraphy many writers freey using the latter as an illustration of the manifestation of telepathy. Scientists freely admit that there is a place for thought-vibrations in the scale of vibrations, there being immense gaps in the scale which evidently belong to some vibratory forces as yet unknown to us. For instance, Prof. Elisha Gray says: “There is much food for speculation in the thought that there exist sound waves that no human ear can hear, and color waves of light that no eye can see. The long, dark, soundless space between 40,000 and 400,000,000,000,000 vibrations per second, and the infinity of range beyond 700,000,000,000,000 vibrations per second, where light ceases, in the universe of motion, makes it possible to indulge in speculation.” And, Prof. M. M. Williams says: “There is no gradation between the most rapid undulations or tremblings that produce our sensations of sound, and the slowest of those which give rise to our sensations of gentlest warmth. There is a huge gap between them, wide enough to include another world of motion, all lying between our world of sound and our world of heat and light, and there is no good reason whatever for supposing that matter is incapable of such intermediate activity, or that such activity may not give rise to intermediate sensations, provided there are organs for taking up and sensifying these movements.”
I shall not go into further detail regarding this particular theory, which is the most popular one, for the eminent scientists quoted elsewhere in the book give a clearer, stronger and better presentation of it than the present writer could hope to do. The reader will notice that the “Weltmer Hypothesis” is based on this idea of waves in the ether, the following statement thereof being unmistakable: “1. Mind, acting in the normal capacity of thinking, produces vibrations in ether. 2. Ether, capable of being set into vibrations by mental activities, fills all space. 3. Ether transmits thought vibrations to every part of its mass,” etc.
The second popular theory of telepathy is that of the “Subjective, Subconscious, or Subliminal Mind,” which has found favor with a great number of persons, particularly with those interested in Psychic Research or the popular metaphysical movement. This theory is based upon the hypothesis that (1) there exists in each individual a “mind” or phase of mind below the threshold of consciousness; and (2) that this “below- consciousness” mind of each individual is in psychic touch and connection with the similar mind of each and every other individual; and (3) that, therefore, there must be natural communication between the “below-consciousness” minds of individuals, without necessity for thought-waves in the ether, the means and principles of such communication belonging to metaphysics rather than to physics and therefore not coming under the physical laws governing matter and force.
There has been much written regarding this theory, and about this “below-consciousness” mind, to which I must refer the reader. It must be remembered, though, that one may accept the “below-consciousness” mind or phase of mind, without also accepting the “subconscious” theory of telepathy. Nor is it necessary to ignore the “subconscious” even while accepting the thought-wave theory. As proof of this last, I ask you to consider the statement of Mr. Ernest Weltmer, who, while advancing the “wave in the ether” hypothesis, nevertheless, plainly states: “Telepathy is a function of the deeper, subconscious mind, both as to the sending and receiving of messages. Thoughts sent by the subconsciousness come to the consciousness of the sender only incidentally or not at all. Messages received by the subconsciousness arise to the consciousness of the receiver while his mind is in a condition which places the ordinary sensory thoughts in the background, and as the result of the transmitted vibrations causing a movement or condition in the receiver’s mind similar to that which in the sender’s mind produced consciousness.”
Thomson J. Hudson, in his well-known work, “The Law of Psychic Phenomena,” did much to make popular this particular theory of telepathy. His views may be gathered from the following quotation from the said work: “There is inherent in mankind the power to communicate thoughts to others independently of objective means of communication.. Now telepathy is primarily the communion of subjective minds, or rather it is the normal means of communication between subjective minds. The reason of the apparent rarity of its manifestation is that it requires exceptional conditions to bring its results above the threshold of consciousness. There is every reason to believe that the souls, or subjective minds, of men can and do habitually hold communication with one another when not the remotest perception of the fact is communicated to the objective intelligence. It may be that such communion is not general among men; but it is certain that it is held between those who, from any cause, are en rapport. The facts recorded by the Society for Psychical Research demonstrate that proposition. Thus near relatives are oftenest found to be in communion, as is shown by the comparative frequency of telepathic communications between relatives, giving warning of sickness or of death. Next in frequency are communications between intimate friends. Communications of this character between comparative strangers are apparently rare. Of course the only means we have of judging these things is by the record of the cases in which the communications have been brought to the objective consciousness of the percipients. From these cases it seems fair to infer that the subjective minds of those who are deeply interested in one another are in habitual communion, especially when the personal interest or welfare of either agent or percipient is at stake. Be this as it may, it is certain that telepathic communication can be established at will by the conscious effort of one or both of the parties, even between strangers. The experiments of the Society above named have demonstrated this fact. It will be assumed, therefore, for the purposes of this argument, that telepathic communion can be established between two subjective minds at the will of either. This fact may not be perceived by the subject, for it may not rise above the threshold of his objective consciousness.. The second proposition is that a state of perfect passivity on the part of the percipient is the most favorable condition for the reception of telepathic impressions or communications. It needs no argument to establish the truth of this proposition. It is universally known to be true, by all who have given the slightest attention to psychological science, that passivity on the part of the subject is the primary condition necessary for the production of any psychic phenomenon. Passivity means simply the suspension of the functions of the objective mind for the time being, for the purpose of allowing the subjective mind to receive impressions and to act upon them. The more perfectly the objective intelligence can be held in abeyance, the more perfectly will the subjective mind perform its functions.” The third theory is held by a number of thinkers along these lines, more particularly by those who hold the philosophical view that there is a great Universal Mind Principle in which the universe and all its constituent parts appear as ideas, images, or appearances. Granted this fundamental premise, it would naturally follow that there could be communication between particular centres of consciousness, or being, within that Principle—some have called this “the circulation of mind.” Such communication could be had without the necessity of waves in the ether, or any other material force, for there would be no need of any medium of communication other than Mind itself. Of this Universal Mind Principle, the present writer has said in another work: “In the depths of the Ocean of Mind there is quiet and calm and peace—the embodiment of latent power and potential energy. On its surface are ripples, waves, great movements of energy, currents, whirlpools, eddies—phases of fierce tempest alternating with phases of calm and quiet. And from the depths of that Ocean of Mind, all mental and physical power emerges—and to its bosom all must return. And in that Ocean of Mind there is an infinite store of energy, from which may be drawn that which the human centres of consciousness and power require, when they learn the secret.” I shall not attempt to enlarge upon that theory, for it belongs more properly to the field of philosophy and metaphysics than to that of psychology. I merely mention it here that it may be taken into consideration by those studying and investigating the phenomena of telepathy.
But, after all, why dwell upon theories? There is a great field of facts awaiting the investigator of telepathy. The surface has merely been scratched as yet. The pioneers have blazed a few paths have made a few successes and a few failures, all of which will be of use to those who follow them. Perhaps this little book will serve to interest some one who may in after years be one of those who will bring order out of chaos in this wonderful field of human thought. There is room for the earnest worker and investigator—we are as yet only in the kindergarten stage of telepathy. The next twenty years will witness great advances. In the meantime, let us think, study, investigate and experiment, if we wish—let us regard theories as but temporary makeshifts, until they are proven to be laws or principles—let us welcome truth wherever found—let us care naught for names and high- sounding claims, but be ever on the lookout for facts no matter by whom offered or by what name called—and, above all, let us keep the open mind and the disposition to grant a fair field, and no favor—in short, a “square deal”—to all honest and sincere investigation.
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Finis.