{"collection":"ritual-magic","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_48869/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_48869","id":"gutenberg_48869","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48869","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Psychiatry/Psychology","Hypnotism","Occultism","Parapsychology","Psychology"],"text":"By Joseph Jastrow\n\n\n        THE SUBCONSCIOUS. Large crown 8vo, $2.50,\n        _net_. Postage 16 cents.\n\n        FACT AND FABLE IN PSYCHOLOGY. Large\n        crown 8vo, gilt top, $2.00.\n\n                HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.\n                  BOSTON AND NEW YORK\n\n\n\n\n                    FACT AND FABLE\n                          IN\n                      PSYCHOLOGY\n\n\n                  BY JOSEPH JASTROW\n  PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN\n\n\n                        [Logo]\n\n\n                 BOSTON AND NEW YORK\n            HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY\n            The Riverside Press, Cambridge\n\n\n\n\n          COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY JOSEPH JASTROW\n                 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED\n\n\n\n\n                   TO MY HELPMATE\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nA group of problems that appears conspicuously in the present volume,\nand in so far contributes to the fitness of its title, has obtained\na considerable interest on the part of the public at large. Such\ninterest seems prone to take its clue from the activity of those\nwho herald startling revelations on the basis of unusual psychic\nexperiences, and who give promise of disclosing other worlds than\nthe one with which common sense and common sensation acquaint us,\nrather than from the cautious and consistent results of serious and\nprofessional students in study or in laboratory. The fascination of\nthe unusual over the popular mind is familiar and intelligible, and\nseems in no direction more pronounced than in matters psychological.\nSo long as this interest is properly subordinated to a comprehensive\nand illuminating general view of the phenomena in question, it is\nnot likely to be harmful and may prove to be helpful. But when the\nconception of the nature of our mental endowment and the interest in\nthe understanding thereof are derived from the unusual, the abnormal,\nand the obscure, instead of from the normal, law-abiding observations\nsystematized and illuminated by long and successful research,\nthere is danger that the interest will become unwholesome and the\nconception misleading. It is quite natural that the plain man should\nbe interested in the experiences of the world of mind which form an\nintrinsic part of his common humanity; and it is equally natural that\nhe should find attraction in less commonplace and seemingly anomalous\nmental phenomena. If thunderstorms were as rare as total eclipses of\nthe sun, it is likely that they would attract equal attention, be\nlooked upon as terrifying and portentous by superstitious humanity,\nand be invested by tradition with mysterious significance, under\nthe influence of the interest in the unusual. The existence of this\ninterest is itself a distinctive trait meriting a psychological\ninterpretation, and one not likely to be overlooked. Its direction\nand regulation become the care of the several departments of science\nthat deal with the respective subject-matters involved. And yet\nin a special way, as expressions of the popular _esprit_, such\ninterests claim the psychologist's attention as they do not claim the\nattention of representatives of other sciences. It may happen that\nthe astronomer finds an interest in noting popular conceptions in\nregard to comets and life on other planets and beliefs about meteors\nand eclipses, but such interest forms no essential part of his\noccupation. He knows very well that the intelligent layman who wishes\nto be informed on astronomical matters will turn with confidence\nand respect to the accounts of the solar system, which represent\nthe result of generations of scientific research under the guidance\nof exceptional ability and devotion. The psychologist is in a less\nfortunate position. His topic has neither that exclusive definiteness\nof content nor that position of hereditary prestige nor the general\nacknowledgment of its essentially technical character, which belong\nto astronomy. All men have their own psychological experiences and\nnotions about mental phenomena, but opinions concerning astronomy are\nadmitted to belong to those who have specially fitted themselves for\nsuch pursuits.\n\nThere is thus a natural reason why it should be particularly\ndifficult in psychology to bring about a wholesome and right-minded\nand helpful interest on the part of the layman,--a difficulty further\naggravated by the encouragement of well-meaning but logically\ndefective publications claiming to substantiate by quasi-scientific\nmethods the popular belief in the peculiar personal and mysterious\nsignificance of events. In the face of this situation, the\nprofessional psychologist cannot but take heed of the dangers which\nimperil the true appreciation of his labors and his purpose, on the\npart of the sympathetic layman. It is a matter of serious concern\nthat the methods of genuine psychological study, that the conditions\nof advance in psychology, that the scope and nature of its problems\nshould be properly understood. It is matter of importance that the\ndominant interest in psychology should centre about the normal use\nand development of functions with respect to which psychology bears\na significant message for the regulation of life. The restoration\nof a more desirable and progressive point of view requires some\nexamination of the false and misleading conceptions and alleged data,\nwhich threaten to divert the sound and progressive interest from\nits proper channels. It is not to be expected, when many who engage\npublic attention speak in favor of the importance of the unknown and\nthe mystic in psychology, when the twilight phenomena of mental life\nare dwelt upon--and professionally as well as by amateurs--to the\nneglect of the luminous daylight actualities, that the layman will\nalways correctly distinguish between what is authentically scientific\nand in accordance with the advancing ideals of psychology, and what\nis but the embodiment of unfortunate traditions, or the misguided\neffort of the dilettante, or the perverse fallacy of the prepossessed\nmystic. Fact and fable in psychology can only be separated by the\nlogical sifting of evidence, by the exercise of the prerogative of a\nscientific point of view substantiated and fortified by the lessons\nembodied in the history of rational opinion. The cause of truth and\nthe overthrow of error must sometimes be fought in drawn battle\nand with the clash of arms, but are more frequently served by the\ninauguration of an adherence to one side and the consequent desertion\nof the other. Both procedures may be made necessary by the current\nstatus of psychological discussion.\n\nThe present collection of essays is offered as a contribution\ntowards the realization of a sounder interest in and a more intimate\nappreciation of certain problems upon which psychology has an\nauthoritative charge to make to the public jury. These essays take\ntheir stand distinctively upon one side of certain issues, and as\ndeterminately as the situation seems to warrant, antagonize contrary\npositions; they aim to oppose certain tendencies and to support\nothers; to show that the sound and profitable interest in mental life\nis in the usual and normal, and that the resolute pursuit of this\ninterest necessarily results in bringing the apparently irregular\nphenomena of the mental world within the field of illumination of\nthe more familiar and the law-abiding. They further aim to illustrate\nthat misconceptions in psychology, as in other realms, are as often\nthe result of bad logic as of defective observation, and that both\nare apt to be called into being by inherent mental prepossessions.\nSome of the essays are more especially occupied with an analysis\nof the defective logic which lends plausibility to and induces\ncredence in certain beliefs; others bring forward contributions to\nan understanding of phenomena about which misconception is likely to\narise; still others are presented as psychological investigations\nwhich, it is believed, command a somewhat general interest. The\nprominence of the discussion of unfortunate and misleading tendencies\nin psychological opinion should not be allowed to obscure the\nmore intrinsically important problems which in the main are of a\ndifferent, though possibly not of an unrelated character. I should be\ndefeating one of the purposes of these essays if, by the discussion\nof mooted positions, I conveyed the notion that the problems thus\npresented were naturally the fundamental ones about which advance\nin psychology may be most promisingly centred. I deeply regret\nthat the dispossession of fable requires more resolute and more\nelaborate exposition than the unfoldment of fact; but such is part\nof the condition confronting the critical student of psychological\nopinion. I must depend upon the reader to make due allowances for\nthis foreshortening of a portion of the composition, and so to bring\naway a truer impression of the whole than the apparent perspective\nsuggests.\n\nIt would not be proper to claim for this budget of psychological\nstudies a pre-arranged unity of design or a serial unfoldment of\nargument. They represent the unity of interest of a worker in a\nspecial field, who has his favorite excursions and vistas, who at\ntimes ventures away from the beaten paths and as frequently returns\nalong those already traversed, but with varying purposes, and\nreaches the outlook from a different approach. There seems enough of\nsingleness of purpose in the several presentations to warrant their\ninclusion in a single volume with a common name. There is enough\nalso to make it pertinent to explain that the occasional repetitions\nof the same line of thought seemed less objectionable than frequent\nreference from one essay to another.\n\nAll of the essays have been previously printed in the pages of\nvarious scientific and popular magazines; and I have accordingly\nto acknowledge the courtesy of the several publishers, which makes\npossible their appearance in their present form. The essays have,\nhowever, been subjected to a critical revision, in the hope of\nincreasing their acceptability in regard to form and material, and of\ngiving them a setting appropriate to the interests of the present-day\nreaders of psychological literature. Both in the selection of the\nessays from a larger group of published studies, and in their\narrangement and elaboration, I have attempted to bear in mind the\nseveral current interests in questions of this type, and to direct\nthese interests formatively along lines which seem to me fertile in\npromise and sterling in value. In the recasting thus made necessary\nit has come about (markedly in two cases, The Problems of Psychical\nResearch and The Logic of Mental Telegraphy) that some of the essays\nhave been entirely rewritten and bear only a generic resemblance to\ntheir former appearance.\n\nThe several acknowledgments to be recorded are as follows: To the\n\"Popular Science Monthly,\" for permission to reprint The Psychology\nof Deception (December, 1888), The Psychology of Spiritualism (April,\n1889), A Study of Involuntary Movements (April and September, 1892),\nThe Mind's Eye (January, 1899), The Modern Occult (September,\n1900); to the \"New Princeton Review,\" for The Dreams of the Blind\n(January, 1888); to \"Harper's Monthly Magazine,\" for The Problems of\nPsychical Research (June, 1889); to \"Scribner's Magazine,\" for The\nLogic of Mental Telegraphy (October, 1895); to the \"Cosmopolitan,\"\nfor Hypnotism and its Antecedents (February, 1896). The Natural\nHistory of Analogy was delivered as a vice-presidential address\nbefore the Section of Anthropology of the American Association for\nthe Advancement of Science, and was printed in its Proceedings, vol.\nxl., 1891. The article, Mental Prepossession and Inertia, appeared\nin a college publication of the University of Wisconsin, the \"Aegis\"\n(April, 1897). I have also to acknowledge my indebtedness to Miss\nHelen Keller for her very interesting contribution to my presentation\nof the dreams of the blind. My most comprehensive obligation in the\npreparation of the volume I have acknowledged upon the dedicatory\npage.\n\n                                             JOSEPH JASTROW.\n  MADISON, WISCONSIN, November, 1900.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                                             PAGE\n  PREFACE                                                       v\n\n  THE MODERN OCCULT\n\n     I. The nature of the occult                                1\n\n    II. Historical aspect of the occult                         5\n\n   III. Theosophy                                               7\n\n    IV. Spiritualism                                           12\n\n     V. Practical occult systems: Alchemy                      18\n\n    VI. Astrology, Phrenology, etc.                            21\n\n   VII. The occult in relation to medicine                     24\n\n  VIII. Christian Science                                      26\n\n    IX. Other forms of occult healing                          33\n\n     X. Influences affecting belief in the occult              38\n\n  THE PROBLEMS OF PSYCHICAL RESEARCH\n\n     I. Science and its attitude toward borderland phenomena   47\n\n    II. The attitude of Psychical Research; its relation\n        to Psychology                                          50\n\n   III. Types of interest in Psychical Research: the occult\n        interest; the psychological interest; practical\n        applications of \"psychical\" investigations; the\n        explanatory interest; the investigative interest;\n        the anthropological interest                           56\n\n    IV. The content of the problems of Psychical Research:\n        hypnotism; subconscious activities; hallucinations;\n        telepathy                                              66\n\n     V. The tendencies of Psychical Research                   75\n\n  THE LOGIC OF MENTAL TELEGRAPHY\n\n  Introductory                                                 78\n\n     I. Factors of the problem: unconscious mental processes;\n        mental community; coincidences                         79\n\n    II. The statistical nature of the inquiry; the\n        application of theory to special cases                 83\n\n   III. Sources of error in the data                           87\n\n    IV. The source of coincidences in the subjective interest  88\n\n     V. R\u00e9sum\u00e9                                                 93\n\n    VI. The value of the data; coincidences; experimental\n        evidence; assumption and logical hypothesis            95\n\n   VII. The legitimacy of the telepathic hypothesis            99\n\n  VIII. Logical interpretation of the evidence                102\n\n  THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DECEPTION\n\n  Introductory                                                106\n\n     I. The interpretative factor in perception; its\n        relation to sense-deceptions                          106\n\n    II. The r\u00f4le of the conjurer; the comprehension of\n        conjuring tricks dependent upon a knowledge of\n        technical detail; illustrations; conjuring\n        deceptions as imitations of the conditions of\n        real experience                                       111\n\n   III. The subjective factors in deception: suggestion,\n        expectation, misdirection of the attention; the\n        setting of a trick; illustrations                     118\n\n    IV. The subjective attitude and prepossession as a\n        factor in deception; illustrated by the phenomena\n        of Spiritualism; experimental proof of the\n        influence of the belief-attitude; extreme instances\n        of prepossession                                      125\n\n     V. Mental contagion                                      132\n\n    VI. R\u00e9sum\u00e9; the safeguards against deception              134\n\n  THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SPIRITUALISM\n\n     I. Origin of modern Spiritualism; a survey of typical\n        manifestations; report of the Seybert Commission;\n        reports of other observers                            137\n\n    II. The belief in Spiritualism psychologically\n        interpreted; the technical requisites for a\n        judgment in the matter; the investigations of Messrs.\n        Hodgson and Davey; the psychological factors\n        contributory to deception                             147\n\n   III. The logical status of Spiritualism                    159\n\n    IV. The source of the belief in spirit-agency; its\n        anthropological bearings; the appeal to unfortunate\n        predispositions; the moral aversion to Spiritualism   166\n\n  HYPNOTISM AND ITS ANTECEDENTS\n\n  Introductory                                                171\n\n     I. The historical aspect of hypnotism; the point of\n        view of modern hypnotism                              172\n\n    II. Healers of disease by mental methods; their methods;\n        Greatrakes; Gassner                                   176\n\n   III. Mesmer; the beginnings of Animal Magnetism;\n        Mesmer's career in Paris; the Commission of 1784;\n        decline of Mesmerism                                  180\n\n    IV. The system of Animal Magnetism; its practices; a\n        critical view                                         189\n\n     V. Puys\u00e9gur and the discovery of artificial\n        somnambulism; the status of Puys\u00e9gur; P\u00e9tetin and\n        his contributions                                     193\n\n    VI. The revival of Mesmerism; Abb\u00e9 Faria; somnambulism\n        in the hospitals of Paris; the report of the\n        Commission of 1825; the report of the Commission\n        of 1837                                               200\n\n   VII. James Braid; his early observations; his\n        enunciation of the physiology of the hypnotic\n        state; his connection with phrenology; his later\n        views; his recognition of unconscious deception       205\n\n  VIII. The chaotic condition of hypnotism in the middle\n        decades of the nineteenth century; hypnotism\n        as an an\u00e6sthetic; scientific contributions            213\n\n    IX. Extravagances of Mesmerism; Deleuze and his\n        followers; \"electro-biology;\" Harriet Martineau's\n        letters on Mesmerism; Mesmeric miracles;\n        Reichenbach and the \"odic\" force                      216\n\n     X. Transition to modern hypnotism; the scientific\n        recognition of hypnotism; Charcot and his followers;\n        Bernheim and the school of Nancy                      227\n\n    XI. Principles illustrated by the history of hypnotism;\n        lack of proper conceptions; unconscious suggestion;\n        conclusion                                            231\n\n  THE NATURAL HISTORY OF ANALOGY\n\n     I. The logical and psychological aspects of analogy      236\n\n    II. Analogy and primitive mental life; illustrations;\n        sympathetic magic based upon analogy; further\n        illustrations                                         238\n\n   III. Analogy the basis of belief in the connection\n        between object and name; illustrations; similar\n        relation between the object and its image, drawing,\n        or shadow                                             243\n\n    IV. Analogy and metaphor; vaguer forms of analogy         248\n\n     V. Analogy in children                                   250\n\n    VI. Analogy in superstitions and folk-lore customs;\n        in dream-interpretation; in fortune-telling; in\n        numbers; in folk-medicine                             252\n\n   VII. The doctrine of sympathies; of signatures;\n        astrology; the r\u00f4le of analogy in these systems;\n        their modern survivals                                261\n\n  VIII. Analogy as a phase in mental evolution; the\n        transition from superstition to science; the\n        evolution of the race and of the individual;\n        analogy, the serious thought habit of primitive man,\n        becomes in civilization a source of amusement;\n        conclusion                                            269\n\n  THE MIND'S EYE\n\n     I. The nature of perception; its subjective and\n        objective factors                                     275\n\n    II. Illustrations of the effects of the subjective\n        factor                                                279\n\n   III. Perception as modified by attention and by the\n        mental concept; illustrations; equivocal drawings     282\n\n    IV. The function of the mind's eye                        294\n\n  MENTAL PREPOSSESSION AND INERTIA\n\n     I. The nature of prepossession; pedagogical\n        illustrations                                         296\n\n    II. Illustration derived from the experience of the\n        Census Bureau                                         301\n\n   III. Psychological interpretation                          304\n\n  A STUDY OF INVOLUNTARY MOVEMENTS\n\n     I. Unconscious activities                                307\n\n    II. Muscle-reading; method of recording involuntary\n        movements                                             308\n\n   III. Illustrations and description of records of\n        involuntary movements                                 312\n\n    IV. Interpretation and analysis of records of\n        involuntary movements                                 321\n\n     V. Influence of the nature of the object of attention\n        upon involuntary movements                            330\n\n    VI. Other forms of involuntary indications;\n        \"involuntary whispering;\" the subconscious            334\n\n  THE DREAMS OF THE BLIND\n\n     I. The r\u00f4le of vision in mental life                     337\n\n    II. The retention of vision in dreams as dependent\n        upon the age of the loss of sight; the \"critical\n        period;\" the investigation of Heermann in 1838;\n        the status as to \"dream-vision\" of the partially\n        blind                                                 340\n\n   III. Corroborations of the above results by other\n        evidence; the dreams of the blind-deaf; dreams of\n        Laura Bridgman; Helen Keller's account of her\n        dream-life; interpretations                           345\n\n    IV. Distinctions in dream-life of incidents experienced\n        during the period of sight from those of the\n        blindness period; the imagination of the blind;\n        illustrations of their dreams                         360\n\n     V. R\u00e9sum\u00e9                                                369\n\n  INDEX                                                       371\n\n\n\n\nFACT AND FABLE IN PSYCHOLOGY\n\n\n\n\nTHE MODERN OCCULT\n\n\nI\n\nIf that imaginary individual so convenient for literary illustration,\na visitor from Mars, were to alight upon our planet at its present\nstage of development, and if his intellectual interests induced him\nto survey the range of terrestrial views of the nature of what is\n\"in heaven above, or on the earth beneath, or in the waters under\nthe earth,\" to appraise mundane opinion in regard to the perennial\nproblems of mind and matter, of government and society, of life\nand death, our Martian observer might conceivably report that a\nlimited portion of mankind were guided by beliefs representing the\naccumulated toil and studious devotion of generations,--the outcome\nof a slow and tortuous but progressive growth through error and\nsuperstition, and at the cost of persecution and bloodshed; that they\nmaintained institutions of learning where the fruits of such thought\ncould be imparted and the seeds cultivated to bear still more richly;\nbut that outside of this respectable yet influential minority, there\nwere endless upholders of utterly unlike notions and of widely\ndiverging beliefs, clamoring like the builders of the tower of Babel\nin diverse tongues.\n\nIt is well, at least occasionally, to remember that our conceptions\nof science and of truth, of the nature of logic and of evidence,\nare not so universally held as we unreflectingly assume or as we\nhopefully wish. Almost every one of the fundamental, basal, and\nindisputable tenets of science is regarded as hopelessly in error\nby some ardent would-be reformer. One Hampden declares the earth\nto be a motionless plane with the North Pole as the centre; one\nCarpenter gives a hundred remarkable reasons why the earth is not\nround, with a challenge to the scientists of America to disprove\nthem; one Symmes regarded the earth as hollow and habitable within,\nwith openings at the poles, which he offered to explore for the\nconsideration of the \"patronage of this and the new worlds;\" while\nSymmes, Jr., explains how the interior is lighted, and that it\nprobably forms the home of the lost tribes of Israel; and one Teed\nannounces, on equally conclusive evidence, that the earth is a\n\"stationary concave cell ... with people, Sun, Moon, Planets, and\nStars on the inside,\" the whole constituting an \"alchemico-organic\nstructure, a Gigantic Electro-Magnetic Battery.\" If we were to\npass from opinions regarding the shape of the earth to the many\nother and complex problems that appeal to human interests, it would\nbe equally easy to collect \"ideas\" comparable to these in value,\nevidence, and eccentricity. With this conspicuously pathological\noutgrowth of brain-functioning,--although its representatives in the\nliterature of the occult are neither few nor far between,--I shall\nnot specifically deal; and yet the general abuse of logic, the\nhelpless flounderings in the mire of delusive analogy, the baseless\nassumptions, which characterize insane or \"crank\" productions, are\nreadily found in the literary products of occultism.\n\nThe occult consists of a mixed aggregate of movements and doctrines,\nwhich may be the expressions of kindred interests and dispositions,\nbut present no essential community of content. Such members of this\ncluster of beliefs as in our day and generation have attained a\nconsiderable adherence or still retain it from former generations,\nconstitute the modern occult. A conspicuous and truly distinctive\ncharacteristic of the occult is its marked divergence in trend and\nbelief from the recognized standards and achievements of human\nthought. This divergence is one of attitude and logic and general\nperspective. It is a divergence of intellectual temperament, that\ndistorts the normal reactions to science and evidence, and to the\ngeneral significance and values of the factors of our complicated\nnatures and of our equally complicated environment. At least it is\nthis in extreme and pronounced forms; and shades from it through\nan irregular variety of tints to a vague and often unconscious\nsusceptibility for the unusual and eccentric, combined with an\ninstability of conviction regarding established beliefs that is more\noften the expression of the weakness of ignorance than of the courage\nof independence.\n\nIn their temper and course of unfoldment, occult doctrines are likely\nto involve and to proceed upon mysticism, obscurity, and a disguised\nform of superstition. In their content, they are attracted to such\nthemes as the ultimate nature of mental action, the conception\nof life and death, the effect of cosmic conditions upon human\nevents and endowment, the delineation of character, the nature and\ntreatment of disease; or indeed to any of the larger or smaller\nrealms of knowledge that combine with a strong human, and at times\na practical interest, a considerable complexity of basal principles\nand general relations. Both the temper and the content, the manner\nand the matter of the occult, should be borne in mind in a survey\nof its more distinctive examples. It is well, while observing the\nparticular form of occultism or mysticism, or, it may be, merely of\nsuperstition and error, which one or another of the occult movements\nexhibits, to note as well the importance of the intellectual motive\nor temperament that inclines to the occult. It is important to\ninquire not only what is believed, but what is the nature of the\nevidence that induces belief; to observe what attracts and then makes\nconverts; to discover what are the influences by which the belief\nspreads. Two classes of motives or interests are conspicuous: the\none prominently intellectual or theoretical, the other moderately or\ngrossly practical. Movements in which the former interest dominates,\ncontain elements that command respect even when they do not engage\nsympathy; and that appeal, though it may be unwisely, to worthy\nimpulses and lofty aspirations. Amongst the movements presenting\nprominent practical aspects are to be found instances of the most\nirreverent and pernicious, as well as of the most vulgar, ignorant,\nand fraudulent schemes which have been devised to mislead the human\nmind. Most occult movements, however, are of a mixed character;\nand in their career, the speculative and the practical change in\nimportance at different times, or in different lands, or at the hands\nof variously minded leaders. Few escape, and some seem especially\ndesigned for the partisanship of that class who are seeking whom they\nmay devour; who, stimulated by the greed for gain or the love of\nnotoriety, set their snares for the eternally gullible. The interest\nin the occult, however, is under the sway of the law of fashion;\nand fortunately, many a mental garment which is donned in spite of\nthe protest of reason and propriety, is quietly laid aside when the\ndictum of the hour pronounces it unbecoming.\n\n\nII\n\nHistorically considered, the occult points back to distant epochs and\nto foreign civilizations; to ages when the facts of nature were but\nweakly grasped, when belief was largely dominated by the authority\nof tradition, when even the ablest minds fostered or assented to\nsuperstition, when the social conditions of life were inimical\nto independent thought, and the mass of men were cut off from\nintellectual growth of even the most elementary kind. Pseudo-science\nflourished in the absence of true knowledge; and imaginative\nspeculation and unfounded belief held the office intended for\ninductive reason. Ignorance inevitably led to error, and false views\nto false practices. In the sympathetic environment thus developed,\nthe occultist flourished and displayed the impressive insignia of\nexclusive wisdom. His attitude was that of one seeking to solve an\nenigma, to find the key to a secret arcanum; his search was for some\nmystic charm, some talismanic formula, some magical procedure, which\nshould dispel the mist that hides the face of nature and expose her\nsecrets to his ecstatic gaze. By one all-encompassing, masterful\neffort the correct solution was to be discovered or revealed; and\nat once and for all, ignorance was to give place to true knowledge,\nscience and nature were to be as an open book, doubt and despair\nto be replaced by the serenity of perfect wisdom. As our ordinary\nsenses and faculties proved insufficient to accomplish such ends,\nsupernatural powers were appealed to, a transcendental sphere of\nspiritual activity was cultivated, capable of perceiving, through\nthe hidden symbolism of apparent phenomena, the underlying relations\nof cosmic structure and final purposes. Long periods of training and\ndevotion, seclusion from the world, contemplation of inner mysteries,\nwere to lead the initiate through the various stages of adeptship\nup to the final plane of communion with the infinite and the\ncomprehension of truth in all things. This form of occultism reaches\nits fullest and purest expression in Oriental wisdom-religions. These\nvie in interest to the historian with the mythology and philosophy\nof Greece and Rome; and we of the Occident feel free to profit by\ntheir ethical and philosophical content, and to cherish the impulses\nwhich gave them life. But when such views are forcibly transplanted\nto our age and clime, when they are decked in garments so unlike\ntheir original vestments, particularly when they are associated with\ndubious practices and come into violent conflict with the truth\nthat has accumulated since they first had birth,--their aspect is\nprofoundly altered, and they come within the circle of the modern\noccult.\n\n\nIII\n\nOf this character is Theosophy, an occult movement brought into\nrecent prominence by the activity and personality of Mme. Blavatsky.\nThe story of the checkered career of this remarkable woman is fairly\naccessible. Born in Russia in 1831 as Helen Petrovna, daughter of\nColonel Hahn, of the Russian army, she was married at the age of\nseventeen to an elderly gentleman, M. Blavatsky. She is described\nin girlhood as a person of passionate temper and wilful and erratic\ndisposition. She separated or escaped from her husband after a few\nmonths of married life, and entered upon an extended period of\ntravel and adventure. The search for \"psychic\" experiences and for\nunusual persons and beliefs seemed to form the _leit-motiv_ of her\nnomadic existence. She absorbed Hindu wisdom from the adepts of\nIndia; she sat at the feet of a thaumaturgist at Cairo; she journeyed\nto Canada to meet the medicine man of the Red Indians, and to New\nOrleans to observe the practices of Voodoo among the negroes. It is\ndifficult to know what to believe in the accounts prepared by her\nenthusiastic followers. Violations of physical law were constantly\noccurring in her presence; and, to borrow a phrase from Mr. Lang,\n\"sporadic outbreaks of rappings and feats of impulsive pots, pans,\nbeds, and chairs insisted on making themselves notorious.\" In 1873\nshe came to New York and sat in \"spiritualistic\" circles, assuming\nan assent to their theories, but claiming to see through and\nbeyond the manifestations the operations of her theosophic guides\nin astral projection. At such a s\u00e9ance she met Colonel Olcott,\nand assisted him in the foundation of the Theosophical Society in\nNew York in October, 1875. Mme. Blavatsky directed the thought of\nthis society to the doctrines of Indian occultism, and reported\nthe appearance in New York of a Hindu Mahatma, who left a turban\nbehind him as evidence of his astral visit. The Mahatmas, it was\nexplained, were a Society of Brothers, who dwelt in the fastnesses\nof far-off Thibet, and there handed on by tradition the super-mortal\nwisdom which their spirituality and contemplative training enabled\nthem to absorb. Later, this modern priestess of Isis and Colonel\nOlcott (who remained her staunch supporter, but whom she referred\nto in private as a \"psychologized baby\") exchanged the distracting\natmosphere of New York for the more serene environment of India;\nand at Adyar established a shrine, from which were mysteriously\nissued answers to letters placed within its recesses, from which\nsecret facts were revealed, and a variety of interesting marvels\nperformed. Discords arose within the household, and led to the\npublication by M. and Mme. Coulomb, her confederates, of letters\nilluminating the tricks of the trade by which the miracles had been\nproduced. Mme. Blavatsky pronounced the letters to be forgeries,\nbut they were sufficiently momentous to bring Mr. Hodgson to India\nto investigate for the Society for Psychical Research. He was able\nto deprive many of the miracles of their mystery; to show how the\nshrine from which the Mahatma's messages emanated was accessible to\nMme. Blavatsky by the aid of sliding panels and secret drawers, to\nshow that these messages were in style, spelling, and handwriting\nthe counterpart of Mme. Blavatsky's, to show that many of the\nphenomena were the result of planned collusion and that others were\ncreated by the limitless credulity and the imaginative exaggeration\nof the witnesses,--\"domestic imbeciles,\" as madame confidentially\nreferred to them. Through the Akasic force, the medium of which was\nthe mysterious world-ether, Akaz, were brought messages that suddenly\nappeared in space or fluttered down from the ceiling; yet M. Coulomb\nexplained how by means of a piece of thread, a convenient recess\nin the plaster of the ceiling, and an arranged signal, the letters\ncould be made to appear at the proper dramatic moment. When a saucer\nwas left standing near the edge of a shelf in the shrine, and the\nopening of the door brought it to the floor shattered to pieces, the\nsame mysterious force was sufficient to recreate it, without flaw\nor blemish; but when Mr. Hodgson finds that at a shop at which Mme.\nBlavatsky had made purchases, two such articles had been sold at the\nprice of two rupees eight annas the pair, the miracle becomes more\nintelligible.\n\nIn brief, the report of the society convicted \"the Priestess of Isis\"\nof \"a long continued combination with other persons to produce by\nordinary means a series of apparent marvels for the support of the\nTheosophic movement;\" and concludes with these words: \"For our own\npart, we regard her neither as the mouthpiece of hidden seers nor as\na mere vulgar adventuress; we think that she has achieved a title to\npermanent remembrance as one of the most accomplished, ingenious, and\ninteresting impostors in history.\" Mme. Blavatsky died in 1891, and\nher ashes were divided between Adyar, London, and New York.\n\nThe Theosophic movement continues, though with abated vigor, owing\npartly to the above-mentioned disclosures, but probably more to the\nincreasing propagandism of other cults, to the lack of a leader\nof Mme. Blavatsky's genius, or to the inevitable ebb and flow of\nsuch interests. Mme. Blavatsky continued to expound Theosophy after\nthe exposures, and although depressed by their publication still\noccasionally essayed a miracle. Later, in a moment of confession\ninduced by the discovery of a package of Chinese envelopes ready\nto serve for miraculous appearances, she is reported to have said,\n\"What is one to do, when in order to rule men it is necessary to\ndeceive them; when their very stupidity invites trickery, for\nalmost invariably the more simple, the more silly, and the more\ngross the phenomena, the more likely it is to succeed?\" Still,\neven self-confession does not detract from the fervor of convinced\nbelievers; and Mrs. Besant, Mr. Sinnett, and others were ready to\ntake up the work at her death. However, miracles are no longer\nperformed, and no immediately practical ends are proclaimed.\nIndividual development and evolution, mystic discourses on adeptship\nand Karma and Maya and Nirvana, communion with the higher ends of\nlife, the cultivation of an esoteric psychic insight, form the goal\nof present endeavor. The Mahatmas, says Mrs. Besant, are giving\n\"intellectual instructions, enormously more interesting than even the\nexhibition of their abnormal powers.\" \"Our European thinkers,\" thus\nMr. Podmore interprets Mr. Sinnett's attitude, \"are like blind men\nwho are painfully learning to read with their fingers from a child's\nprimer, whilst these have eyes to see the universe, past, present,\nand to come. To Mr. Sinnett it had been given to learn the alphabet\nof that transcendent language.\" \"He could make the most extravagant\nmysticism seem matter of fact. He could write of _Manvantaras_\nand _Nirvana_, and the septenary constitution of man, in language\nwhich would have been appropriate in a treatise on kitchen-middens,\nor the functions of the pineal gland. In his lucid prose the vast\nconceptions of primitive Buddhism were fused with the commonplaces of\nmodern science; and whilst the cosmology which resulted from their\nunion dazzled by its splendid visions, the precise terminology of the\nwriter, and the very poverty of his imagination, served to reassure\nhis readers that they were listening to words of truth and soberness.\nWe were taught to look back upon this earth and all its mighty\nsisterhood of planets and suns rolling onward in infinite space,\nthrough cycle after cycle in the past. We were shown how, through\nthe perpetual flux and reflux of the spiritual and the natural, the\ncosmic evolution was accomplished, and the earth grew, through the\nlife of crystal, and plant, and brute, to man. We saw how the worlds\nthrobbed in vast alternation of systole and diastole, and how the\ntide of human life itself had its ebb and flow. And this fugitive\nhuman personality--the man who works, and loves, and suffers--we saw\nto endure but for a short life on earth, and for an age, shorter or\nlonger, in _Devachan_. Memory is then purged away, the eternal spirit\nputs on a new dress, and a new life on earth is begun. And so through\neach succeeding reincarnation the goal of the life preceding becomes\nthe starting-point of the life which follows.\" In such manner the\nmodern Theosophist seeks to appeal to men and women of philosophical\ninclinations, for whom an element of mysticism has its charm, and\nwho are intellectually at unrest with the conceptions underlying\nmodern science and modern life. Such persons are quite likely to be\neducated, refined, and sincere. We may believe them intellectually\nmisguided; we may recognize the fraud to which their leader resorted\nto glorify her creed, but we must equally recognize the absence of\nmany pernicious tendencies in their teachings, which characterize\nother and more practical occult movements.\n\n\nIV\n\nSpiritualism, another member of the modern occult family, presents\na combination of features rather difficult to portray; but its\npublic career of half a century has probably rendered its tenets and\npractices fairly familiar.[1] For, like other movements, it presents\nboth doctrines and manifestations; and, like other movements, it\nachieved its popularity through its manifestations and emphasized the\ndoctrines to maintain the interest and solidarity of its numerous\nconverts. Deliberate fraud has been repeatedly demonstrated in a\nlarge number of alleged \"spiritualistic\" manifestations; in many more\nthe very nature of the phenomena and of the conditions under which\nthey appear is so strongly suggestive of trickery as to render any\nother hypothesis of their origin equally improbable and superfluous.\nUnconscious deception, exaggerated and distorted reports, defective\nand misleading observation, have been demonstrated to be most potent\nreagents, whereby alleged miracles are made to throw off their\nmystifying envelopings and to leave a simple deposit of intelligible\nand often commonplace fact. That the methods of this or that medium\nhave not been brought within the range of such explanation may be\nadmitted, but the admission carries with it no bias in favor of the\nspiritualistic hypothesis. It may be urged, however, that where there\nis much smoke there is apt to be some fire; yet there is little\nprospect of discovering the nature of the fire until the smoke has\nbeen completely cleared away. Perhaps it has been snatched from\nheaven by a materialized Prometheus; perhaps it may prove to be the\ntrick of a _ridiculus mus_ gnawing at a match. And yet, in this\nconnection, the main point to be insisted upon with regard to such\nmanifestations is that their interpretation and their explanation\ndemand some measure of technical knowledge and training, and of\nspecial adaptability to such pursuits. \"The problem cannot be solved\nand settled by amateurs, nor by 'common sense' that\n\n      'Delivers brawling judgments all day long,\n      On all things unashamed.'\"\n\nSpiritualism represents a systematization of popular beliefs and\nsuperstitions, modified by echoes of religious and philosophical\ndoctrines; it thus contains factors which owe their origin to other\ninterests than those which lead directly to the occult. Its main\npurpose was to establish the reality of communication with departed\nspirits; the means, which at first spontaneously presented themselves\nand later were devised for this purpose, were in large measure not\noriginal. The rappings are in accord with the traditional folk-lore\nbehavior of ghosts; their transformation into a signal code (although\na device discovered before) may have been due to the originality of\nthe Fox children; the planchette has its analogies in Chinese and\nEuropean modes of divination; clairvoyance was incorporated from the\nphenomena of artificial somnambulism, as practiced by the successors\nof Mesmer; the \"sensitive\" or \"medium\" suggests the same origin as\nwell as the popular belief in the gift of supernatural powers in\nfavored individuals; others of the phenomena, such as \"levitation\"\nand \"cabinet performances,\" have their counterparts in Oriental\nmagic; \"slate-writing,\" \"form materializations,\" \"spirit-messages\"\nand \"spirit photographs\" are, in the main, modern contributions. Mr.\nLang has attractively set forth the resemblances between primitive\nand ancient spiritualism and its modern revival; he suggests that\n\"the 'Trance Medium,' the 'Inspirational Speaker' was a reproduction\nof the maiden with a spirit of divination, of the Delphic Pythia.\nIn the old belief, the god dominated her, and spoke from her lips,\njust as the 'control' or directing spirit dominates the medium.\" He\nsuggests that it is for like reasons that \"the Davenport Brothers,\nlike Eskimo and Australian conjurers, like the Highland seer in\nthe bull's hide,\" are swathed or bound; he notes that \"the lowest\nsavages have their _s\u00e9ances_, levitations, bindings of the medium,\ntrance speakers; Peruvians, Indians, have their objects moved without\ncontact;\" he surmises that the Fox children, being of a Methodist\nfamily, may have been inspired by \"old Jeffrey,\" who haunted the\nWesleys' house.\n\nThe phenomena now associated with modern Spiritualism, with their\ncharacteristic _milieu_, breed the typical atmosphere of the s\u00e9ance\nchamber, which resists precise analysis, but which in its extreme\nform involves morbid credulity, blind prepossession, and emotional\ncontagion; while the dependence of the phenomena on the character\nof the medium offers strong temptation alike to shrewdness,\neccentricity, and dishonesty. On the side of his teachings the\nSpiritualist is likewise not strikingly original. The relations of\nhis beliefs to those that grew about the revelations of Swedenborg,\nto the speculations of the German \"pneumatologists,\" and to other\nphilosophical doctrines, though perhaps not intimate, are yet\ntraceable and interesting; and in another view the Spiritualist is as\nold as man himself, and finds his antecedents in the necromancer of\nChaldea, or in the Shaman of Siberia, or the Angekok of Greenland, or\nthe spirit-doctor of various savage tribes. The modern mediums are\nthus simply repeating with new costumes and improved scenic effects\nthe mystic drama of primitive man.\n\nSpiritualism thus appeals to a deep-seated craving in human nature,\nthat of assurance of personal immortality and of communion with\nthe departed. Just so long as a portion of mankind will accept\nmaterial evidence of such a belief, and will even countenance the\nirreverence, the triviality, and the vulgarity surrounding the\nmanifestations; just so long as those persons will misjudge their\nown powers of detecting how the alleged supernatural appearances\nare really produced, and remain unimpressed by the principles upon\nwhich alone a consistent explanation is possible, just so long will\nSpiritualism and kindred delusions flourish.\n\nAs to the present-day status of this cult it is not easy to speak\npositively. Its _client\u00e8le_ has apparently greatly diminished;\nit still numbers amongst its adherents men and women of culture\nand education, and many more who cannot be said to possess these\nqualities. There seems to be a considerable class of persons who\nbelieve that natural laws are insufficient to account for their\npersonal experiences and those of others, and who temporarily or\npermanently incline to a spiritualistic hypothesis in preference to\nany other. Spiritualists of this intellectual temper can, however,\nform but a small portion of those who are enrolled under its creed.\nIf one may judge by the tone and contents of current spiritualistic\nliterature, the rank and file to which Spiritualism appeals present\nan unintellectual occult company, credulously accepting what they\nwish to believe, utterly regardless of the intrinsic significance\nof evidence or hypothesis, vibrating from one extreme or absurdity\nto another, and blindly following a blinder or more fanatic leader\nor a self-interested charlatan. While for the most extravagant and\nunreasonable expressions of Spiritualism one would probably turn to\nthe literature of a few decades ago, yet the symptoms presented by\nthe Spiritualism of to-day are unmistakably of the same character,\nand form a complex as characteristic as the symptom-complex of\nhysteria or epilepsy, and which, _faute de mieux_, may be termed\noccult. It is a type of occultism of a particularly pernicious\ncharacter, because of its power to lead a parasitic life upon the\nestablished growths of religious beliefs and interests, and at the\nsame time to administer to the needs of an unfortunate but widely\nprevalent passion for special signs and omens and the interpretation\nof personal experiences. It is a weak though comprehensible nature\nthat becomes bewildered in the presence of a few experiences that\nseem homeless among the generous provisions of modern science, and\nruns off panic-stricken to find shelter in a system that satisfies\na narrow personal craving at the sacrifice of broadly established\nprinciples, nurtured and grown strong in the hardy and beneficent\natmosphere of science. It is a weaker and an ignorant nature that\nis attracted to the cruder forms of such beliefs, be it by the\nimpulsive yielding to emotional susceptibility, by the contagion of\nan unfortunate mental environment, or by the absence of the steadying\npower of religious faith, or of logical vigor, or of confidence in\nthe knowledge of others. Spiritualism finds converts in both camps\nand assembles them under the flag of the occult.[2]\n\nThe wane in the popularity of Spiritualism may be due in part to\nfrequent exposures, in part to the passing of the occult interest to\npastures new, and in part to other and less accessible causes. Such\ninterest may again become dominant by the success or innovations\nof some original medium or by the appearance of some unforeseen\ncircumstances. The present disposition to take up \"spiritual healing\"\nand \"spiritual readings of the future\" rather than mere assurances\nfrom the dead, indicates a desire to emulate the practical success\nof more recently established rivals. The history of Spiritualism, by\nits importance and its extravagance of doctrine and practice, forms\nan essential and an instructive chapter in the history of aberrant\nbelief; and there is no difficulty in tracing the imprints of its\nfootsteps on the sands of the occult.\n\n\nV\n\nThe impress of ancient and medi\u00e6val lore upon latter-day occultism\nis conspicuous in the survivals of Alchemy and Astrology. Phrenology\nrepresents a more recent pseudo-science, but one sufficiently\nobsolete to be considered under the same head; as may also Palmistry,\nwhich has relations both to an ancient form of divination and to a\nmore modern development after the manner of Physiognomy. The common\ncharacteristic of these is their devotion to a practical end. Alchemy\noccupies a somewhat distinct position. The original alchemists sought\nthe secret of converting the baser metals into gold, in itself a\nsufficiently alluring and human occupation. There is no reason why\nsuch a problem should assume an occult aspect, except the sufficient\none that ordinary procedures have not proved capable to effect the\ndesired end. It is a proverbial fault of ambitious inexperience to\nattack valiantly large problems with endless confidence and sweeping\naspiration. It is well enough in shaping your ideas to hitch your\nwagon to a star, yet the temporary utility of horses need not be\noverlooked; but shooting arrows at the stars is apt to prove an idle\npastime. If we are willing to forget for the moment that the same\ndevelopment of logic and experiment that makes possible the mental\nand material equipment of the modern chemist, makes impossible his\nconsideration of the alchemist's search, we may note how far the\ninherent constitution of the elements, to say nothing of their\npossible transmutation, has eluded his most ultimate analysis.\nHow immeasurably further it was removed from the grasp of the\nalchemist can hardly be expressed. But this is a scientific and not\nan occult view of the matter; it was not by progressive training\nin marksmanship that the occultist hoped to send his arrows to the\nstars. His was a mystic search for the magical transmutation, the\nelixir of life or the philosopher's stone. One might suppose that,\nonce the world has agreed that these ends are past finding out,\nthe alchemist, like the maker of stone arrow-heads, would have\nfound his occupation gone and have left no successor. His modern\nrepresentative, however, is an interesting and by no means extinct\nspecies. He seems to flourish in France, but may be found in Germany,\nin England, and in this country. He is rarely a pure alchemist\n(although so recently as 1854 one of them offered to manufacture gold\nfor the French mint), but represents the pure type of occultist.\nHe calls himself a Rosicrucian; he establishes a University of the\nHigher Studies, and becomes a professor of Hermetic Philosophy. His\nthought is mystic, and symbolism has an endless fascination for\nhim. The recondite significance of numbers, extravagant analogies\nof correspondence, the traditional hidden meanings of the Kabbalah,\nfairly intoxicate him; and verbose accounts of momentous relations\nand of unintelligible discoveries run riot in his writings. His\nscience is not a mere Chemistry, but a Hyper-Chemistry; his\ntransmutations are no longer material, but assume a spiritual aspect.\nLike all adept followers of an esoteric belief, he must stand apart\nfrom his fellow-men; he must cultivate the higher \"psychic\" powers,\nso that eventually he may be able by the mere action of his will to\ncause the atoms to group themselves into gold.\n\nThe modern alchemist is apt to be a general occultist; he may be also\nan astrologer or a magnetist or a theosophist. But he is foremost\nan ardent enthusiast for exclusive and unusual lore--not the common\nand superficial possessions of misguided democratic science. He goes\nthrough the forms of study, remains superior to the baser practical\nends of life, and finds his reward in the self-satisfaction of\nexclusive wisdom. In Paris, at least, he forms part of a rather\nrespectable _salon_, speaking socially, or a \"company of educated\ncharlatans,\" speaking scientifically. His class does not constitute a\nlarge proportion of modern occultists, but they present a prominent\nform of its intellectual temperament. \"There are also people,\" says\nMr. Lang, \"who so dislike our detention in the prison-house of old\nunvarying laws that their bias is in favor of anything which may tend\nto prove that science in her contemporary mood is not infallible. As\nthe Frenchman did not care what sort of a scheme he invested money\nin, provided that it annoys the English, so many persons do not\ncare what they invest belief in, provided that it irritates men of\nscience.\" Of such is the kingdom of alchemists and their brethren.\n\n\nVI\n\nAstrology, Phrenology, Physiognomy, and Palmistry have in common\na search for positive knowledge whereby to regulate the affairs\nof life, to foretell the future, to comprehend one's destiny\nand capabilities. They aim to secure success, or at least to be\nforearmed against failure by being forewarned. This is a natural,\na practical, and in no essential way an occult desire. It becomes\noccult, or, more accurately, superstitious, when it is satisfied by\nappeals to relations and influences which do not exist, and by false\ninterpretation of what may be admitted as measurably and vaguely\ntrue and about equally important. When not engaged in their usual\noccupation of building most startling superstructures on the most\ninsecure foundations, practical occultists are like Dr. Holmes's\nkatydid, \"saying an undisputed thing in such a solemn way.\" They\nwill not hearken to the experience of the ages that success cannot\nbe secured nor character read by discovering their unreal or mystic\nstigmata; they will not learn from physiology and psychology that\nthe mental capabilities, the moral and emotional endowment of an\nindividual are not stamped on his body in such a way that they may\nbe revealed by half an hour's use of the calipers and tape-measure;\nthey will not listen when science and common sense unite in teaching\nthat the knowledge of mental powers is not such as may be applied\nby rule of thumb to individual cases, but that, like much other\nvaluable knowledge, it proceeds by the exercise of sound judgment,\nand must as a rule rest content with suggestive generalizations and\nimperfectly established correlations. An educated man with wholesome\ninterests and a vigorous logical sense can consider a possible\nscience of character and the means of aiding its advance without\ndanger and with some profit. But this meat is sheer poison to those\nwho are usually attracted to this type of speculations, while it\noffers to the unscrupulous charlatan a most convenient net to spread\nfor the unwary. In so far as these occult mariners, the astrologists\nand phrenologists _et id genus omne_, are sincere, and in so far\nrepresent superstition rather than commercial fraud, they simply\nignore, through obstinacy or ignorance, the lighthouses and charts\nand the other aids to modern navigation, and persist in steering\ntheir craft by an occult compass. In some cases they are professedly\nsetting out, not for any harbor marked on terrestrial maps, but\ntheir expedition is for the golden fleece or for the apples of the\nHesperides; and with loud-voiced advertisements of their skill as\npilots, they proceed to form stock companies for the promotion of\ntheir several enterprises and to dispose of the shares to credulous\nspeculators.\n\nIt would be a profitless task to review the alleged data of\nAstrology or Phrenology or Palmistry, except for the illustrations\nwhich they readily yield of the nature of the conceptions and of\nthe logic which command a certain popular interest and acceptance.\nThe interest in these notions is, as Mr. Lang argues about ghosts\nand rappings and bogles, in how they come to be believed, rather\nthan in how much or how little they chance to be true. It must be\nremembered also that our present interest is in the occult factors\nof these composite systems; they each contain other factors,--in\npart incorporations of vague and distorted scientific truths, in\npart dogmatic overstatement of results of observation, which, if\nreduced to the proportions warranted by definite evidence, dissolve\ninto insignificance or intangibility, in part plausible or specious\nargumentation, and in still greater part mere fanciful assertion. And\nif we proceed to examine the professed evidence for the facts and\nlaws and principles (_sit venia verbis_) that pervade Astrology or\nPhrenology or Palmistry or dream-interpretation, or beliefs of that\nilk, we find the flimsiest kind of texture, that will hardly bear\nexamination, and holds together only so long as it is kept secluded\nfrom the light of day. Far-fetched analogy, baseless assertion, the\nuncritical assimilation of popular superstitions, a great deal of\nprophecy after the event (it is wonderful how clearly the astrologer\nfinds the indications of Napoleon's career in his horoscope, or the\nphrenologist reads them in the Napoleonic cranial protuberances),\nmuch fanciful elaboration of detail, ringing the variations on a\nsufficiently complex and non-demonstrable proposition, cultivating\na convenient vagueness of expression, together with an apologetic\nskill in providing for and explaining exceptions, the courage\nto ignore failure and the shrewdness to profit by coincidences\nand half-assimilated smatterings of science, and with it all an\ninsensibility to the moral and intellectual demands of the logical\ndecalogue,--and you have the skeleton, which, clothed with one\nflesh, becomes Astrology, and with another Phrenology, and with\nanother Palmistry or Solar Biology or Descriptive Mentality or what\nnot. Such pseudo-sciences thrive upon that widespread and intense\ncraving for practical guidance of our individual affairs, which is\nnot satisfied with judicious applications of general principles, with\ndue consideration of the probabilities and uncertainties of human\nlife, but demands an impossible and precise revelation. Not all that\npasses for, and in a way is knowledge, is or is likely soon to become\nscientific; and when a peasant parades in an academic gown the result\nis likely to be a caricature.\n\n\nVII\n\nTo achieve fortune, to judge well and command one's fellow-men, to\nforetell and control the future, to be wise in worldly lore, are\nnatural objects of human desire; but still another is essential to\nhappiness. Whether we attempt to procure these good fortunes by\ngoing early to bed and early to rise, or by more occult procedures,\nwe wish to be healthy as well as wealthy and wise. The maintenance\nof health and the perpetuity of youth were not absent from the\nmedi\u00e6val occultist's search, and formed an essential part of the\nbenefits to be conferred by the elixir of life and the philosopher's\nstone. A series of superstitions and extravagant systems are\nconspicuous in the antecedents and the by-paths of the history of\nmedicine, and are related to it much as astrology is to astronomy,\nor alchemy to chemistry; and because medicine in part remains and\nto previous generations was conspicuously an empirical art rather\nthan a science, it offers great opportunity for practical error\nand misapplied partial knowledge. It is not necessary to go back\nto early civilizations or to primitive peoples, among whom the\nmedicine-man and the priest were one and alike appealing to occult\npowers, nor to early theories of disease which beheld in insanity\nthe obsession of demons and resorted to exorcism to cast them out;\nit is not necessary to consider the various personages who acquired\nnotoriety as healers by laying on of hands or by appeal to faith,\nor who, like Mesmer, introduced the system of animal magnetism, or,\nlike some of his followers, sought directions for healing from the\nclairvoyant dicta of somnambules; it is not necessary to ransack\nfolk-lore superstitions and popular remedies for the treatment of\ndisease; for the modern forms of \"irregular\" healing offer sufficient\nillustrations of occult methods of escaping the ills that flesh is\nheir to.\n\nThe existence of a special term for a medical impostor is doubtless\nthe result of the prevalence of the class thus named; but quackery\nand occult medicine, though mutually overlapping, can by no means be\nheld accountable for one another's failings. Many forms of quackery\nproceed on the basis of superstitions or fanciful or exaggerated\nnotions containing occult elements, but for the present purpose it\nis wise to limit attention to those in which this occult factor is\ndistinctive; for medical quackery in its larger relations is neither\nmodern nor occult. Occult healing takes its distinctive character\nfrom the theory underlying the practice rather than from the nature\nof the practice. It is not so much what is done, as why it is done,\nor pretended to be done or not done, that determines its occult\ncharacter. A factor of prominence in modern occult healing is indeed\none that in other forms characterized many of its predecessors, and\nwas rarely wholly absent from the connection between the procedure\nand the result; this is the mental factor, which may be called upon\nto give character to a theory of disease, or be utilized consciously\nor unconsciously as a curative principle. It is not implied that\n\"mental medicine\" is necessarily and intrinsically occult, but only\nthat the general trend of modern occult notions regarding disease\nmay be best portrayed in certain typical forms of \"psychic\" healing.\nThe legitimate recognition of the importance of mental conditions\nin health and disease is one of the results of the union of modern\npsychology and modern medicine. An exaggerated and extravagant as\nwell as pretentious and illogical overstatement and misstatement of\nthis principle may properly be considered as occult.\n\n\nVIII\n\nAmong such systems there is one which by its momentary prominence\novershadows all others; and for this reason, as well as for its\nmore explicit or rather more extended statement of principles, must\nbe accorded special attention: I need hardly say that I refer to\nthat egregious misnomer, Christian Science. This system is said\nto have been discovered by, or revealed to, Mrs. Mary Baker Glover\nEddy in 1866. Several of its most distinctive positions (without\ntheir religious setting) are to be found in the writings, and were\nused in the practice of Mr. or Dr. P. P. Quimby (1802-1866), whom\nMrs. Eddy professionally consulted shortly before she began her own\npropagandum. On its theoretical side, the system presents a series\nof quasi-metaphysical principles and also a professed interpretation\nof the Scriptures; on its practical side, it offers a means of\ncuring or avoiding disease, and includes under disease also what\nis more generally described as sin and misfortune. With Christian\nScience as a religious movement I shall not directly deal; I wish,\nhowever, to point out that this assumption of a religious aspect\nfinds a parallel in Spiritualism and Theosophy, and doubtless forms\none of the most potent reasons for the success of these occult\nmovements. It would be a most dangerous principle to admit that the\ntreatment of disease and the right to ignore hygiene can become the\nperquisite of any religious faith. It would be equally unwarranted\nto permit the principles which are responsible for such beliefs to\ntake shelter behind the ramparts of religious tolerance, for the\nessential principles of Christian Science do not constitute a form of\nChristianity any more than they constitute a science; but, in so far\nas they do not altogether elude description, pertain to the domain\nover which medicine, physiology, and psychology hold sway. As David\nHarum, in speaking of his church-going habits, characteristically\nexplains, \"the one I stay away from when I don't go 's the\nPresbyteriun,\" so the doctrines which Christian Science \"stays\naway from,\" are those over which recognized departments of academic\nlearning have the authority to decide.\n\nMrs. Eddy's _magnum opus_, serving at once as the text-book of the\n\"science\" and as a revised version of the Scriptures, \"Science and\nHealth, with Key to the Scriptures,\" has been circulated to the\nextent of one hundred and seventy thousand copies. I shall not\ngive an account of this book, nor subject its more tangible tenets\nto a logical review; I must be content to recommend its pages as\nsuggestive reading for the student of the modern occult, and to\nset forth in the credentials of quotation marks some of the dicta\nconcerning disease. Yet it may be due to the author, or mouthpiece,\nof this system, to begin by citing what are declared to be its\nfundamental tenets, even if their connection with what is built upon\nthem is far from evident.\n\n    \"The fundamental propositions of Christian Science are\n    summarized in the four following, to me, _self-evident_\n    propositions. Even if read backward, these propositions\n    will be found to agree in statement and proof:--\n\n    \"1. God is All in all.\n\n    \"2. God is good. Good is Mind.\n\n    \"3. God, Spirit, being all, nothing is matter.\n\n    \"4. Life, God, omnipotent Good, deny death, evil,\n    sin, disease--Disease, sin, evil, death, deny Good,\n    omnipotent God, Life.\"\n\n    \"What is termed disease does not exist.\" \"Matter has no\n    being.\" \"All is mind.\" \"Matter is but the subjective\n    state of what is here termed _mortal mind_.\" \"All\n    disease is the result of education, and can carry\n    its ill effects no farther than mortal mind maps out\n    the way.\" \"The fear of dissevered bodily members,\n    or a belief in such a possibility, is reflected on\n    the body, in the shape of headache, fractured bones,\n    dislocated joints, and so on, as directly as shame\n    is seen rising to the cheek. This human error about\n    physical wounds and colics is part and parcel of\n    the delusion that matter can feel and see, having\n    sensation and substance.\" \"Insanity implies belief in\n    a diseased brain, while physical ailments (so-called)\n    arise from belief that some other portions of the\n    body are deranged.... A bunion would produce insanity\n    as perceptible as that produced by congestion of the\n    brain, were it not that mortal mind calls the bunion\n    an unconscious portion of the body. Reverse this\n    belief and the results would be different.\" \"We weep\n    because others weep, we yawn because they yawn, and\n    we have small-pox because others have it; but mortal\n    mind, not matter, contains and carries the infection.\"\n    \"A Christian Scientist never gives medicine, never\n    recommends hygiene, never manipulates.\" \"Anatomy,\n    Physiology, Treatises on Health, sustained by what is\n    termed material law, are the husbandmen of sickness\n    and disease.\" \"You can even educate a healthy horse\n    so far in physiology that he will take cold without\n    his blanket.\" \"If exposure to a draught of air while\n    in a state of perspiration is followed by chills, dry\n    cough, influenza, congestive symptoms in the lungs, or\n    hints of inflammatory rheumatism, your Mind-remedy is\n    safe and sure. If you are a Christian Scientist, such\n    symptoms will not follow from the exposure; but if\n    you believe in laws of matter and their fatal effects\n    when transgressed, you are not fit to conduct your own\n    case or to destroy the bad effects of belief. When the\n    fear subsides and the conviction abides that you have\n    broken no law, neither rheumatism, consumption, nor\n    any other disease will ever result from exposure to\n    the weather.\" \"Destroy fear and you end the fever.\"\n    \"To prevent disease or cure it mentally let spirit\n    destroy the dream of sense. If you wish to heal by\n    argument, find the type of the ailment, get its name,\n    and array your mental plea against the physical. Argue\n    with the patient (mentally, not audibly) that he has\n    no disease, and conform the argument to the evidence.\n    Mentally insist that health is the everlasting fact,\n    and sickness the temporal falsity. Then realize the\n    presence of health, and the corporeal senses will\n    respond, so be it.\" \"My publications alone heal more\n    sickness than an unconscientious student can begin to\n    reach.\" \"The quotients, when numbers have been divided\n    by a fixed rule, are not more unquestionable than the\n    scientific tests I have made of the effects of truth\n    upon the sick.\" \"I am never mistaken in my scientific\n    diagnosis of disease.\" \"Outside of Christian Science\n    all is vague and hypothetical, the opposite of Truth.\"\n    \"Outside Christian Science all is error.\"\n\nSurely this is a remarkable product of mortal mind! It would perhaps\nbe an interesting _tour de force_, though hardly so entertaining as\n\"Alice in Wonderland,\" to construct a universe on the assertions\nand hypotheses which Christian Science presents; but it would have\nless resemblance to the world we know than has Alice's wonderland.\nFor any person for whom logic and evidence are something more real\nthan ghosts or myths, the feat must always be relegated to the airy\nrealm of the imagination, and must not be brought in contact with\nearthly realities. And yet the extravagance of Mrs. Eddy's book, its\nsuperb disdain of vulgar fact, its transcendental self-confidence,\nits solemn assumption that reiteration and variation of assertion\nsomehow spontaneously generate proof or self-evidence, its shrewd\nassimilation of a theological flavor, its occasional successes in\nproducing a presentable travesty of scientific truth,--all these\ndistinctions may be found in many a dust-covered volume, that\nrepresents the intensity of conviction of some equally enthusiastic\nand equally inspired occultist, but one less successful in securing a\nchorus to echo his refrain.\n\nThe temptation is strong not to dismiss \"Eddyism\" without\nillustrating the peculiar structures under which, in an effort to be\nconsistent, it is forced to take shelter. Since disease is always\nof purely mental origin, it follows that disease and its symptoms\ncannot ensue without the conscious co\u00f6peration of the patient;\nsince \"Christian Science divests material drugs of their imaginary\npower,\" it follows that the labels on the bottles that stand on the\ndruggist's shelves are correspondingly meaningless. And it becomes\nan interesting problem to inquire how the consensus of mortal mind\ncame about that associates one set of symptoms with prussic acid,\nand another with alcohol, and another with quinine. Inhaling oxygen\nor common air would prepare one for the surgeon's knife, and prussic\nacid or alcohol have no more effect than water, if only a congress of\nnations were to pronounce the former to be an\u00e6sthetic and promulgate\na decree that the latter be harmless. Christian Science does not\nflinch from this position. \"If a dose of poison is swallowed through\nmistake and the patient dies, even though physician and patient are\nexpecting favorable results, does belief, you ask, cause this death?\nEven so, and as directly as if the poison had been intentionally\ntaken. In such cases a few persons believe the potion swallowed by\nthe patient to be harmless; but the vast majority of mankind, though\nthey know nothing of this particular case and this special person,\nbelieve the arsenic, the strychnine, or whatever the drug used, to\nbe poisonous, for it has been set down as a poison by mortal mind.\nThe consequence is that the result is controlled by the majority of\nopinions outside, not by the infinitesimal minority of opinions in\nthe sick chamber.\" But why should the opinions of \u03bf\u1f31 \u03c0\u03bf\u03bb\u03bb\u03bf\u03af [Greek:\nhoi polloi] be of influence in such a case, and the enlightened\nminorities be sufficient to effect the marvelous cures in all the\nother cases? Christian Scientists do not take cold in draughts in\nspite of the contrary opinions or illusions of misguided majorities.\nThe logical Christian Scientist concludes that he need not eat, \"for\nthe truth is food does not affect the life of man;\" and yet at once\nrenounces his faith by adding, \"but it would be foolish to venture\nbeyond our present understanding, foolish to stop eating, until\nwe gain more goodness and a clearer comprehension of the living\nGod.\" And the mental physician, to be consistent, must be a mental\nsurgeon also; and not plead that, \"Until the advancing age admits the\nefficacy and supremacy of mind, it is better to leave the adjustment\nof broken bones and dislocations to the fingers of surgeons.\"\n\nBut it is unprofitable to consider the failings and absurdities of\nany occult system in its encounters with actual science and actual\nfact. It is simply as a real and prominent menace to rationality that\nthese doctrines naturally attract consideration. Regarding them as\nillustrations of present-day occult beliefs, we are naturally tempted\nto inquire what measure of (perverted) truth they may contain; but\nthe more worthy question is, How do such perversions come to find\nso large a company of \"supporting listeners\"? For to any one who\ncan read and be convinced by the sequence of words of this system,\nordinary logic has no power, and to him the world of reality brings\nno message. No form of the modern occult antagonizes the foundations\nof science so brusquely as this one. The possibility of science rests\non the thorough and absolute distinction between the subjective\nand the objective. In what measure a man loses the power to draw\nthis distinction clearly, and as other men do, in that measure he\nbecomes irrational or insane. The objective exists; and no amount of\nthinking it away or thinking it differently will change it. That is\nwhat is understood by ultimate scientific truth; something that will\nendure unmodified by passing ways of viewing it, open to every one's\nverification who comes equipped with the proper means to verify,--a\npermanent objective, to be ascertained by careful logical inquiry,\nnot to be determined by subjective opinion. Logic is the language of\nscience; Christian Science and what sane men call science can never\ncommunicate because they do not speak the same language.\n\n\nIX\n\nIt would be unfortunate to emphasize the popular pre\u00ebminence of\nChristian Science at a cost of the neglect of the significance of the\nmany other forms of \"drugless healing,\" which bid for public favor\nby appeal to ignorance and to occult and superstitious instincts.\nSome are allied to Christian Science, and like it assimilate their\ncult to a religious movement; others are unmistakably the attempts\nof charlatans to lure the credulous by noisy advertisements of\nnewly discovered and scientifically indorsed systems of \"psychic\nforce,\" or of some personal \"ism.\" For many purposes it would be\nunjust to group together such various systems, which in the nature\nof things must include sinner and saint, the misguided sincere, the\nhalf-believers who think \"there may be something in it,\" or \"that\nit is worth a trial,\" along with scheming quacks and adepts in\ncommercial fraud. They illustrate the many and various roads traveled\nin the search for health, by pilgrims who are dissatisfied with the\nhighways over which medical science pursues its steadfast though it\nmay be devious course. Among them there is plausible exaggeration and\nignorant perversion and dishonest libel of the relations that bind\ntogether body and mind. Among the several schisms from the \"Mother\nChurch of Christian Science\" there is one that claims to be the\n\"rational phase of the mental healing doctrine,\" that acknowledges\nthe reality of disease and the incurability of serious organic\ndisorders, and resents any connection with the \"half-fanatical\npersonality worship\" (of Mrs. Eddy) as quite as foreign to its\ntenets as would be the views of the \"Free Religious Association\" to\nthe \"Pope of Rome.\" \"Divine Healing\" exhibits its success in one\nnotable instance, in the establishment of a school and college, a\nbank, a land and investment association, a printing and publishing\noffice, and sundry divine healing homes; and this prosperity is now\nto be extended by the foundation of a city or colony of converts,\nwho shall be united by the common bond of faith in divine healing\nas transmitted in the personal power of their leader. The official\norgan of this movement announces that the personification of their\nfaith \"makes her religion a business and conducts herself upon\nsound business principles;\" their leader publicly boasts of his vast\nfinancial returns. With emphatic protest on the part of each that\nhe alone holds the key to salvation, and that his system is quite\noriginal and unlike any other, comes the procession of Metaphysical\nHealer and Mind-Curist and Viticulturist and Magnetic Healer and\nAstrological Health Guide and Phrenopathist and Medical Clairvoyant\nand Esoteric Vibrationist and Psychic Scientist and Mesmerist and\nOccultist. Some use or abuse the manipulations of hypnotism; others\nclaim the power to concentrate the magnetism of the air and to excite\nthe vital fluids by arousing the proper mental vibrations, or by some\nequally lucid and demonstrable procedure; some advertise magnetic\ncups, and positive and negative powders, and absent treatment by\noutputs of \"psychic force,\" and countless other imposing devices.\nIn truth, they form a motley crew, and with their \"Colleges of Fine\nForces,\" and \"Psychic Research Companies,\" offering diplomas and\ndegrees for a three weeks' course of study or the reading of a book,\nrepresent the slums of the occult. An account of their methods is\nlikely to be of as much interest to the student of fraud as to the\nstudent of opinion.\n\nThere can be no doubt that many of these systems have been stimulated\ninto life or into renewed vigor by the success of Christian Science;\nthis is particularly noticeable in the introduction of absent\ntreatment as a plank in their diverse platforms. This ingenious\nmethod of restoring the health of their patients and their own\nexchequers appealed to all the band of healing occultists from\nSpiritualist to Vibrationist, as easily adaptable to their several\nsystems. In much the same way Mesmer, more than a hundred years ago,\nadministered to the practice which had exhausted the capacity of\nhis personal attention, by magnetizing trees and selling magnetized\nwater. The absent treatment represents the occult extension movement;\nand unencumbered by the hampering restrictions of physical forces,\nsuperior even to wireless telegraphy, carries its influence into the\nremotest homes. From ocean to ocean, and from North to South, these\nabsent healers set apart some hour of the day, when they mentally\nconvey their healing word to the scattered members of their flock.\nOn the payment of a small fee you are made acquainted with the\n\"soul-communion time-table\" for your longitude, and may know when\nto meet the healing vibrations as they pass by. Others disdain any\nsuch temporal details and assure a cure merely on payment of the\nfee; the healer will know sympathetically when and how to transmit\nthe curative impulses. Poverty and bad habits as well as disease\nreadily succumb to the magic of the absent treatment. Such an\nhysterical edict as this is hardly extreme or unusual: \"Join the\nSuccess Circle.... The Centre of that Circle is my omnipotent WORD.\nDaily I speak it. Its vibrations radiate more and more powerfully day\nby day.... As the sun sends out vibrations ... so my WORD radiates\nSuccess to 10,000 lives as easily as to one.\"\n\nIt is impossible to appreciate fully the extravagances of these\noccult healers unless one makes a sufficient sacrifice of time\nand patience to read over a considerable sample of the periodical\npublications with which American occultism fairly teems. And when\none has accomplished this task he is still at sea to account for\nthe readers and believers who support these various systems, so\nundreamt of in our philosophy. It would really seem that there is\nno combination of ideas too absurd to fail entirely of a following.\nCarlyle, without special provocation, concluded that there were about\nforty million persons in England, mostly fools; what would have been\nhis comment in the face of this vast and universal array of human\nfolly! If it be urged in rejoinder that beneath all this rubbish\nheap a true jewel lies buried, that the wonderful cures and the\npractical success of these various systems indicate their dependence\nupon an essential and valuable factor in the cure of disease and the\nformation of habits, it is possible with reservation to assent, and\nwith emphasis to demur. Such success, in so far as it is rightly\nreported, exemplifies the truly remarkable function of the mental\nfactor in the control of normal as of disordered physiological\nfunctions. This truth has been recognized and utilized in unobtrusive\nways for many generations, and within recent years has received\nsubstantial elaboration from carefully conducted experiments and\nobservations. Specifically, the therapeutic action of suggestion,\nboth in its more usual forms and as hypnotic suggestion, has shown\nto what unexpected extent such action may proceed in susceptible\nindividuals. The well-informed and capable physician requires no\ninstruction on this point; his medical education furnishes him with\nthe means of determining the symptoms of true organic disorder, of\nfunctional derangement, and of the modifications of these under the\nmore or less unconscious interference of an unfortunate nervous\nsystem. It is quite as human for the physician as for other mortals\nto err; and there is doubtless as wide a range among them, as among\nother pursuits, of ability, tact, and insight. \"But when all is\nsaid and done,\" the fundamental fact remains that the utilization\nof the mental factor in the alleviation of disease will be best\nadministered by those who are specifically trained in the knowledge\nof bodily and of mental symptoms of disease. Such application of an\nestablished scientific principle may prove to be a jewel of worth\nin the hands of him who knows how to cut and set it. The difference\nbetween truth and error, between science and superstition, between\nwhat is beneficent to mankind and what is pernicious, frequently lies\nin the interpretation and the spirit as much as, or more than, in\nthe fact. The utilization of mental influences in health and disease\nbecomes the one or the other according to the wisdom and the truth\nand the insight into the real relations of things, that guide its\napplication. As far removed as chemistry from alchemy, as astronomy\nfrom astrology, as the doctrine of the localization of function\nin the brain from phrenology, as hypnotic suggestion from animal\nmagnetism, are the crude and perverse notions of Christian Scientist\nor Metaphysical Healer removed from the rational application of the\ninfluence of the mind over the body.\n\n\nX\n\nThe growth and development of the occult presents an interesting\nproblem in the psychology of belief. The motives that induce the\nwill to believe in the several doctrines that have been passed\nin review are certainly not more easy to detect and to describe\nthan would be the case in reference to the many other general\nproblems--philosophical, scientific, religious, social, political,\nor educational--on which the right to an opinion is accepted as an\ninalienable heritage of humanity or at least of democracy. Professor\nJames tells us that often \"our faith is faith in some one else's\nfaith, and in the greatest matters this is most the case.\" Certainly\nthe waves of popularity of one cult and another reflect the potent\ninfluence of contagion in the formation of opinion and the guidance\nof conduct. When we look upon the popular delusions of the past\nthrough the achromatic glasses which historical remoteness from\npresent conditions enables us to adjust to our eyes, we marvel that\ngood and great men could have been so grossly misled, that obvious\nrelations and fallacies could have been so stupidly overlooked,\nthat worthless and prejudiced evidence could have been accepted as\nsound and significant. But the opinions to which we incline are all\ncolored o'er with the deep tinge of emotional reality, which is the\nliving expression of our interest in them or our inclination toward\nthem. What they require is a more vigorous infusion of the pale cast\nof thought; for the problem of the occult and the temptations to\nbelief which it holds out are such as can be met only by a sturdy\napplication of a critical logic. Only as logical thoroughness comes\nto prevail over superficial plausibility, as beliefs come to be\nformed and evidence estimated according to their intrinsic value\nrather than according to their emotional acceptability, will the\npropagandum of the occult meet with greater resistance and aversion.\n\nThe fixation of belief proceeds under the influence both of general\nand of special forces; the formation of a belief is at once a\npersonal and a social reaction--a reaction to the evidence which\nrecorded and personal experiences present, and to the current beliefs\nof our environment. To an equal extent is the reaction determined\nby the temperament of the reagent. And although the resulting\nindividual beliefs, however complex, are not matters of chance nor\nare their causes altogether past finding out, yet some of their\ncontributing factors are so vague and so inaccessible that they\nare most profitably considered as specific results of more or less\nclearly discerned general principles; and in many respects there is\nmore valid interest in the general principles than in the particular\nresults. It is interesting, and it may be profitable, to investigate\nwhy this area is wooded with oak and that with maple, but it is\nsomewhat idle to speculate why this particular tree happens to be\na maple rather than an oak, even if it chances to stand on our own\nproperty, and to have an interest to us beyond all other trees.\n\nAmong the more tangible tendencies that in various ways lead to the\noccult there is distinguishable what may be termed the intensely\npersonal temperament,--the mental attitude that absorbs knowledge\nonly when dissolved in an all-pervading personal medium; the attitude\nthat finds a paramount significance in the personal interpretation\nof experiences, and reacts to massive and extensive generalizations\nmost vaguely and impotently; the attitude that offers a weak and\nverbal assent to scientific principles and to the realities of\nnature, but inwardly cherishes an intense belief in the personal\npurport of the order of events, and earnestly seeks for a precise\nexplanation of individual happenings. \"The chronic belief of\nmankind,\" says Professor James, \"that events may happen for the\nsake of their personal significance is an abomination.\" It is this\nchronic mental habit that broods upon the problem of subjective\nexperiences, and is ready to recognize in signs and omens the guiding\nprinciple of rationality; not that this is always done designedly and\nsuperstitiously, but the underlying bent obscures the consideration\nof experience in any other than a personal light, and obstructs that\nillumination of the concrete by the generic, which constitutes an\nindispensable factor in the growth of wholesome thought. The victim\nof this unfortunate habit will remain logically unfit to survive the\nstruggle against the occult. Only in so far as he succeeds in getting\naway from his personal perspective will he be able to appreciate\nthe true status of the problem which enlists his interest. Above\nall is it necessary to subordinate explicit individual explanations\nto the general illumination of well-established principles. It may\nbe interesting to note that the partaking of mince-pie at evening\ninduces bad dreams, but it is hardly profitable to speculate deeply\nwhy my dream took the form of a leering demon with the impolite habit\nof squatting on my chest. The stuff that dreams are made of is not\nsusceptible of that type of analysis. The most generous allowance\nmust be made for coincidences and irrelevancies, and it must be\nconstantly remembered that the obscure phenomena of psychology,\nand, indeed, the phenomena of more thoroughly established and\nintrinsically more definite sciences, cannot be expected to pass\nthe test of detailed and concrete combinations of circumstances. In\nother classes of knowledge the temptation to demand such explicit\nexplanations of observations and experiences is not so strong,\nbecause of the absence of an equally strong personal interest; but\nclearly this does not affect the logical status of the problem.\n\nThe reply to this argument I can readily anticipate; and I confess\nthat my admiration of Hamlet is somewhat dulled by reason of that\nill-advised remark to Horatio about there being more things in heaven\nand earth than are dreamt of in our philosophies. The occultist\nalways seizes upon that citation to refute the scientist. He prints\nit as his motto on his books and journals, and regards it as a slow\npoison that will in time effect the destruction of the rabble of\nscientists, and reveal the truth of his own Psycho-Harmonic Science\nor Heliocentric Astrology. It is one thing to be open-minded, and to\nrealize the incompleteness of scientific knowledge, and to appreciate\nhow often what was ignored by one generation has become the science\nof the next; and it is a very different thing to be impressed with\ncoincidences and dreams and premonitions, and to regard them as\ngiving the keynote to the conceptions of nature and reality, and\nto look upon science as a misdirected effort. Such differences of\nattitude depend frequently upon a difference of temperament as well\nas upon intellectual discernment. The man or the woman who flies to\nthe things not dreamt of in our philosophy quite commonly does not\nunderstand the things which our philosophy very creditably explains.\nThe two types of mind are different, and, as Professor James\nexpresses it, \"the scientific-academic mind and the feminine-mystical\nmind shy from each other's facts just as they fly from each other's\ntemper and spirit.\"\n\nCertain special influences combine with these fundamental differences\nof attitude to favor the spread of belief in the occult; and of these\nthe character of the beliefs as of the believers furnishes some\nevidence. At various stages of the discussion I have referred to\nthe deceptive nature of the argument by analogy; to the dominating\nsympathy with a conclusion, and the resulting assimilation and\noverestimation of apparent evidence in its favor; to the frequent\nfailure to understand that the formation of valid opinion and the\ninterpretation of evidence in any field of inquiry require somewhat\nof expert training and special aptitude, obviously so in technical\nmatters, but only moderately less so in matters misleadingly\nregarded as general; to bias and superstition, to the weakness\nthat bends easily to the influences of contagion, to unfortunate\neducational limitations and perversions, and, not the least, to a\ndefective grounding in the nature of scientific fact and proof.\nThe mystery attaching to the behavior of the magnet led Mesmer\nto call his curative influence \"animal magnetism,\"--a conception\nthat still prevails among latter-day occultists. The principle of\nsympathetic vibration, in obedience to which a tuning-fork takes up\nthe vibrations of another in unison with it, is violently transferred\nto imaginary brain vibrations and to still more imaginary telepathic\ncurrents. The X-ray and wireless telegraphy are certain to be\nutilized in corroboration of unproven modes of mental action, and\nwill be regarded as furnishing the key to clairvoyance and rapport;\njust as well-known electrical phenomena have given rise to the\nnotions of positive and negative temperaments and mediumistic polar\nattraction and repulsion. All this results from the unwarranted\nand absurd application of analogies; for analogies, even when\nappropriate, are little more than suggestive or corroborative of\nrelations or conceptions which owe their main support to other and\nmore sturdy evidence. Analogy under careful supervision may make a\nuseful apprentice, but endless havoc results when the servant plays\nthe part of the master.\n\nNo better illustrations could be desired of the effects of mental\nprepossession and the resulting distortion of evidence and of logical\ninsight than those afforded by the career of Spiritualism and that\nof Christian Science. In both these movements the assimilation\nof a religious trend has been of inestimable importance to their\ndissemination. Surely it is not merely or mainly the evidences\nobtainable in the s\u00e9ance chamber, nor the irresistible accumulation\nof cures by argument and thought-healings, that account for the\norganized gatherings of Spiritualists and the costly temples and\nthriving congregations of Christ Scientist. It is the presentation\nof a practical doctrine of immortality and of the spiritual nature\nof disease in conjunction with an accepted religious system, that\nis responsible for these vast results. The \"Key to the Scriptures\"\nhas immeasurably reinforced the \"Science and Health,\" and brought\nbelievers to a new form of Christianity who never would have\nbeen converted to a new system of medicine presented on purely\nintellectual grounds. Rationality is doubtless a characteristic\ntendency of humanity, but logicality is an acquired possession,\nand one by no means firmly established in the race at large. So\nlong as we are reproved by the discipline of nature, and that\nrather promptly, we tend to act in accordance with the established\nrelations of things; that is rationality. But the recognition of\nthe more remote connections between antecedent and consequent, and\nthe development of habits of thought which shall lead to reliable\nconclusions in complex situations; and again, the ability to\ndistinguish between the plausible and the true, the firmness to\nsupport principle in the face of paradox and seeming nonconformity,\nto think clearly and consistently in the absence of the practical\nreproof of nature--that is logicality. It is only as the result\nof a prolonged and conscientious training, aided by an extensive\nexperience and by a knowledge of the historical experience of the\nrace, that the inherent rational tendencies develop into established\nlogical habits and principles of belief. For many this development\nremains stunted or arrested; and they continue as children of a\nlarger growth, leaning much on others, rarely venturing abroad alone,\nand wisely confining their excursions to familiar ground. When they\nbecome possessed with the desire to travel among other cultures,\ntheir lack of appreciation of the sights which their journeys bring\nbefore them gives to their reports the same degree of reliability and\nvalue as attaches to the much ridiculed comments of the philistine\n_nouveaux riches_.\n\nThe survey of the modern occult makes it seem quite utopian to look\nforward to the day when the occult shall have disappeared, and the\nlion and the lamb shall feed and grow strong on the same nourishment.\nDoubtless new forms and phases of the occult will arise to take\nthe place of the old as their popularity declines; and the world\nwill be the more interesting and more characteristically a human\ndwelling-place for containing all sorts and conditions of minds. None\nthe less, it is the plain duty and privilege of each generation to\nutilize every opportunity to dispel error and superstition, and to\noppose the dissemination of irrational beliefs. It is particularly\nthe obligation of the torch-bearers of science to illuminate the\npath of progress, and to transmit the light to their successors with\nundiminished power and brilliancy; the flame must burn both as a\nbeacon-light to guide the wayfarer along the highways of advance, and\nas a warning against the will-o'-the-wisps that shine seductively in\nthe by-ways. The safest and most efficient antidote to the spread\nof the pernicious tendencies inherent in the occult lies in the\ncultivation of a wholesome and whole-souled interest in the genuine\nand profitable problems of nature and of life, and in the cultivation\nwith it of a steadfast adherence to common sense, that results in\na right perspective of the significance and value of things. These\nqualities, fortunately for our forefathers, were not reserved to\nbe the exclusive prerogative of the modern; and, fortunately for\nposterity, are likely to remain characteristic of the scientific and\nantagonistic to the occult.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] Spiritualism is here considered only in its general bearings upon\nmodern conceptions of the occult; any consideration of the special\nphenomena presented under its auspices or of the influences which\ncontribute to a belief in its tenets would lead too far afield. The\ntopic is separately considered from a different point of view in a\nlater essay.\n\n[2] To prevent misunderstanding it is well to repeat that I am\nspeaking of the general average of thorough-going Spiritualists. The\nfact that a few mediums have engaged the attention of scientifically\nminded investigators has no bearing on the motives which lead\nmost persons to make a professional call on a medium, or to join\na circle. The further fact that these investigators have at times\nfound themselves baffled by the medium's performances and that a few\nof them have announced their readiness to accept the spiritualistic\nhypothesis, is of importance in some aspects, but does not determine\nthe general trend of the spiritualistic movement in the direction in\nwhich it is considered in the present discussion.\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROBLEMS OF PSYCHICAL RESEARCH\n\n\nI\n\nThe division of the sciences reflects the diversity of human\ninterests; it represents the economical adaptation of organized\nthought to the conditions of reality; and it likewise recognizes the\nintrinsically and objectively distinct realms and aspects, in which\nand under which phenomena occur. It is obvious that the sciences\nwere shaped by human needs; that physics and chemistry and geology\nand biology and psychology do not constitute independent departments\nof nature's r\u00e9gime, but only so many aspects of complex natural\nactivities; that a cross-section of the composite happenings of a\ncosmic moment would reveal an endlessly heterogeneous concomitance of\ndiverse forms of energy acting upon diverse types of material; that,\nas we confine our attention somewhat arbitrarily to one or another\ncomponent of the aggregate, we become physicists, or chemists, or\ngeologists, or biologists, or psychologists; that, indeed, Nature is\nall things to all men. There is, furthermore, a community of spirit\nbetween the several sciences, as there is a logical unity of method\nand purpose within the realm of each. However ignorant they may be\nof one another's facts, the chemist and the psychologist readily\nappreciate one another's purposes, and find a bond of sympathy in the\npursuit of a commonly inspired though differently applied method.\nThe search for objective truth, the extension of the realm of law\nand regularity, the expansion and organization of the army of facts\nconstantly marshaled and reviewed and made ready for service, the\never widening development of principles and the furthering of a\ndeeper insight into their significance,--these are ideals for the\nadvancement of science, far easier of expression than of execution,\nbut the clear and accepted formulation of which itself attests a\nhighly developed stage of accurate thought. A clear-cut conception of\nthe purposes and methods of scientific investigation and of the scope\nof the several sciences is a dearly bought product of generations of\nwell-directed, as also of misdirected, effort. The path of progress\nleading to this achievement has been tortuous and indirect; there\nhas been much expenditure of energy that resulted merely in marking\ntime, in going through the movements of locomotion but with no\nadvance, in following a false trail, or, through a loss of the sense\nof direction, in coming back after a circuitous march to an earlier\nstarting-point. It is easy, when a certain height is reached, to\nlook down and back, and see how much more readily the ascent might\nhave been accomplished; but it is a very different matter to form a\nsuccessful plan for attaining the next higher commanding point. It is\ninevitable that there shall be differences of opinion as to course\nand man\u0153uvre, and errors of judgment of commission and omission; but\nsuch diversity is quite consistent with an underlying co\u00f6peration\nand singleness of purpose. It is in the inspiration and in the\nexecution of that purpose that science becomes differentiated from\nthe unscientific and non-scientific.\n\nBetween the organized effort and well-recognized plan of action of\nscience and the chaotic movements of the untutored mind, there is a\nmarked contrast. The savage, like the child, constantly meets with\nthe unexpected; every experience lying outside his narrow beaten\ntrack stirs him with a shock and often fills him with fear--the\nhandmaid of ignorance. He is apt to picture nature as a fearful\nmonster, and to people the world with tyrannical beings. Step by\nstep the region of the known expands, and suggests the nature of the\nunknown; men expect, they foresee, they predict. The apparent chaos\nof mutually inimical forces gives way to the profound harmony of\nunifying law. And yet the unknown and the borderland that separates\nit from the known are always near by, to tempt curiosity and the\nspirit of adventure.\n\nThe problem here to be considered relates to the attitude which may\nmost properly and profitably be taken with regard to the outlying\nphenomena of the mind. Are they outcasts, to be treated in a spirit\nof charity and forbearance? Are they the true owners of the land,\ndriven off, like the Indian before the white man, by the relentless\nmarch of civilization to a prescribed reservation? Are they the\nunjustly deposed and rightful heirs, soon to be restored to their\nkingdom by a fairer and more searching examination of their title? Or\nare they, gypsy-like, of obscure origin, surviving in a civilization\nwhich they are in but not of, attempting to eke out an uncertain\nexistence by peddling relics of antiquated lore to the curious and\nthe credulous?\n\n\nII\n\nThe current usage of the term \"Psychical Research\" takes its meaning\nfrom the Society for Psychical Research, founded in England in\n1882. The original programme of the society involved a systematic\ninvestigation of \"that large group of debatable phenomena designated\nby such terms as mesmeric, psychical, and Spiritualistic.\" \"From the\nrecorded testimony of many competent witnesses,\" it is urged, \"there\nappears to be, amidst much delusion and deception, an important\nbody of remarkable phenomena, which are _prima facie_ inexplicable\non any generally recognized hypothesis, and which, if incontestably\nestablished, would be of the highest possible value.\" The work\nof investigation of these \"residual phenomena\" was intrusted to\nsix committees, who were to inquire severally into \"the nature\nand extent of any influence which may be exerted by one mind upon\nanother, apart from any generally recognized mode of perception;\"\ninto hypnotism, the so-called mesmeric trance, clairvoyance, and\nother allied phenomena; to undertake a revision of Reichenbach's\nresearches with reference to discovering whether his \"sensitives\"\npossessed \"any power of perception beyond a highly exalted\nsensibility of the recognized sensory organs;\" to investigate the\nreports of apparitions at the moment of death, and of houses reputed\nto be haunted; to inquire into the causes and general laws of the\nphenomena of Spiritualism; and to collect material relative to the\nhistory of these subjects. It is the investigation of these topics\nfrom the point of view prevalent in the publications of this Society\nthat constitutes the definition of Psychical Research. This phrase,\nwhich has come into prominence within less than a score of years,\nhas no simple or familiar synonym; it must not be interpreted by the\ncombined connotation of its component words, but must be accepted as\nthe technical equivalent of the trend and content of a certain type\nof investigation of obscure phenomena or alleged phenomena, in most\nof which psychological factors are prominent.\n\nIf the term may at all be brought within the circle of the sciences,\nit certainly there assumes a somewhat unique position. It naturally\nbecomes the analogue, or it may be the rival of Psychology; yet its\nprecise status and its logical relations to other departments of\nscientific research are far from obvious. The modern conception of\nPsychology is generously comprehensive; it encompasses the endlessly\nvariable and complex processes of human mentality; it pursues with\nenthusiasm the study of developmental processes of intelligence in\nchildhood, in the animal world, in the unfoldment of the race; it\nstudies, for their own value, the aberrant and pathological forms\nof mental action, and brings these into relation with, and thus\nilluminates the comprehension of the normal. It forms affiliations\nwith physiology and biology and medicine, with philosophy and logic\nand ethics, with anthropology and sociology and folk-lore; it borrows\nfreely from their materials, and attempts to interpret the materials\nthus borrowed from the psychological point of view and to infuse into\nthem its distinctive spirit. Surely Psychical Research should be able\nto find a nook in so commodious a home; if the problems of Psychical\nResearch are legitimate members of the psychological family, some\nprovision should be possible for their reception within the old\nhomestead. Nor does this group of problems represent a difference of\nschool, in some such way as the hom\u0153opathists represent a secession\nfrom the regular school of medicine; nor can it be regarded as the\nspecial study of the unusual and the abnormal in the sphere of mind,\nand thus stand in the relation which teratology or pathology bears\nto physiology and anatomy: for in that event it would constitute\na simple division of Abnormal Psychology, and although Psychical\nResearch has close alliance with the latter, it cannot be, and is\nunwilling to be regarded as a subordinate portion of that domain.\n\nFrom a survey of the literature of Psychical Research one might\nreadily draw the inference that whereas Psychology studies the\nrecognized and explicable phases of mental phenomena, Psychical\nResearch is occupied with the disputed and mysterious. One might also\nconclude that whereas Psychology is concerned with the phenomena\ncommonly associated with mental activities and their variation\nunder normal as also under unusual and pathological circumstances,\nPsychical Research is interested in the demonstration of supernormal\nfaculties, and in the establishment of forms of mentality that\ndiverge from and transcend those with which every-day humanity\nis permitted to become familiar; and that, moreover, in some of\nits excursions Psychical Research does not limit itself to mental\nmanifestations, but investigates undiscovered forms of physical\nenergy, and seriously considers whether behind and beyond the world\nof phenomena there is another and a different world, in which the\nestablished order and the mental and material laws of this planet\ndo not obtain. But the unwarranted character, not to say absurdity,\nof such a differentiation or classification is at once apparent,\nif we attempt to carry it over into other departments of science.\nSpeculations in regard to the constitution of the earth's centre\nor as to the future of our planet, if legitimate in character, are\nas readily incorporable into geology as the consideration of more\ndefinite and better known phenomena; biologists recognize that there\nare mythical as well as anomalous portions of their domain, but do\nnot consider that freaks of nature either destroy the validity of\nanatomical and physiological principles, or demand a totally distinct\nand transcendent organization or method for their study. The chemist\nmay become interested in the examination of what was really done\nwhen it was supposed that other metals were converted into gold; the\nphysicist may become interested in the applications of electricity\nand magnetism, of optical reflections and images in the production\nof stage illusions; but the conception of chemistry and of physics\nnaturally embraces considerations of the growth, the errors, and\nthe applications of these sciences. And while these comparisons\ndo not furnish a complete parallel to the relation that seems to\npertain between Psychology and Psychical Research, yet it is as\ntrue in the one case as in the others, that the differentiation of\na group of problems on the basis of unusualness of occurrence, of\nmysteriousness of origin, of doubtful authenticity, or of apparent\nparadoxical or transcendent character, is as illogical as it is\nunnecessary. The legitimate problems of Psychical Research are\nequally and necessarily genuine problems of Psychology, that require\nno special designation. They need not be especially important, nor\ninteresting, nor profitable, nor well comprehended problems of\nPsychology, but they belong there if they are scientific problems\nat all. The objection to Psychical Research is not a verbal one;\nit is an objection to the separation of a class of problems from\ntheir natural habitat, an objection to the violent transplanting\nof a growth from its own environment. It is a protest against the\nnotion that while the psychologist may be listened to with respect\nand authority in one portion of his topic, the layman and the member\nof the Society for Psychical Research are equally or more competent\nto pronounce judgments in a closely allied field. It is a protest\nagainst the view that for the comprehension of such processes as\nsensation and perception a course in Psychology may be useful, but\nthat telepathy may be established by any moderately intelligent but\nnot specially informed percipient and agent; or that the study of\nhallucinations is indeed a complex and difficult subject, but haunted\nhouses, and phantasms of the living, offer a proper occupation for a\nleisure hour. All this is wrong and absurd; and yet it is hardly an\nexaggeration to declare that a majority of those who profess a deep\ninterest in, and express an opinion about the one group of topics,\nwould be surprised to have demanded of them a familiarity with the\ndata of Psychology as a prerequisite to an intelligent co\u00f6peration in\nPsychical Research. If the problems of Psychical Research, or that\nportion of the problems in which investigation seems profitable, are\never to be illuminated and exhibited in an intelligible form, it\nwill only come about when they are investigated by the same methods\nand in the same spirit as are other psychological problems, when\nthey are studied in connection with and as a part of other general\nproblems of normal and abnormal Psychology. Whether this is done\nunder the auspices of a society or in the psychological laboratories\nof universities is, of course, a detail of no importance. It is\nimportant, however, what the trend, and the spirit, and the method,\nand the purpose of the investigation may be; as it is equally\nimportant, what may be the training, and the capabilities, and\nthe resources, and the originality, and the scholarship of the\ninvestigators.\n\nIs the \"psychical researcher\" then merely a psychologist gone astray?\nIs he a mere dilettante, an amateur collector of curious specimens,\nor is he something very different from a psychologist? He is\ndoubtless one or the other or all of these. He may be a psychologist\nin the truest and best sense of the word; and as all psychologists\nhave their special interests, so his may be centred in the group of\nphenomena which have been unwisely separated from their _milieu_, and\nhave been inaptly termed \"Psychical Research.\" I am ready not only to\nadmit but to emphasize that a considerable portion of the influential\ncontributors to Psychical Research are animated by as truly\nscientific motives, and carry on their work with as much devotion\nand ability, with as careful a logical acumen, with as shrewd\ncomprehension of the dangers and difficulties of their topic, as\ncharacterize the labors of any other field of psychological endeavor.\nBut this statement can by no means be extended to all; nor does it\nat all militate against the opinion that many of those to whom it\ndoes apply, subscribe to illogical and pernicious conclusions, and\nindirectly encourage a most unfortunate attitude in others.\n\n\nIII\n\nApproaching the matter next from a descriptive point of view, it\nbecomes pertinent to inquire what are the actual interests which\ngive vitality to Psychical Research, which support the investigator\nin his laborious and tedious collection and compilation of cases,\nwhich provide the membership for the Society for Psychical Research,\nand the still wider circle of interested readers, which induce so\nmany correspondents to record long and painstaking accounts of\ntheir peculiar \"psychical\" experiences, which make the discussion\nof these matters a favorite topic of conversation. That these\ninterests are diverse is obvious; yet they fall naturally into a\nfew groups or types, of which the occult interest is probably the\nmost widespread. This, in its pronounced form, proceeds upon a\nsuppressed or acknowledged conviction that the world which science\nreveals is but a torso of reality; that its very head--that which\ngives significance and expression to the whole--may be missing,\nand can only be restored from isolated fragments, themselves to be\nfound by rare good fortune. The key to the riddle of existence is\nto be sought in the personal significance of events; in moments of\ngreat stress and strain, in critical emergencies when communication\nbetween individuals deeply concerned must be established though the\nheavens fall, it is claimed that the heavens _do_ occasionally\nfall, that the laws of earth are transcended, and the phantasms of\nthe dying are telepathically wafted to the sentient consciousness\nof the interested kinsman or friend. Apparitions and presentiments\nare interpreted as mystic symbols of the order of events, which cast\ntheir shadows before or coincidently with them. The intelligence of\nthe departed, likewise, is discerned in these manifestations; and\nthrough haunted houses and s\u00e9ance chambers, through the inspired\nutterances of entranced mediums, messages are revealed that indicate\nconclusively the impossibility of their transmission through ordinary\nchannels, or, it may be, their unmistakable \"spiritual\" origin. The\nsupernormal, transcendent, undiscovered world of the occult shines\nthrough, though fitfully and visible only to those who have eyes to\nsee, the commonplace, constrained phenomena of earth-bound reality.\nVariable as may be the formulation and trend of this interest,\nyet in some form this suspicion or quasi-belief (for which the\nterm \"occult\" seems appropriate) that there are things undreamt of\nin our philosophy, that these residual phenomena are profoundly\nsignificant and afford a glimpse of the great unknown, as well as of\nthe fallibility and the poverty of scientific conceptions, furnishes\na very considerable _client\u00e8le_ of Psychical Research. The why\nand wherefore of this inclination need not here be discussed; its\nprevalence is unmistakable. And though it appears now in a crude\nand superstitious guise, and again in a more refined and critical\nattitude, and more rarely is unwillingly assumed as the only possible\nalternative in the face of striking personal and other evidence, yet\nthere is a sufficient community of belief in these several positions\nto warrant their inclusion in a common though variable type. As\napplied to Psychical Research, it is important neither to generalize\nfrom the worst nor from the best expressions of this occult interest,\nbut to appreciate its range of distribution amid the diversity of\ntemperament and endowment.\n\nAs the occult interest recedes to an obscure position in the\nbackground, and as the foreground and middle distance come to be\nsuffused with the light of critical discernment and of the scientific\nspirit of inquiry, the \"psychical researcher\" approximates to the\npsychological point of view. This essentially psychological interest\nis necessarily a strong one in some of the distinctive problems\nof Psychical Research, and often mingles with other interests to\nform a curious composite. It may be a morbid, an uninformed, a\nmisguided, a dilettante interest, but its psychological character\nmay be noted without implication of any further comment of\napproval or disapproval. Favorably interpreted, this psychological\ninterest is an interest in the intrinsic nature and analysis of\nmental processes,--an interest in tracing the various threads that\ncompose the twisted strands of consciousness, in following the\nkaleidoscopic transformations wrought by attention and association,\nin observing the play of habit, the subtle processes of illusion and\nmisinterpretation, the unexpected intrusion of the subconscious,\nand likewise in the pursuit of these as exemplified in concrete\ninstances; among others, in such alleged phenomena as are commonly\ndescribed as \"mesmeric, psychical, and Spiritualistic.\"\n\nWhile this interest may be combined with the occult interest, the\ntwo are not really congenial and are in essence antagonistic. We are\nall rational only in spots; and many a \"psychical researcher\" pursues\nsome of his investigations under the guidance of a scientifically\npsychological interest, while in other directions the occult interest\ntakes the helm. The analysis of the contrast between the two may be\nhelpful in realizing more fully the divergences of Psychology and\nPsychical Research. The \"psychical researcher\" wishes to prove or\nto disprove something; with regard to this or that phenomenon he\nwishes to know \"what there is in it,\" and is accordingly attracted to\nphenomena which seem to have something mysterious in them. As soon as\nhe succeeds in finding a consistent and commonplace explanation for\na group of phenomena, his main curiosity is satisfied, and he takes\nto pastures new. When once he has shown that theosophic marvels are\nthe result of trickery and collusion, then the physical appearances\nof Theosophy have been _explained_. It has been demonstrated that\nthere is \"nothing in them,\" that is, nothing transcendental. The\nverdict is given, and the court passes on to the next case. But the\npsychologist's interest in how Mme. Blavatsky performed her astral\nmanifestations was always a very subordinate and incidental one; the\nlogical scientist, whether he happened to be physicist or biologist\nor psychologist, was quite convinced that Mme. Blavatsky had not\ndiscovered the means of carrying ponderables by unseen agencies\nfrom \"China to Peru\" (which, by the way, would, if possible, be a\nmatter for the physicist and not at all for the psychologist to\ninvestigate), any more than she had been able to discover the secret\nof immortality (which would in turn be a biological discovery), or\nhad been able to leave her body in New York, while her \"astral\" soul\ninspected what was going on in India (which might indeed be regarded\nas a psychological feat). The psychological problem of Theosophy, so\nfar as there is one, is of a different type; it takes up the inquiry\nas to how such marvelous pretensions come to be believed, by what\ninfluences conviction is formed and doctrines spread. It contributes\nan incident or an apt illustration to the psychology of belief, or to\nthe social psychology of contagion. The psychologist is interested\nin the illustration which such a movement affords of the action of\ncertain mental processes and influences; and his interest persists,\nwhether there is presumably \"something in it,\" or not. The resulting\ndifference in attitude between the psychologist and the \"psychical\nresearcher\" is indeed fundamental, and even more so in principle than\nin practical issue.\n\nIt is desirable but not easy to find parallel illustrations of this\ndifference in attitude in other than psychological discussions; but\nperhaps the following may be pertinent. If the widespread interest in\nthe North Pole were merely that in the possibility of its furnishing\nthe key to the mystery of the northward-turning magnet, and were at\nonce to disappear upon the removal of the mystery, such an interest\nwould be quite parallel to that of the \"psychic researcher;\" but the\ninterest of the true physicist in any physical phenomenon which in\nthe future may be demonstrated to exist at the North Pole would be a\npersistent one, and one depending for its value on the illustration\nthus revealed, not of mystery but of recognized physical principles.\nFurthermore, be it observed that however valuable may be the physical\nfacts obtainable by a polar expedition, there is no overwhelming\nobligation resting upon every physicist to desert his laboratory and\nembark for the farthest north; but that such expeditions are decided\nby considerations of general interest, expediency, and importance.\nThere is no obligation resting upon the physicist any more than\nupon the psychologist to make large sacrifices for the pursuit of\nill-defined residual phenomena, and certainly not for the refutal of\nfar-fetched theories and suggested supernatural notions. Physicist\nand psychologist alike contribute most to the advancement of their\nscience by an open-minded but systematic pursuit of definite,\nsignificant, and logically fashioned problems.\n\nLet it not be inferred from the emphasis placed upon this contrast\nthat Psychical Research is in itself to be condemned or to be\nregarded as useless. Not at all; only in many aspects it is not\npsychological, and the psychologist is under no obligation to find an\ninterest in, nor to occupy himself with, this aspect of things, if\nhis general trend does not happen to point that way. The physicist\nmay be called upon with equal propriety to aid in many inquiries\nwhich the Society for Psychical Research has undertaken. Among\nthe early records of the Society appears an account of a man who\npresented himself with an iron ring on his arm, far too small to have\nbeen slipped over his hand, and who seemed to imply that possibly the\nspirits put it there, or that it came on through some supernatural\nagency. This was regarded as a proper case for the Society for\nPsychical Research to examine. If it could have been demonstrated\nthat the ring reached its position through the exercise of the will\nof some living persons or spirits, the phenomenon, I suppose, would\nin some sense be psychological; if it were demonstrated that it\ncame transported through the fourth dimension of space, it might be\ntermed physical. But in reality it was probably physiological, for\nthere was evidence that it was by the effects of etherization that\nthe hand was contracted and that the ring was forced over it. Surely\nit is most absurd to designate such an inquiry, however interesting\nand proper it may be regarded, Psychical Research. It certainly is\na highly commendable function for a society to take upon itself\nthe investigation of such claims as theosophy or spiritualism put\nforward, whenever movements of this type are likely to develop into\npsychic epidemics or to prove a social menace. Any authoritative body\nthat will exhibit the absurdity of such claims, and expose the true\n_modus operandi_ of the manifestations, will perform an important\ncivic function. Such a function was performed by the Royal Commission\nof 1784, in exposing the vain pretensions and the insidious dangers\nof animal magnetism; Mr. Hodgson's investigations of theosophy, the\nSeybert Commission's report on spiritualism, are both able and useful\ncontributions of the same type; and, at present, an authoritative\nstatement regarding the theoretical absurdity and the practical\ndangers of Christian Science might prove efficacious. Such special\ninvestigations represent the practical application of science to\nconcrete conditions and problems; they are woefully misnamed, and\ntheir significance is likely to be misinterpreted, when they are\npresented as Psychical Research, and are grouped along with other\nproblems of a totally different nature.\n\nI shall next touch briefly upon other diverse yet allied interests\nin Psychical Research, which may serve to illustrate further the\nvarious avenues of approach to this heterogeneous group of problems.\nI shall speak of these as the explanatory, the investigative, and\nthe anthropological interests. The first is satisfied with finding\nout how alleged marvels are really performed; it takes up the\nphysical phenomena of spiritualism or theosophy; it investigates\nconjuring tricks; it discovers the origin of noises in haunted\nhouses; it ferrets out the means whereby mediums obtain knowledge\nof their sitters' private affairs. This is proper work for experts\nin prestidigitation and for detectives,--not for all such, for to\nbe successful, the conjurer and the detective must have special\nknowledge and fitness for this branch of the trade. While the\nfacts thus gathered may be useful as illustrative material to the\npsychologist, they form no essential part of his profession; nor is\nthere any special reason why he should be best suited to determine\nthe technical _modus operandi_ of such manifestations. That some\npsychologists with a strong interest in this type of phenomena might\nproperly co\u00f6perate in such an investigation, if they chose, is too\nobvious to merit remark; but to trace out and expose trickery cannot\nbe imposed upon the burdensome duties of the psychologist.\n\nWith a certain type of \"psychical researcher\" this explanatory\ninterest is the dominant one; and by dispelling error and replacing\nfalse notions by true ones he may perform a useful service to\nthe community. The explanatory interest is quite certain to be\nsupplemented by the investigative, and that because the latter soon\nbecomes necessary to the former. While the one is concerned with the\nexplanation and description of the actual marvels accomplished, the\nother must consider also what is reported and what is believed to\nhave been accomplished. The mechanism of a trick, whether brought\nforward as evidence of spiritualism or not, when clearly exhibited,\nexplains the trick; a loose board under the roof, or the reflection\nfrom a lustrous surface, may at once reveal how mysterious noises\nand lights were really produced. But one must go farther to account\nfor the recognition of relatives in the form of the medium covered\nwith flimsy drapery, for the automatic spelling out of messages,\nor for the successes of guessing experiments. These two interests\nthus proceed hand in hand and furnish valuable material which the\npsychologist is ready to interpret and to utilize; for the study\nof how false beliefs spread, of how deception proceeds, teems with\npoints of psychological significance. This, however, is by no means\na unique characteristic of Psychical Research; there are also\ninteresting psychological points in such diverse occupations as the\nactor's profession, in juggling and tricks of skill, in advertising,\nin religions revivals, etc. It is highly desirable that the materials\nthus gathered should be psychologically utilized, and it is equally\ndesirable that such material should be collected. Many valuable\nstudies in Psychical Research, which owe their origin not to a\ntruly psychological interest but to this general explanatory and\ninvestigative interest, have incidentally brought to light material\nof great suggestiveness for the psychologist, and material which\nquite possibly would not otherwise have been discovered. I am more\nthan willing to contribute whatever I can to the maintenance of a\nCo\u00f6perative Psychological Investigation Society which shall stand\nready to take up the investigation of any phenomena which promise\nto yield data of psychological interest; which shall, however, keep\nfar removed from any phase of the transcendental or the occult;\nwhich shall not feel itself under any obligation to _disprove_\nany improbable or absurd hypothesis which this or that seeker for\nnotoriety may choose to put forward; which shall not be dominated\nmerely by the spirit of finding out whether there is \"anything in\"\none movement or another, but will simply stand ready to supplement\nthe work of the academic laboratories by undertaking, in the same\nspirit, a special form of investigation, which, under existing\ncircumstances, such laboratories or their individual directors cannot\nexpediently undertake.\n\nThe anthropological interest, above referred to, is to my mind a\nmost valid one, and is best represented in Mr. Andrew Lang's volume,\n\"Cock Lane and Common Sense.\" Mr. Lang there examines the stories\nof ghosts and apparitions, and clairvoyance, and spiritual knocks\nand raps, and strange influences, and haunted places, not at all\nfor determining how little or how much these things are true, but\nhow they come to be believed in. How is it that the same tale is\ntold, the same powers credited, the same manifestations produced,\nin evidence of the supernatural? In savage as well as in ancient\nmagic, in the stories current in former centuries as well as in our\nown day and generation, there is a pronounced generic similarity.\nThere is certainly as strong an interest in the investigation of the\ngrowth and distribution of these beliefs as of the other clusters\nof belief which anthropology and folk-lore consider. And, moreover,\nrecently acquired knowledge of hypnotic and automatic phenomena, of\nhyper\u00e6sthesia and nervous disease, shed much light on the obscure\ntales of the past, and assist the comprehension of how such beliefs\ncould have originated. In brief, Mr. Lang outlines the programme for\na \"Comparative Psychical Research,\" and tells us that \"we follow the\nstream of fable, as we track a burn to its head, and it leads us\ninto shy and strange scenes of human life, haunted by very fearful\nwild fowl, and rarely visited, save by the credulous. There may be\nentertainment here, and, to the student of his species, there may\nbe instruction.\" Part of the instruction will consist in gaining an\nincreased familiarity with the psychological conditions which produce\nand foster these narratives and beliefs, and with their social and\ntraditional significance; in concluding, with Mr. Lang, \"that the\npsychological conditions which begat the ancient narratives produce\nthe new legends.\"\n\n\nIV\n\nThus far, our attention has been centred upon the _tendenz_, the\nbasis of interest, and the affiliations of Psychical Research.\nIt will be well to turn to a consideration of the content of the\nproblems. Inasmuch as the term represents a convenient but arbitrary\ndesignation of a heterogeneous group of phenomena, we are prepared\nto find that the data of the several problems thus collected\nwill be as diverse as their methods of study. We may begin with\nthe group of problems which might properly be considered in the\nchapter of Abnormal Psychology that is devoted to the milder forms\nof aberrant or unusual mental phenomena. The study of hypnotism\noccupies a prominent place in Psychology and in Psychical Research.\nThe remarkable exhibitions of extreme suggestibility, particularly\nthe hyper\u00e6sthesia thus inducible, and again the illumination of\nthe subconscious thereby effected, have brought about a realizing\nsense of how fearfully and wonderfully we are made. Between savage\npriest and doctor, and Delphic oracle, and medi\u00e6val ascetic, and\nmagnetic somnambule, and inspirational medium, there is an irregular\nconnection in their entrance into a trance-like condition involving a\nreadjustment of the strata of consciousness and of the distribution\nof authority in the hierarchy of the nervous centres. This was and\nremains one of the gateways to the land of marvel and mystery. The\nimportance of hypnotism in Psychology is in its use, both as a method\nof exhibiting the relations of processes not otherwise accessible\nto experiment, and as a demonstration of the actual possibilities\nof suggestion in health and disease. The hypnotic phenomena are\nintrinsically interesting and valuable as contributions to the\nnatural history of mentality; the hypnotic method of study offers the\nexperimental psychologist the opportunity to apply his most potent\naid to research in precisely that field of inquiry in which the\nexperimental methods of ordinary consciousness are least available.\n\nIn this domain, the psychologist and the \"psychical researcher\"\nproceed most amicably; and yet their purposes and points of view lead\nthem frequently to part company, although it may be only for a brief\n_au revoir_. When the \"psychical researcher\" leaves the main highway\nto track a possible \"telepathic\" hypnotic subject, or one who, while\nhypnotized, is sensitive to the magnetic current, or who experiences\nthe characteristic effects of drugs applied in sealed vials to the\nback of the neck, or who falls into the hypnotic condition when\nhandling a \"magnetized\" doll,--the psychologist is apt to decline the\ninvitation to join in the pursuit. I should advise him, however, to\ngo along for the sake of the excellent illustrations thus obtainable\nof the effects of unconscious suggestion. From the time of the\nfirst serious investigation of these phenomena up to the present,\nunconscious suggestion has been one of the most potent influences\nfor the production of alleged marvels and pseudo-phenomena. All the\nseries of experiments brought forward at irregular intervals during\nthe past century to establish supernormal sensibilities have depended\nfor their apparent success (apart from trickery) upon unconscious\nsuggestion of the operators, combined with the shrewd assimilation\nof the desired or expected result on the part of the subjects.\nThe transposition of the senses discovered by P\u00e9tetin (1787), the\nhypnotized subjects who in Braid's day (1850) proved the location\nof the phrenological organs by the appropriateness of their actions\nwhen certain parts of the head were pressed, the sensitiveness to\nmagnets and hermetically sealed drugs brought forward by Reichenbach\n(1845), and by Bourru and Burot (1885), and Dr. Luys's (1890)\nabsurd trifling with puppets, and probably, too, Charcot's sharp\ndifferentiation of distinct hypnotic conditions (1882),--all furnish\nillustrations of the subtle possibilities of unconscious suggestion.\nBesides adorning an interesting psychological tale, they point a\nmoral to the intending investigator, and open his eyes to the extreme\ncaution necessary to exclude this source of error, and to realize the\never-present possibility that, in spite of the sterilizing apparatus\nand the other equipments of modern research, the germs of this\ninsidious form of delusion may have been unwittingly introduced.\n\nThe application of our knowledge of hypnotism to the explanation\nof alleged supernormal and unusual sensibilities is particularly\ninteresting to the \"psychical researcher\"; the general enlargement\nof our knowledge of these conditions, irrespective of such an\napplication, represents the aim of the psychologist. The latter may\nindeed cite Mr. Lang's dictum that \"science is only concerned with\ntruth, not with the mischievous inferences which people may draw from\ntruth,\" as an excuse for his own declination to co\u00f6perate in the\ncorrection of such mischievous inferences. But the civic conscience\nof the psychologist may convince him that the removal of error is\noften an indispensable requisite to the dissemination of truth.\n\nThe study of the subconscious or the subliminal consciousness, of\nmultiple personality, of mental automatisms, of involuntary actions,\nof induced visualizations, of sporadic hallucinations, may be cited\nas further illustrations of topics interesting to the \"psychical\nresearcher\" for their bearings upon the apparent transcendence of\nthe normal, and to the psychologist for illustrations of important\ngroups of mental processes and relations. I must refer to the general\nliterature for descriptions of these several phenomena; the subtle\nconnection between one hypnotic condition and the next, bridging\nover a period of normal consciousness with complete forgetfulness\nof the hypnotic consciousness; the still more subtle evidence for\nthe latency of impressions thus revivable by an appeal to the\nsubconscious; the elaboration, in trance experiences, of these nether\nworld phenomena into organized personalities, which in the remarkable\ncase reported by Professor Flournoy expanded from a personification\nof Marie Antoinette to that of a Martian revisiting Mars, describing\nMartian scenery and customs, and writing in Martian language, and\nagain to the reincarnation of a Hindu princess of four centuries\nago; the affiliation of these cases to those of spontaneous loss\nof personality in actual life, like that of the Rev. Ansel Bourne,\nrelated by Professor James; the automatic writings performed by\nhypnotic subjects and by persons in normal conditions; the power to\ninduce visions by \"crystal gazing,\" and auditory hallucinations by\n\"shell-hearing\"; the census of hallucinations, together with the\nvery important series of observations relative to the psychology\nof deception,--these represent the more truly psychological\ncontributions of psychologists and \"psychical researchers\" to their\ncommon domain.\n\nThe place which the explanation of spiritualistic and theosophic\nmanifestations occupies in Psychical Research has already been noted;\nthat of ghosts and rappings and haunted houses and _poltergeists_ is\nquite similar. Not wholly yet measurably different is the status\nof the study of hallucinations, presentiments, and previsions or\npremonitions. In this entire group of phenomena, the interests of\nPsychology and of Psychical Research are in the main distinct. This\nis readily illustrated with reference to the study of hallucinations.\nThese are interesting to the psychologist quite in the same sense\nas any other natural product of psycho-physiological action; the\nprevalence of hallucinations under fairly normal conditions presents\none out of a large number of interesting details, and forms a proper\ninvestigation for the Society for Psychical Research. Their census\nof hallucinations hardly bears out the conclusions which have\nbeen drawn therefrom, but contains much interesting information.\nWhen, however, the emphasis of the investigation is placed upon\n\"veridical\" hallucinations, and the establishment of the conclusion\nthat so many more of these hallucinations and presentiments \"come\ntrue,\" or have a mysterious significance, than chance would allow,\nthen the psychological interest is quite obscured by an interest\nof a totally different character. A \"veridical\" hallucination has\nlittle psychological pertinence; for it is equally interesting\npsychologically whether it happens to come true or not. The bearing\nof the hallucination upon or its origin in some of the occupations\nof normal waking life; the possibility of its interpretation as\na peculiar retroactive illusion of memory, as Professor Royce\nhas suggested for some cases; its significance as an unconscious\nperception of the shadow already present, not yet visible to\nconsciousness, but coming before the event,--such are significant\ncharacteristics of hallucinations. The results of the study of\nhallucinations may likewise be applied to a determination of their\nrelation to the sum total of the sequences of consciousness that\nconstitute our mental life; but there is only a most incidental\npsychological interest in the apparently personally significant or\n\"veridical\" aspect of the phenomena. And furthermore, whether they\nare truly \"veridical\" or only seemingly so; whether, in other words,\nthere is evidence enough in quality and quantity to make it a proper\nscientific inquiry as to the existence of a cause-and-effect-like\nrelation between presentiment and issue,--this is a logical inquiry,\nalthough one which, along with other factors, includes psychological\nconsiderations.\n\nWe here naturally approach what has, on the whole, formed the most\nconspicuous problem of Psychical Research--that associated with the\nterm \"telepathy.\" It will contribute to clearness of distinction to\nconsider separately the question, whether the evidence accumulated\nin any wise justifies the conclusion, that there exists a form of\ncommunication occasionally going on between mind and mind apart\nfrom the recognized channels of sensation. This, too, is a strictly\nlogical question, and is so presented in the following essay. We\nare here concerned with the status of telepathy in its relation to\nPsychology and Psychical Research; this it is possible to indicate\nbriefly. First, if there really exist this extra-normal, fitful\nand occasional, uncertain and sporadic form of communication,\nand if it can be conceived of in psychological terms, it forms\nan interesting, possibly even a momentous contribution to our\nknowledge of mental processes. In the present status of the alleged\nconditions of operations of telepathy, it will hardly modify\nseriously the direction or scope of the development of Psychology.\nIt being unnecessary to cross bridges before coming to them, it may\nbe sufficient to observe that up to the present there exists no\ndecided prospect either of the demonstration of the reality of this\nprocess or of its psychological formulation; and far less either of\nits inclusion within the science of Psychology, or of its practical\nutilization. When the day comes when the incontestable establishment\nof telepathy, as indeed of any totally novel contribution to\nPsychology, shall require a revision of psychological principles,\nPsychology will certainly have to be revised. What, then, many will\nretort, can be more important for the psychologist than to devote\nhimself to the investigation of telepathy, to decide whether his\nPsychology needs reconstruction or not? The answer is near at hand:\nthere is no obligation upon any science to reconstruct its basal\nprinciples whenever it is suggested that these are incorrect or\ninadequate. It is not the suggestion of their inadequacy that is\nsignificant, but the concrete facts and evidence available to prove\ntheir inadequacy. If a new view can establish itself by its logical\ncogency and displace an accepted doctrine, if new facts, adequately\nestablished, make necessary a revision of current generalizations,\nno scientist and no science will protest. The present status of\ntelepathy is simply not a formidable candidate for this distinction.\n\nThat the evidence brought forward in proof of telepathy, similarly\nto that adduced for \"veridical hallucinations,\" is capable of\npsychological interpretation, and also contains interesting\nillustrations of obscure and subtle mental processes, becomes evident\nto the discerning student, and merits an extended demonstration. It\nis in the pursuit of such a demonstration that the psychologist turns\nto the records of \"phantasms of the living,\" and of experimental\nthought-transference, thereby adding to an already significant and\nextensive collection of material illustrative of the influences\nof the undercurrents of thought-processes. Yet it is by no means\nurged that this is the only phase of utility which the study of\ntelepathy holds out. That any one who is convinced of his ability to\ndemonstrate telepathy is free to follow his conviction, will not be\ndisputed; that in the course of his investigations he may succeed\nin revealing the presence of unrecognized forms of mental action,\nit would be mere dogmatism to deny. Two things, however, should be\nclearly understood; the first, that his data cannot claim serious\nattention before they are strong in their validity, and extensive\nin their scope, and consistently significant in their structure;\nthen, and not before, are they ready for the crucible of scientific\nlogic, from which they may or may not emerge as standard metal,\nto be stamped and circulated as accepted coin of the realm. The\nsecond point relates to the status of the obligation to disprove the\ntelepathic position. This is more often a question of expediency than\nof right. If the obligation can readily be discharged, it is usually\ndesirable to do so, for the reason that the removal of actual error\nand misconception is often one of the methods of advancing science;\nbut there is no burden of disproof resting upon the scientist.\n\n\nV\n\nThat the proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research\ncontain valuable material in creditable quantity is evident to\nany unprejudiced reader; in many ways they are neither so bad nor\nso good as they are painted to be. That \"psychical researchers,\"\nthough pursuing their labors with different motives, have in one\ndirection and another contributed to the advance of Psychology, I\nhave attempted to make clear. Furthermore, the activity of this\nSociety has been prominent in making the borderland of science\nof to-day present a far more hopeful aspect than ever before. It\nhas substituted definiteness of statement, careful examination,\nrecognition of sources of error, close adherence to as carefully\nauthenticated fact as is attainable, for loose and extravagant\nspeculation, for bare assertion and obscuring irrelevancy. It has\nmade possible a scientific statement and a definiteness of conception\nof problems, even where its proposed solution of them may be thought\nmisleading or inadequate. But in my opinion the debit side of the\nledger far outbalances the credit side. The influence which Psychical\nResearch has cast in favor of the occult, the enrollment under a\ncommon protective authority of the credulous and the superstitious,\nand the believers in mystery and in the personal significance of\nthings, is but one of the evils which must be laid at its door.\nEqually pernicious is the distorted conception, which the prominence\nof Psychical Research has scattered broadcast, of the purposes and\nmethods of Psychology. The status of that science has suffered, its\nrepresentatives have been misunderstood, its advancement has been\nhampered, its appreciation by the public at large has been weakened\nand wrongly estimated, by reason of the popularity of the unfortunate\naspects of Psychical Research, and of its confusion with them.\nWhatever in the publications of Psychical Research seems to favor\nmystery and to substantiate supernormal powers is readily absorbed,\nand its bearings fancifully interpreted and exaggerated; the more\ncritical and successfully explanatory papers meet with a less\nextended and less sensational reception. Unless most wisely directed\nPsychical Research is likely, by not letting the right hand know what\nthe left hand is doing, to foster the undesirable propensities of\nhuman nature as rapidly as it antagonizes them. Like indiscriminate\nalmsgiving, it has the possibilities of affording relief and of\nmaking paupers at the same time. Particularly by the unwarranted\nacceptance of telepathy as a reality or as a working hypothesis, and\nthe still more unwarranted use of this highly hypothetical process\nas a means of explaining more complex and obscure phenomena, has\nit defeated one of the most important purposes which it might have\nserved.\n\nThe popular as well as the more critical acceptance of Psychical\nResearch, both of the term and of the conceptions associated with\nit, has disseminated a totally false estimate on the part of the\npublic at large of the scope and purposes of modern Psychology;\nand has quite possibly given an unfortunate twist to the trend of\nrecent psychological thought. The right appreciation of scientific\naims and ideals by the intelligent and influential public has come\nto be almost indispensable to the favorable advancement of science.\nPsychology can less afford than many another science to dispense\nwith this helpful influence; and no science can remain unaffected by\npersistent misinterpretation of its true end and aims. If Psychical\nResearch is to continue in its present temper, it becomes essential\nto have it clearly understood just how far its purposes and spirit\nare, and how much farther they are not, in accord with the purposes\nand the spirit of Psychology. The optimistic psychologist anticipates\nthe day when he will no longer be regarded, either in high life or\nin low life, as a collector of ghost stories or an investigator of\nmediums. The disuse of the unfortunate term \"Psychical Research,\" and\nfar more, the modification of the conceptions animating this type of\ninvestigation, the pursuit of its more intrinsically psychological\nproblems in a more truly psychological spirit, and perhaps, most\nof all, the disassociation of the term \"Psychology\" from the\nundesirable and irrelevant connotations of Psychical Research, are\nall consummations devoutly to be desired.\n\n\n\n\nTHE LOGIC OF MENTAL TELEGRAPHY\n\n\nWhat will be pronounced strange or curious is largely determined by\nthe range and composition of the common body of knowledge to whose\nlaws and uniformities the phenomena in question apparently fail to\nconform. What is passing strange to one generation may become easily\nintelligible to the next. We all have eyes that see not for all but\na limited range of facts and views; and we unconsciously fill out\nthe blind-spots of our mental retin\u00e6 according to the habits and\nacquisitions of the surrounding areas. We observe and record what\ninterests us; and this interest is in turn the outcome of a greater\nor lesser endowment, knowledge, and training. A new observation\nrequires, as a rule, not a new sense-organ or an additional faculty,\nnor even more powerful or novel apparatus, but an insight into\nthe significance of quite lowly and frequent things. Most of the\nappearances of the earth's crust, which the modern geologist so\nintelligently describes, were just as patent centuries ago as now;\nwhat we have added is the body of knowledge that makes men look for\nsuch facts and gives them a meaning. And although \"the heir of all\nthe ages,\" we can hardly presume to have investigated more than a\nmodest portion of our potential inheritance; future generations\nwill doubtless acquire interests and points of view which will\nenable them to fill some of the many gaps in our knowledge, to find\na meaning in what we perchance ignore or regard as trivial, and to\nreduce to order and consistency what to us seems strange or curious\nor unintelligible. And future generations, by virtue of a broader\nperspective and a deeper insight, may give little heed to what we\nlook upon as significant,--much as we pronounce irrelevant and\nsuperstitious the minute observances whereby primitive folk strive to\nattract the good fortunes and to avoid the dangers of human existence.\n\n\nI\n\nThe possibility of the transference of thought, apart from the\nrecognized channels of sensation, has been too frequently discussed,\nwith the suppressed or unconscious assumption that our knowledge\nof the means whereby we ordinarily and normally, consciously and\nunconsciously, convey to others some notion of what is passing in our\nown minds, is comprehensive and exhaustive. Nothing could be farther\nfrom the truth. Whenever a mode of perception, no matter how limited\nor apparently trivial, has been thoroughly investigated, there have\nbeen discovered, or at least suggested, unrecognized possibilities\nof its use and development. And no result of experimental inquiry is\nmore constantly illustrated than the extent to which inferences from\nsensations and the exercise of faculties may proceed without arousing\nconsciousness of their existence. Many color-blind persons remain\nquite ignorant of their defect; and it was only after the description\nof his own notable deficiencies by Dalton (in 1794) that the general\nprevalence of color-blindness became recognized. The fact that a\nportion of every one's retina is as blind as his finger-tip escaped\nobservation until about two centuries ago; and this because the\nnormal use of our eyes does not present the conditions of its easy\ndetection; and for a like reason we persistently refuse to see the\ndouble images that are constantly formed upon our retin\u00e6. With the\nsame unconsciousness that we receive sensations and draw inferences\nfrom them, do we give to others indications of what is going on in\nour minds, and read between their words and under their expressions\nwhat \"half reveals and half conceals the thoughts that lie within.\"\nIt is important to emphasize the serious limitations as yet attaching\nto our knowledge of the detailed possibilities of normal perception\nand inference, in order to realize the corresponding hesitancy with\nwhich we should regard any series of facts, no matter how apparently\ninexplicable, as evidence of a supernormal kind of mental telegraphy.\n\nA further principle important in this connection, and one which is\nlikewise borne out by experimental inquiry, is the general similarity\nin our mental machinery in matters great and small, and the resulting\nfrequency with which similar trains of thought may be carried on\nby different persons as the outcome of similar but independent\nbrain-functioning. There is a natural tendency to exaggerate the\nindividuality of our own ways of thought and expression; and yet but\nlittle reflection is necessary to suggest how easily this fond belief\nmay be at least partially delusive. In certain lines of thought,\nsuch as mathematics, we should regard it as strange if two thinkers,\nstarting with the premises determined by the problem in hand, should\nnot reach the same conclusion; in others, such as economic or\npolitical questions, we observe the preponderance of evidence in one\ndirection, and yet can appreciate the grounds of a contrary opinion;\nand while in still other cases we regard the verdict as a matter of\ntaste or of individual preference, it may be questioned whether this\nis so unmotived or lawless a process as is commonly assumed. While\nwe properly expect more mental community in certain lines than in\nothers, we have good grounds for believing that it exists everywhere\nand only awaits the proper modes of investigation to reveal it in\nits full extent and significance. With the marvelously increased\nfacilities for the dissemination and transportation of thought, the\nrange of such mental community is certain to be correspondingly\nextended. Coincidences arising from the bringing together of widely\nseparated and apparently unrelated happenings are sure to multiply,\nwhen the means of bringing them together are so vastly increased.\nEach man's world is enlarged by the enlargement of the whole. It\nbecomes possible for him to come into relation with infinitely more\npersons and events, and the resulting coincidences are nowadays more\nlikely to be noticed and recorded.\n\nIf we consider the logical ease with which the successful solution of\none portion of a problem suggests the next step; how imperceptibly\nand yet effectively sentiments and points of view and the spirit\nof the time are disseminated; how many persons there are in this\nbusily reflective era occupied with similar thoughts and schemes,\nand how readily they may come into communication; how many are\nanxiously studying the popular taste and demand to determine what\nliterary venture or mechanical invention is likely to be timely and\nsuccessful; how the possession of a common inheritance, patriotic\ninterests, education, literature, political arena, social usages,\nnewspaper intelligence, household conveniences, and the endless\neveryday factors of our complex, richly detailed existence all\ncontribute to our common life,--shall we wonder that some two\nor half a dozen intellects should give expression to similar\nthoughts at nearly the same time? Would it not be infinitely more\nwonderful if such coincidences did not constantly occur? In the more\noriginal contributions to literature, science, and inventions, such\nthought-correspondences should be rarer; and certainly this is true.\nContrast the number of striking similarities in the higher walks of\nliterature and science with those that occur in small inventions.\nHardly a day passes without the coincidence of two persons thinking\nof devices for accomplishing the same purposes, so essentially\nsimilar that patents could not be given to both. It is certainly not\ndifficult to understand why several different patterns of typewriting\nmachines should be invented nearly simultaneously, and it would\nnot be altogether mysterious if, at the first, two inventors had\nindependently reached the idea of a writing-machine at nearly the\nsame time. The experience of offering an article to an editor and\nreceiving a reply to the effect that another article dealing with a\nsimilar topic in a similar way was already awaiting the compositor\nis not unusual. It is true that these coincidences are of a minor\norder, but it seems desirable to emphasize the frequency of these\nminor forms in order to suggest the law-abiding character of the\nrarer or the more striking forms; for this is just what the normal\ndistribution of such phenomena would lead us to expect.\n\nIt would be pleasant to believe that the application of the doctrine\nof chances to problems of this character is quite generally\nrecognized; but this recognition is so often accompanied by the\nfeeling that the law very clearly applies to all cases but the\none that happens to be under discussion, that I fear the belief\nis unwarranted. Moreover, the notion seems to prevail that these\ncoincidences should occur with equal frequency to all persons;\nwhile, in fact, the law of probability provides for the most various\ndistribution among individuals. However, the attempt, and it may be\nthe sincere attempt, to apply proper conceptions of probability and\nimprobability to such problems often fails, because of an unfortunate\nmental attitude which presents, with an outward acquiescence in\nthe objective view of the problem, an inward conviction in which\nthe subjective interpretation is really dominant; for this and\nother reasons, this objective method of viewing the matter, however\npertinent, is not the most important.\n\n\nII\n\nOne of the most deplorable attitudes towards the borderland phenomena\nof which mental telegraphy or telepathy forms a type, is that which\ninsists upon an exact and detailed explanation of concrete personal\nexperiences, and regards these as so essentially peculiar that it\nrefuses to consider them in connection with the many other instances\nof the same class, without reference to which a rational explanation\nis unattainable. This tendency, to insist that the laws of science\nshall be precisely and in detail applicable to individual experiences\npossessing a personal interest for us, has wrought much havoc; it has\ncontributed to superstition, fostered pseudo-science, and encouraged\ncharlatanism. To antagonize this tendency it is necessary to insist\nupon the statistical nature of the inquiry. We should certainly be\nfamiliar in this statistic-filled age with the law-abiding character\nof individual happenings when considered in large groups. So many\ntypes of facts depending upon individual and heterogeneous motives\nshoot together and form curves of surprising regularity; the number\nof marriages or of misdirected letters, the falsification of ages or\nthe distribution of heights of individuals, and countless other items\nthat in individual cases seem accidental, or capricious, or due to\na host of minute and unaccountable factors, none the less present\na striking statistical regularity. The owners of a gaming-table,\ncounting upon the statistical regularity of the accidental, are\nassured of a steady income; they are interested long enough to obtain\nan extensive view of the fluctuations, and to see the law that guides\nthe whole. Not so the individual player; he is interested only in\nthat particular portion of the game in which his money is at stake.\nHe detects mysterious laws of fortune and freaks of luck; sees in a\nseries of coincidences or momentary successes the proofs of his pet\nschemes, and dismisses the general doctrine of chances with disdain,\nbecause it is not obviously applicable to his case. This influences\nthe losers as well as the winners; both are absorbed in their own\nminute portions of the game, and forget that the law makes distinct\nprovision for temporary losses and gains, great and small, but is\nas indifferent to the times and order of such occurrences as to the\npersonality of those affected.\n\nThe distinction between the individual and the statistical aspect of\na problem may be further illustrated in the much-discussed question\nof the differences in brain characteristics of men and women.\nWhen the claimants for woman's equality point to the acknowledged\ninability of an anatomist to determine whether a particular brain\nbelonged to a man or a woman as conclusive evidence of their\ncontention, they unconsciously assume that the problem is capable\nof determination in the individual specimen. A sounder logic would\ninsure greater caution. The differences in question may be certainly\nestablished and typical, and yet depend upon statistical, not upon\nindividual data. Give the anatomist a goodly number of fairly\nselected brains and tell him that all the women's brains are in\none group, and all the men's brains in another, and he will tell\nyou which group is feminine, which masculine; and this more than\noffsets his failure in the former test. It establishes a statistical\nregularity. Individually we may argue that many women of our\nacquaintance have larger heads than the men; that the English, are\nnot taller than the French, because the Frenchmen we have chanced to\nmeet have been quite as tall as the Englishmen of our acquaintance;\nthat the laws of chance do not apply to the gaming-table, because\non that basis we should have come out even and not as losers; and\nthat coincidences cannot explain our strange mental experiences,\nbecause they are altogether too peculiar and too frequent. It is only\nin the most complete stages and in the more definite realms that\nknowledge becomes applicable accurately and definitely to individual\ncases. For the present it is well if, with such abstruse or rather\nindefinite material, we can glimpse the statistical regularity of\nthe entire group of phenomena, trace here and there the possible or\nprobable application of general principles, and refuse to allow our\nopinions to be disarranged by rather startling individual cases. The\nexplanation of these, however interesting they may be to ourselves\nor entertaining to others, is not the test of our knowledge of the\nsubject.\n\nI pick up a stone, and with a peculiar turn of the hand throw it from\nme; probably no student of mechanics can exactly calculate the course\nof that projectile,--nor is it worth while. What he can do is to show\nwhat laws are obeyed by ideal projectiles, ideally thrown under ideal\nconditions, and how far the more important practical cases tend to\nagree with or diverge from these conditions. It is unfair to test his\nscience by its minute applicability to our special experiences.\n\nWhen the problems involved in mental telegraphy come to be generally\nviewed under the guidance of a sound logic, the outlook will be\nhopeful that the whole domain will gradually acquire definite order;\nand that its devotees, after appreciating the statistical regularity\nof the phenomena, will come to the conclusion that much of the\nenergy and ability now expended in a search for the explanation of\ncomplex and necessarily indefinite individual cases, is on the whole\nunprofitable. With an infinite time and an infinite capacity it might\nbe profitable to study all things; but, at present, sanity consists\nin the maintenance of a proper perspective of the relative importance\nof the affairs of the intellectual and the practical life. It may\nbe that the man who puzzles day and night over some trivial mystery\nexpends as much brain energy as a great intellectual benefactor of\nmankind; but the world does not equally cherish the two.\n\n\nIII\n\nIt becomes important in the further consideration of coincidences\nto emphasize the great opportunity presented in their description\nfor error, for defective observation, for neglect of details,\nfor exaggeration of the degree of correspondence; and equally\ndemonstrable is the slight amount of such error or mal-observation\nthat is all-sufficient to convert a plain fact into a mystery.\nConsider the disfigurement that a simple tale undergoes as it passes\nfrom mouth to mouth; the forgetfulness of important details and the\nintroduction of imaginary ones, exhibited upon the witness stand; the\nalmost universal tendency to substitute inferences from sensations\nand observations for the actual occurrences; and add to these the\nstriking results of experimental inquiry in this direction--for\nexample, the divergences between the accounts of sleight-of-hand\nperformances or spiritualistic s\u00e9ances and what really occurred--and\nit becomes less difficult to understand why we so often fail to\napply general principles to individual cases. The cases cannot be\nexplained as they are recorded, because as recorded they do not\nfurnish the essential points upon which the explanation hinges. The\nnarrator may be confident that the points of the story are correctly\nobserved, that all the details are given; and yet this feeling of\nconfidence is by no means to be trusted. It is quite possible that\nthe points that would shed most light on the problem are too trivial\nto attract attention; a slightly imperfect connection as effectively\nbreaks the circuit and cuts off the possibility of illumination as\na more serious disturbance. After the explanation is given or the\ngap supplied or the break discovered, we often wonder how we could\nhave failed to detect the source of the mystery; but before we know\nwhat to observe and what to record and what to be on our guard\nagainst, the possibility of error is extremely great, far greater\nthan most of us would be willing to make allowance for; and the\nstrict demonstration as also the refutation of a proposed explanation\nbecomes correspondingly difficult.\n\n\nIV\n\nI turn to another point, in some respects the most important of all;\nI refer to the readiness with which we interpret as the remarkable\nfrequency of coincidences what is due to a strong interest in a given\ndirection. Inasmuch as we observe what interests us, a recently\nacquired interest will lead to new observations--that is, new to\nus, however familiar they may be to others. Take up the study of\nalmost any topic that appeals to human curiosity, and it takes no\nprophet to predict that within a short time some portion of your\nreading or your conversation, or some accidental information,\nwill unexpectedly reveal a bearing on the precise subject of your\nstudy, often supplying a gap which it would have been most difficult\notherwise to fill; but surely this does not mean that all the world\nhas become telepathically aware of your needs and proceeded to attend\nto them. Some years ago I became interested in cases of extreme\nlongevity, particularly of centenarianism, and for some months\nevery conversation seemed to lead to this topic, and every magazine\nand newspaper offered some new item about old people. Nowadays\nmy interest is transferred to other themes; but the paragrapher\ncontinues quite creditably to meet my present wants, and the\ncentenarians have vanished. When I am writing about coincidences, I\nbecome keen to observe them; such for example as this: I was reading\nfor the second time an article on \"Mental Telegraphy\" (by Mark Twain\nin \"Harper's Monthly Magazine,\" December, 1891); I was occupied with\nwhat is there described as a most wonderful coincidence, the nearly\nsimultaneous origination by the author and by Mr. William H. Wright\nof a similar literary venture,--when I happened to take my eyes from\nthe page and saw on my desk a visiting-card bearing the name, \"W. H.\nWright.\" It was not the same W. H. Wright, but a gentleman whom I had\nmet for the first time a few hours before, and have not seen since.\nHad I not been especially interested in this article and its subject,\nthe identity of the names would certainly have escaped my attention,\nand there would have been no coincidence to record. Quite apropos\nboth of coincidences and of their dependence upon personal interest,\nI find recorded in a current magazine the experience of one who\nbecame enthusiastically interested in thoroughbred cats: \"Strangely\nenough--for it is a thing which is recurrently strange--I, who had\nrarely seen any printed matter relating to cats, now found the word\nin every newspaper. Adopting a new interest is like starting a\nsnowball; as long as it moves, it gathers other particles to itself.\"\n\nIt is only necessary to become deeply interested in coincidences,\nto look about with eyes open and eager to detect them, in order to\ndiscover them on all sides; resolve to record all that come to hand,\nand they seem to multiply until you can regard yourself and your\nfriends as providentially favored in this direction. If your calling\ndevelops a taste for matters of this kind,--for example, if you are a\nwriter, with a keen sense for the literary possibilities and dramatic\neffects of such coincidences, or if you are of an imaginative turn\nof mind with a pronounced or a vague yearning for the interesting or\nthe unusual; if you have a more generous or more persistent endowment\nof the day-dreaming, fantastic, self-dramatization of adolescence,\nthat is half unreal and yet half externalized in the vividness of\nyouthful fancy,--is it strange that you should meet with more of\nthese \"psychic experiences\" than your prosaic neighbor whose thoughts\nand aspirations are turned to quite other channels, and to whom\nan account of your experiences might even prove tiresome? If you\ncultivate the habit of having presentiments, and of regarding them\nas significant, is it strange that they should become more and more\nfrequent, and that among the many, some should be vaguely suggestive,\nor even directly corroborative of actual occurrences?\n\nThe frequent coincidences, which form so influential a factor in\ndisseminating an inclination towards such an hypothesis as telepathy,\nare doubtless largely the result of an interest in these experiences.\nThis interest is very natural and proper, and when estimated at its\ntrue value is certainly harmless; it may indeed contribute material\nworthy of record for the student of mental phenomena,--or it may\ngive spice to the matter-of-fact incidents of a workaday existence.\nTo many minds, however, the temptation to magnify this interest\ninto a significant portion of one's mental life, to invest it with\na serious power to shape belief and to guide conduct, is unusually\nstrong, in some cases almost irresistible. It is this tendency\nthat is essentially antagonistic to a logical view and therefore\nto a scientific study of these irregular mental incidents; it is\nthis tendency that is responsible for much of the spurious and the\nunwholesome interest in the problems of mental telegraphy.\n\nIt would naturally be expected that the nature and subject-matter of\nthe more frequent types of coincidences and presentiments would throw\nsome light upon their origin, and would in some measure reinforce the\ngeneral position above taken. We should expect that such coincidences\nwould relate to persons and affairs that are frequently in our\nthoughts, and that similarities of thought and presentiments based\nupon them should occur among persons intimately acquainted with one\nanother's thought-habits, at least in regard to that line of thought\nto which the coincidence relates; these expectations are fairly\nwell borne out by the facts. It is a commonplace observation that\npresentiments and unusual psychic experiences most frequently relate\nto those who are dear to us, or in whom we have a momentarily strong\ninterest; that they deal with events which we have anxiously dreaded\nor desired, or with matters over which we have puzzled or worried;\nand again, that they occur under conditions of emotional strain,\nexcitement, or anxiety. In brief, they deal with what is frequently\nin our minds or what more or less unconsciously furnishes the general\nemotional and intellectual background which gives character to our\nmood and to our associations of ideas. I need hardly add that it is\nthe more successful and striking coincidences that we remember and\nrecord, and the others that are quickly forgotten. Moreover, so large\na share of mental operations of the type in question takes place in\nthe region of the subconscious, that our recollection of what has\noccupied our thoughts is by no means a final authority. Occasionally\nwe detect these subconscious similarities of mental operations,\nwhen after a silence the same question or thought shapes itself on\nthe lips of two speakers at the same time; and here again, are not\nmany of those who give utterance to the same thoughts, or finish one\nanother's sentences, intimate companions in the walks of life? Is it\nstrange that in the daily intercourse with a congenial spirit, they\nshould have absorbed enough of one another's mental processes to\nanticipate, now and then, a step in their association of ideas?\n\nStill another factor that figures somewhat in coincidences\nrelates to events which are sooner or later very likely or quite\ncertain to occur, and in which the coincidence is confined to\nthe close simultaneity of the action on the part of two or more\npersons concerned. The crossing of letters is easily the best\nillustration of this type of occurrence which has the semblance\nof thought-communication. It is so easy to fall into the habit of\ndelaying all delayable matters as long as possible that it must\nfrequently happen that your own sense of duty is aroused and your\ncorrespondent's patience is exhausted at nearly the same time. If A\nis to hear from B, or B from A, within a period not very definite\nbut still reasonably limited, every day's delay makes it more and\nmore probable that their letters will cross. The same consideration\napplies to other affairs of daily life; we delay a matter of business\nand are just about to attend to it when the other party concerned\ncomes to us, or we delay offering some social attention until just as\nwe are about to do so it is asked of us; and so on. In brief, we find\nnot only in sickness and death, in family ties and friendships, in\ntravel and adventure, but also in the special and in the complicated\ninterests of our civilized life an abundant opportunity for\ncoincidences; and we find that their frequency is clearly related to\nthe commonness of the event, and to its familiarity and closeness of\nrelation to our habits of thought.\n\n\nV\n\nReviewing the arguments which have been presented, we find a tendency\nto underestimate the possibilities of expression and communication\nthrough the normal channels of the senses and the subtle inferences\nbased upon them, and also an insufficient appreciation of the\nunrecognized but by no means supernormal capabilities, which\nspecial and unusual susceptibility or training of these same powers\nof interpretation and thought-revelation may bring about; we find,\nfurther, a prevalent underestimation of the generic and at times the\nspecific similarity of the products of our several diverse and yet\nhomogeneous mental equipments, and with it a lack of consideration\nof the greatly increased facilities for such mental community\nafforded by modern conditions of rapid transit and rapid sharing\nof the common benefits of civilization. We find a misconception of\nthe nature of the application of the doctrine of chances to mental\ncoincidences, which brings about an apparent recognition but an\nintrinsic belittling of the r\u00f4le which chance really plays in the\nevidence advanced for telepathy; we find that this error is probably\ndue to an unfortunate, intensely individual view of the problem,\nwhich insists upon an explanation of personal experiences, and\ndisregards the essentially impersonal and statistical nature of the\ninquiry. This unfair attitude (which is equally unfair if applied\nto other and more exact data) renders difficult, if not impossible,\na just appreciation of the theoretical aspect of the problem and\nof the application of theory to practice. We find, furthermore,\nthat the recorded data are likely to involve an unusual degree of\nunreliability owing to such natural psychological tendencies as\ndefective observation, exaggeration, preconception, and the ordinary\nlimitations and failings of humanity; nor is any serious amount of\nsuch neglect needed to bridge the gap between intelligible fact and\nunintelligible mystery. Finally, it is not sufficiently borne in mind\nthat the data are in large part created by the subjective attitude of\nexpectation and interest in such experiences, and that the nature\nof the more frequent coincidences furnishes satisfactory evidence\nof their natural relations to dominant interests and occupations.\nThe concordant suggestion from these various considerations is that\na very large part of the experiences offered in evidence of mental\ntelegraphy, finds a much more natural and more consistent explanation\nwhen viewed as the complex and irregular results of types of mental\nprocesses included within the legitimate and recognized domain of\npsychology. There is no desire to overlook the loose and distant\nconnection that often pertains between the general considerations\nand the particular phenomena here relevant; on the contrary, this\nlack of explicit and intimate connection is a logical characteristic\nof the relation of theory to practice in dealing with such complex\nand irregular material, and is likely for a long time to remain so.\nA more properly cultivated logical sense will bring about a more\nsatisfactory appreciation of and a greater intellectual content with\nthis aspect of the problem; it will be recognized that it is wiser to\nmake the best of actual though admittedly unsatisfactory conditions\nthan to fly to evils that we know not of.\n\n\nVI\n\nI therefore regard the inclination towards a telepathic hypothesis\nas the result of a defective logical attitude, which in turn may be\nregarded as the outcome of a natural but unfortunate psychological\ntendency. In considering the question, \"What is the proper inference\nto be drawn from the accumulated data apparently suggestive of\n'communication between mind and mind otherwise than through the\nknown channels of the senses'?\" we are considering a logical\nproblem--a problem of considerable difficulty, not one to be entered\nupon without deliberation and preparation. In considering the\nquestion, \"How is it that such evidence is readily accepted as proof\nof telepathy? How is it that this hypothesis is favored above others\nintrinsically no less improbable?\" we are likewise entering upon a\ncomplex problem, but one that is psychological in scope and nature.\nIt is to a more fundamental consideration of these questions that we\nnow turn.\n\nI have based my discussion of mental telegraphy almost wholly upon\nthe occurrence of coincidences (using that term not as the equivalent\nwholly of chance occurrences, but including suggestive or interesting\nconjunctions of circumstances in general), for the reason that\ncoincidences--both those of a commonplace character and those that\nseem to possess a striking personal significance--have prepared the\npopular mind for the acceptance of the telepathic hypothesis, and\nstill constitute the most formidable array of evidence presented\nfor that hypothesis. The other class of evidence to be considered\nis the experimental, which may be said to include as its most\ndistinctive type the results of tests in which intentional attempts\nat mental telegraphy were made under definite conditions and usually\nwith specially selected subjects; and as another type, the precise\nverification and registration of presentiments and peculiar and\nstartling \"psychic experiences\" with reference to their coincidence\nwith death, accidents, and other serious events in life. It may be\nadmitted that the experimental data are equally worthy with the\nothers of a logical analysis, and indeed that they present in some\nrespects different and more favorable conditions for the application\nof such an analysis. In general, however (and I desire to confine\nthis discussion to the general principles involved and not to the\nanalysis of special cases), the considerations that determine the\nlogical value, or the lack of it, of the one type of evidence are\napplicable without undue modification to the other. Nor do I consider\nthat the experimental data have seriously modified the logical status\nof the problem as a whole; nor that they have, except in relatively\nfew cases, been of themselves sufficient to make converts to a\nbelief in telepathy. They have undoubtedly very much strengthened\nand disseminated that belief; but this implies that a favorable\ndisposition to the belief was already present. It is because it\nseems to me that the presence of this favorable disposition, albeit\nin suppressed or half-acknowledged form, is in most cases due to\nsome phase of the argument from coincidences, that I have made it\ncentral in my discussion. I must not fail to point out, however,\nthat experiments in thought-transference have one important, and\nthat a logical, advantage over observations of coincidences; this is\nthe possibility which they present of quite accurately allowing for\nthe effect of chance. In coincidences the estimate of chance as the\nsource of the conjunction of events is frequently, if not always, a\nmatter of complex judgment over which serious differences of opinion\nwill occur. Some of the published quantitative estimates made by\nserious and able students of such problems, of the probabilities\nthat certain coincidences have been due to chance have been\npronounced altogether wide of the mark and even absurd by others. In\nexperiments arranged with due precautions there can be no uncertainty\non this point; the proportion of successes, that is, of striking\ncoincidences, may be calculated. If the actual number of chance\ncoincidences appreciably exceeds the calculated proportion, and if\nthe theory on which the calculation was based corresponds to the\nactual conditions, then the results were not due to chance alone. But\nwhether they were due to fraud, or to some unconscious transference\nof indications, or to telepathy, or to spirit influence, or to\ninterference of the devil, or to the fact that the participants in\nthe experiment were born when the stars and planets presented certain\nconjunctions, or to the existence of a totally unrecognized form of\nmental vibrations,--all these are mere hypotheses which may be strong\nor weak or absurd, according to their power to really account for\nthe results, to their concordance with the sum total of scientific\nknowledge in this field and with the logical principles guiding the\nformation of scientific hypotheses. To jump from the conclusion that\nthe results are not due to chance to the conclusion that they are\ndue to telepathy, is no whit more absurd than the position of the\nastrologer, or the spiritualistic explanation of conjuring tricks.\nThat there is something in these results to be explained is admitted;\nwhether the results have been obtained and recorded in such a way\nas to contain the clue to their explanation cannot be affirmed;\nwhether our present state of knowledge enables us to explain them may\nbe argued pro and con; whether they are worth serious attention is\nalso a debatable question; but none of these conditions warrants a\nresort to the telepathic hypothesis. That hypothesis as all others\nmust be weighed in the logical balance without prepossession, and\nwith full realization of the possibility, that \"general appearances\nsuspicious,\" or \"not proven,\" or a complete suspension of judgment,\nmay be among the present verdicts.\n\n\nVII\n\nSo far as the strength and weakness of the arguments for mental\ntelegraphy depend upon the perspective of value attached to the\nvarious data and to the conditions under which these have been\ngathered, I have presented my estimate and indicated the burden of\nmy conclusions. But I am aware that I may have laid myself open to\nthe charge--which will be brought not by the advocates of telepathy,\nbut by its most emphatic opponents--of a neglect of consideration of\nthe general logical status of telepathy as a germane and legitimate\nhypothesis. That the hypothesis of telepathy when carefully\ninterpreted is capable, if not of explaining the data, at least of\nbeing fitted without undue straining to a large portion of the data,\nmay be claimed with some plausibility; that I regard the hypothesis\nas unwarranted and unnecessary has been made sufficiently clear. But\nwhat if the hypothesis is not a legitimate one, not one which the\nmethods and spirit of science can properly or profitably consider? If\nthis be the case, it would seem superfluous to consider whether the\nhypothesis is warranted by the data or capable of explaining them.\nThat it is the policy of science to allow the utmost latitude of\nopinion and theory and to interpret the possible in an unprejudiced\nand liberal spirit will readily be conceded. That it is equally\nthe policy of science to demand of all claimants for recognition\nauthentic credentials framed in accordance with the laws of logic and\nthe principles of evidence and probability, is sometimes overlooked.\nScience cannot possibly consider all hypotheses, but only legitimate\nones. To explain coincidences and the success of experiments in\nthought-transference by assuming that there is a demon, whose\nspecial business it is to make people have uncanny feelings when\ntheir relatives in distant places are dying or in danger, and to\nsuggest to the guesser what is in the mind of the party of the second\npart in the experiment, is certainly not an hypothesis worthy of\nconsideration by science; and incidentally be it noted that this\nhypothesis may be successfully shaped to fit the facts, and cannot\nbe definitely disproved. Some absurd hypotheses may be readily\ndisproved and others not; but are scientists really called upon to\ndisprove them? There recently fell under my observation a claim for\nthe theory that when persons felt an unaccountable aversion for one\nanother, either at once or after a time of friendship, it was due to\ntheir opposite horoscopic natures, and it would be found that their\nbirthdays were not far from six months apart, that is, nearly as\nfar apart as they possibly could be. Divorces, breaches of promise,\nfamily feuds, and antipathies at first sight could thus be accounted\nfor. Now, it would involve no very burdensome undertaking to disprove\nthis theory; but I should not expect a cordial approval of my efforts\non the part of my colleagues if I carried through the investigation.\nThe hypothesis is unscientific, or even anti-scientific, and its\nexamination unnecessary and unprofitable. Yet it is not always\npossible to render so decisive a verdict; and in the present case,\nwhile I incline to the belief that the hypothesis of telepathy is,\nas usually advanced and in essence, an illegitimate one, I still\nregard it as possible that in the future some modification of this\nhypothesis may be framed, which will bring it within the scope of a\nliberal conception of the scientific. It is important to make this\nattitude perfectly clear: if telepathy means the hypothesis of a\nnew force, that is, the assumption of an as yet uncomprehended mode\nof the output of energy, subject rigorously to the physical bonds\nof material causation which make possible a rational conception of\npsycho-physiological processes; and if, further, some one will put\nforth a rational conception of how this assumed action can take place\napart from the exercise of the senses, I am prepared to admit that\nthis hypothesis is (not sound, or strong, or in accordance with the\nfacts, or capable of explaining the facts, or warranted by the facts,\nbut) one which it is legitimate, though perhaps not profitable, to\nconsider. If, however, telepathy is put forward as a totally new and\npeculiar kind of action, which is quite unrelated to the ordinary\nforces with which our senses and scientific observation acquaint\nus, and which is not subject to the limitations of the material\nworld of causation; if telepathy is supposed to reveal to us a world\nbeyond or behind or mysteriously intertwined with the phenomena of\nthis world,--a world in which events happen not in accordance with\nthe established physical laws, but for their personal significance\neven in defiance of those laws,--then it becomes impossible for\nthe scientist to consider this hypothesis without abandoning his\nfundamental conceptions of law and science.\n\nMy defense, therefore, for not beginning and possibly confining\nthis discussion to the question of the scientific legitimacy\nof the telepathic hypothesis is that, in the present status of\nopinion, it does not seem to me hopeful to influence belief by\nsuch a presentation. It seems to me a far more practical step to\npresent the unwarranted character of the hypothesis and its logical\ninsufficiencies as a means of influencing those who had been, or were\nlikely to be, impressed by coincidences and death-warning experiences\nand guessing experiments. And, moreover, it is necessary, so long\nas such experiences have a strong hold on the popular imagination\nand shape the popular conceptions of the nature both of mental\nprocesses and of the field of psychology, to portray as well as\nmay be the natural explanation and significance of the phenomena,\nand to indicate the general trend of the conceptions under which\nthey may be profitably viewed; and this, even though it be but\nmeasurably possible to apply general principles to special cases.\nThis step is an essential part of the logical task here attempted.\nUnder other circumstances it would have been advisable, as it always\nwould be proper, to determine the legitimacy of an hypothesis before\nconsidering it as worthy of detailed examination on other counts. But\nhere, as is frequently the case, it is a condition and not one of our\nown choosing that confronts us.\n\n\nVIII\n\nWhat is the logical conclusion to be drawn from the data offerable\nin evidence of some supersensory form of thought-transference,\nand whence the disposition to believe in the existence of such a\nprocedure?--these remain the central questions of the discussion.\nAs to the former, I can say no more in dismissing the topic than\nthat to me the phenomena represent a complex conglomerate, in which\nimperfectly recognized modes of sense-action, hyper\u00e6sthesia and\nhysteria, fraud, conscious and unconscious, chance, collusion,\nsimilarity of mental processes, an expectant interest in\npresentiments and a belief in their significance, nervousness and ill\nhealth, illusions of memory, hallucinations, suggestion, contagion,\nand other elements enter into the composition; while defective\nobservation, falsification of memory, forgetfulness of details, bias\nand prepossession, suggestion from others, lack of training and of\na proper investigative temperament, further invalidate and confuse\nthe records of what is supposed to have been observed. Many of the\nreported facts are not facts at all; others are too distortedly and\ntoo deficiently reported to be either intelligible or suggestive;\nsome are accurately observed and properly recorded, and these\nsometimes contain a probable suggestion of their natural explanation,\nsometimes must be put down as chance, and more often must be left\nunexplained. To call this absence of an explanation telepathy is\nsurely no advance; to pose this hypothetic process as the _modus\noperandi_ of any result that can be even remotely and contingently\notherwise accounted for seems superfluous; to actually use this\nhypothesis to account for still more obscure and more indefinite and\nless clearly established phenomena is a most egregious logical sin.\n\nAs to the natural tendency to believe in telepathy, it may be\nregarded as part of the anthropocentric and egocentric view of\nthe universe and its happenings, and as an exemplification of the\npersistence of the mystical view of mundane events,--both of which\nare dominant in primitive philosophy, remain conspicuous wherever\nsuperstition still has a hold, flourish in pseudo-science and in\nesoteric cults, and will probably never become wholly obsolete.\nMr. Clodd's remarks concerning the general notions underlying\n\"sympathetic magic\" may be applied to the bias in favor of the\ntelepathic theory: \"The general idea has only to be decked in another\ngarb to fit the frame of mind which still reserves some pet sphere\nof nature for the operation of the special and the arbitrary.\"\nHowever difficult it may be to realize fully and in detail that the\nobjective order of things is not arranged for our several personal\nbenefits, that conclusion is inevitably forced upon us by a true\ninsight into the inexorable logic of events, and harmonizes with the\nreflections of our more logical moods. Whatever tide there may be\nin human affairs is largely of our own making; there is nothing to\nmark the flood except our own judgment and insight. We may select\nand arrange and adapt circumstances according to our needs, but the\nselection is made by us and not for us: \"We must _take_ the current\nwhen it serves.\" Some effort is necessary, some schooling must be\ngone through with, to enforce this attitude and to give it the\npractical effectiveness of a living conviction. The attitude of\nconformity with current belief, the easy acceptance of the plausible,\nthe avoidance of careful and questioning analysis, are far more\ninviting and less exacting than the regulation of belief by the logic\nof matured principles. The strenuous life has quite as important a\nmission in intellectual as in practical affairs. It will be a decided\nadvance when it becomes generally acknowledged that the discussion of\nsuch an hypothesis as telepathy presupposes an intimate acquaintance\nnot merely with the facts concerned, but with the logical aspects of\ntheir interpretation; that the probability of forming a sound opinion\non such matters is measured not by the fervor of the interest in\nthem, but by the intellectual requisites necessary to steer one's way\namong the intricacies and dangers of such an expedition. No persons\nare more deeply interested in the successful issue of a voyage than\nthe passengers; but this interest does not qualify them to form an\nintelligent opinion upon the proper direction of the machinery or\nthe setting of the course,--much less does it fit them to take an\nactive part in the actual navigation. Yet there are always those\nwho confidently criticise the actions of captain and pilot, and\nare anxious to display their ability to form opinions of their own\nin regard to the intricate navigation over nature's highways. The\nmost efficient antidote to the too ready inclination towards the\npopular or the superficial interpretation of the phenomena involved\nin mental telegraphy is doubtless the cultivation of the logical\nvigor and prudence so frequently referred to; and next to this is an\nappreciation of the marvelous complexity and unfathomable subtlety of\nmental operations.\n\n\n\n\nTHE PSYCHOLOGY OF DECEPTION\n\n\nThe saying that appearances are deceptive is an inheritance from\nancient times; to Oriental and to Greek philosophers the illusory\nnature of the knowledge furnished by the senses was a frequent and\na fertile theme of contemplation and discussion. The same problem\nstands open to the psychologist of to-day; but, profiting by the\nspecialization of learning and the advance of technical science, he\ncan give it a more comprehensive as well as a more practical answer.\nThe physiological activities underlying sense-perception are now\nfairly well understood; the experimental method has extended its\ndomain over the field of mental phenomena; and in many ways have we\nbecome more expert in addressing our queries to the sphinx, Nature,\nso as to force a reply. To outline the position of modern psychology\nwith reference to this interesting problem of deception is the object\nof the present essay.\n\n\nI\n\nIn a sense-impression we recognize a primitive element in the\nacquisition of knowledge. The deprivation of a sense even under most\nfavorable circumstances leaves some traces of an incomplete mental\ndevelopment. This is due, not to the mere sense-impressions that the\norgan furnishes, but to the perception and co\u00f6rdination of these\nby inferential processes of a more complex nature. It is not the\neye of the eagle, but the brain directing the human eye, that leads\nto intellectual supremacy. Physiology recognizes this distinction\nas one between lower and higher brain-centres. A man may have his\nretina or his optic nerve injured, and so be blind in the ordinary\nsense of the word. He is prevented from acquiring further knowledge\nby this avenue; but, unless he become blind in early childhood, he\nwill retain a memory for visual images, will be able more or less\nclearly to imagine pictorially the appearances of objects from verbal\ndescriptions, and in the free roamings of his dream fancy will live\nin a world in which blindness is unknown. On the other hand, there\nis a condition resulting from the disintegration of certain portions\nof the finely organized cortex of the brain, in which the patient\nmay retain full sight and understanding, but be unable to derive\nany meaning from what he sees. The same cluster of sensations that\nenables us to recognize a book, a picture, a face, and to arouse all\nthe numerous associations attaching to these, is as unmeaning to\nhim as the symbols of a cipher alphabet. This condition is termed\n\"psychic blindness;\" and what is there lost is not the power of\nvision, but of interpreting, of assimilating, of reading the meaning\nof visual sense-impressions. It is this interpreting and assimilating\nprocess that is largely concerned in the formation of illusions.\n\nIn the experiences of daily life we have to do not with simple\nsensations, but with more or less complex inferences from them;\nand it is just because these inferences go on so constantly and so\nunconsciously that they are continually and persistently overlooked.\nIt is an occasional experience in raising a water-pitcher to have\nthe vessel fly up in the hand in a very startling manner,--the\nreason for this being that the pitcher, which one is accustomed to\nfind well filled, happens to be empty. This experience shows that\nwe unconsciously estimate the force necessary to raise the vessel,\nbut only become conscious of this train of inference when it happens\nto lead to conclusions contradictory of the fact. The perception\nof distance, once thought to be as primitive a factor in cognition\nas the impression of a color, is likewise the result of complex\nthough unrealized inferences; and the phenomena of the stereoscope,\nby imitating the conditions of the perception of solidity and thus\nmaking us see as solid the flat representations of a pair of diagrams\nor photographs, furnish a brilliant illustration of the variety\nand complexity of such unconscious reasonings. As for essential\npurposes normal persons have a common anatomy, a common physiology,\nand a common psychology, it results that we draw these unconscious\ninferences after the same pattern; and so completely are they the\noutcome of the normal reactions to our common environment, that\nwe need not be, and as a rule are not, aware of their existence\nuntil--and probably with some little effort--our attention is\ndirected to them. Unconsciously and spontaneously we learn to\nsee,--that is, to extract meaning out of the sense-impressions that\nfall upon the retina.\n\nThe simplest type of a deception occurs when an inference or an\ninterpretation of this type, owing to an _unusual disposition of\nexternal circumstances_, leads to a conclusion which other and\npresumably superior testimony shows to be false. Thus, in the\nobservation which Aristotle knew and described, that a pea or other\nround object held between two fingers crossed one over the other\nseems double, it is the unusual position of the fingers that induces\nthe illusion. Under ordinary circumstances a sensation of contact\non the left side of one finger and on the right side of the finger\nnext to it (to the right) could only be produced by the simultaneous\napplication of two bodies. We unconsciously and naturally make\nthe same inference when the fingers are crossed, and thus fall\ninto error--an error, it is important to observe, which we do not\n_outgrow_ but _antagonize_ by more convincing evidence. The pea held\nbetween the crossed fingers continues to _feel_ like two peas, but we\nare under no temptation to _believe_ that there really are two peas.\n\nThe limitations of our senses lead directly to the possibilities\nof their deception, which may in turn be realized inadvertently\nor utilized intentionally. We appreciate how defective is our\nlocalization of sound when we attempt to find a cricket by locating\nwhence proceeds its chirp; the same difficulty lends uncertainty\nto the determination of the direction of fog-horn signals of\npassing steamers. This uncertainty co\u00f6perates in the illusions of\nventriloquism; it is involved in the smack which one clown gives\nanother, but which is really the clapping of the hands of the\nsupposed victim; it produces a realistic effect when a cannon is\nfired on the stage, for it is necessary only to show the flash while\nthe noise is produced behind the scenes. Again, the stimulation of\nthe retina is ordinarily due to the impinging upon it of light-waves\nemanating from an external object. Accordingly, when the retina is\ndisturbed by any exceptional cause, such as a blow on the head or\nan electric shock to the optic nerve, we have a sensation of light\nprojected outward into space. The perception of our own locomotion,\nwhich is likewise a highly inferential process, offers illustrations\nof casual illusion and of artificial deception. When on a train, it\nis by the passing-by before our eyes in the opposite direction of\ntrees and posts and other features of the landscape, that we realize\nthat we are moving forward; accordingly, when a train alongside moves\nout before our own train has started, we have a distinct realization\nthat we are moving backwards so long as we look at the forward-moving\ntrain. There is an illusion devised for amusement called the \"Magic\nSwing,\" in which one is apparently swung to and fro with wider and\nwider excursions until a complete revolution is apparently made\nfrom a vertical to a horizontal, through the antipodal position,\nback to the horizontal and the normal. In reality, only a slight\nmotion is imparted to the swing, but the inclosing walls, which\nare painted to represent a forest scene, are themselves revolved\nforward and then backward about the axis from which the swing is\nsuspended. As, however, we have no experience with oscillating trees,\nwe unconsciously infer the oscillations to be and feel them in our\nown persons. In another application of the same illusion we seem to\nbe let down into the bowels of the earth; but after a slight actual\ndescent the car remains stationary while the illuminated sides of\nthe shaft, which are suitably painted, are moved panorama-like in\nan upward direction. In brief, we are creatures of the average; we\nare adjusted for the most probable event; our organism has acquired\nthe habits impressed upon it by the most frequent experiences; and\nthis has induced an inherent logical necessity to interpret a new\nexperience by the old, an unfamiliar by the familiar. In describing\nillusions of the above type, Mr. Sully aptly says that they\n\"depend on the general mental law that when we have to do with the\nunfrequent, the unimportant, and therefore unattended to, and the\nexceptional, we employ the ordinary, the familiar, and the well known\nas our standard.\" Illusion arises when the rule thus applied fails to\nhold; and whether or not we become cognizant of the illusion depends\nupon the ease with which the exceptional character of the particular\ninstance can be recognized, or the inference to which it leads be\nopposed by presumably more reliable evidence.\n\n\nII\n\nTo make things seem more wonderful than they are, to possess\nknowledge and exhibit power beyond the ken of the multitude, has\nexercised a fascination upon the human mind in all its stages of\ndevelopment. The primitive conjuring of the ancient priest or of the\nsavage medicine-man, the long tradition of Oriental legerdemain,\nand the stage performances of the modern prestidigitateur are\nall connected with deep-seated human instincts. It has even been\nsuggested[3] that the mimicry and death-feigning instincts of\nanimals, though essentially biological in type, are yet related to\nthe psychological instincts of deception which make their first clear\nappearance in the higher animals and assume a distinctive position\nin the psychological equipment of childhood. The conjuring tricks or\nparadoxes which apparently contradict or rise superior to ordinary\nexperience, furnish the most various types of illustration of the\npsychology of deception. Whether presented as miracle by priest or\nby thaumaturgist or by expounder of the black art, or presented\nas proof of spirit agency by the modern spiritualistic medium or\nhis less pretentious predecessors, or by the stage performer for\nentertainment, the analysis of what was actually done, and the\naccounts of what the spectators saw or believed that they saw,\nilluminate with striking brilliancy the _modus operandi_ of the\nprocesses whereby appearance takes the semblance of reality and\nobservation is shrewdly led astray. The conjurer thus becomes a\nsuggester and an actor, not a mere exhibitor of his manipulative\nskill.\n\nAs our present purpose is to investigate the nature of real\ndeception, of the formation of false beliefs which may in turn lead\nto unwise action, it will be well to note that even such elementary\nforms of sense-deceptions as those just noted may fall under this\nhead. No one allowed the use of his eyes will ever believe that the\npea held between the crossed fingers is really double, but children\noften think that a spoon half immersed in water is really bent.\nPrimitive peoples believe that the moon really grows smaller as it\nrises above the horizon; and the ancients could count sufficiently\nupon the ignorance of the people, to make use of mirrors and other\nstage devices for revealing the power of the gods. The ability to\ncorrect such errors depends solely upon the possession of certain\nknowledge or of a confidence in its existence.\n\nContinuing with deceptions dependent upon exceptional external\narrangements, we may find in conjuring tricks simple and complex\nillustrations in great perfection. When wine is turned into water,\nwhen two half-dollars are rolled into one, when a box into which an\narticle has just been placed is immediately opened and found to be\nempty, when a handkerchief is torn and made whole again, when the\nperformer drives a nail through his finger, when a coin suddenly\nappears out of space at the end of a wand, when a card which you have\njust assured yourself is the ace of hearts on second view is the\nking of spades, when a bowl filled with water in which goldfish are\nswimming is produced from under a handkerchief, when a child rests\nhorizontally in mid-air supported only on one elbow,--you are misled\nor mystified or deceived in so far as you are unaware that the wine\nwas potassium permanganate and sulphuric acid, and was clarified\nby sodium hyposulphite; that the one half-dollar is hollow and the\nsolid one fits into it; that the box has a double bottom controlled\nby a secret spring; that the real handkerchief was not torn but\nanother substituted for it; that the nail has been replaced by one\nthat fits around the finger; that the wand is hollow, and a spring\ncontrols the appearance or withdrawal of a split coin at its other\nend; that one half of the card is printed on a flap which, by falling\ndown, shows another aspect; that the bowl covered with a rubber cap\nwas secreted under the coat of the performer; that the child wears\na steel suit fitted with joints that lock and become rigid. All\nthese are technical devices which amuse us by the ingenuity of their\nconstruction, and, though they may be most baffling, provoke about\nthe same type of mental interest as does a puzzle or an automaton.\nIgnorance of this technical knowledge or lack of confidence in its\nexistence may convert these devices into real deceptions by changing\nthe mental attitude of the spectator. However, the plausibility of\nsuch performances depends so much upon their general presentation\nthat they seldom rely for their effectiveness solely upon the\nobjective appearances presented. They are given a dramatic setting,\nor put forward as examples of newly discovered forces or of magical\ncontrol; and this makes them far more effective than this bare\naccount would suggest.\n\nAsking the reader, then, to bear in mind the very great number\nand ingenuity of such devices, and insisting once more that the\nonly complete safeguard against being misled by them to the extent\nof forming false conceptions of their _modus operandi_, is the\nacquisition of the purely technical knowledge that underlies their\nsuccess, I shall cite in detail a trick combining illustrations\nof several of the principles to be discussed. Several rings are\ncollected from the audience upon the performer's wand; he takes the\nrings back to the stage and throws them upon a platter; a pistol\nis needed, and is handed to the performer from behind the scenes;\nwith conspicuous indifference he hammers the precious trinkets until\nthey fit into the pistol. A chest is hanging on a nail at the side\nof the stage; the pistol is fired at this chest, which is thereupon\ntaken down and placed upon a table towards the rear of the stage.\nThe chest is unlocked and found to contain a second chest; this is\nunlocked and contains a third this a fourth. As the chests emerge\nthey are placed upon the table; and now from the fourth chest there\ncomes a fifth, which the performer carries to the front of the stage\nand shows to contain bonbons around each of which is tied one of the\nrings taken from the audience. The effect is most startling. This is\nthe appearance of the trick from the audience. Now let us consider\nwhat really takes place. In the hand holding the wand are as many\nbrass rings as are to be collected. In walking back to the stage the\ngenuine rings are allowed to slip off the wand and the false rings\nto take their places. This excites no suspicion, as the walking back\nto the stage is obviously necessary, and never impresses one as part\nof the performance. The pistol is not ready upon the stage, but must\nbe gone for; and as the assistant hands the performer the pistol,\nthe latter transfers to the assistant the true rings. The hammering\nof the false rings is now deliberately undertaken, thus giving the\nassistant ample time to tie the true rings to the bonbons; and, while\nall attention is concentrated upon the firing of the pistol, the\nassistant unobtrusively pushes a small table on to the rear of the\nstage. This table has a small fringe hanging about it, certainly\nan insignificant detail, but none the less worth noting. The chests\nare now opened, and, after having shown the audience that the second\nchest comes out of the first, the third out of the second, and so on,\nthe performer can very readily and quickly draw the last, smallest\nchest from a groove _under_ the table, where it was concealed by\nthe aforesaid fringe, and bring it forward as though it _had come_\nout of the next larger chest; this smallest chest is opened and the\ntrick is accomplished. So thoroughly convinced is the observer by the\ncorrectness of his first three inferences that the last box came out\nof the one before it, that I venture to say this explanation does not\noccur to one person in many thousand, and that most of the audience\nwould have been willing to affirm on oath that they saw the last box\nso emerge. The psychology of the process, then, consists in inducing\nthe spectator to draw the natural inference, which, in this case, it\nhas been carefully arranged shall be a wrong one.\n\nDeception becomes real according to the skill with which the\nconditions of reality are imitated. The dexterity and training of\nthe professional conjurer are measured by the fidelity with which he\nmimics the movements which are supposed to be done. The life-likeness\nof the movement with which the late Hermann could take up an\nimaginary orange with both hands from a table (the orange was really\nlet down in a trap on the table as the hands were placed over it),\nand carry it over to another table where it mysteriously disappeared\nor passed through a hat, was quite irresistible. Equally so was his\npalming, or his production of objects from his person, or out of the\nair, or in out-of-the-way places. The mimetic movements accompanying\nthese actions were so vividly realistic, the misdirection of the\nattention was so perfect, as to produce a complete hallucination of\nthe appearance of objects from places from which they never emerged.\nWhen this was preceded by an actual sleight-of-hand movement, a true\nhallucination resulted; for example, in the trick of the flying\ncards which were skilfully thrown to all parts of the auditorium, a\ncard was occasionally thrown which seemed to disappear mysteriously\nin mid-air; but in reality no card had been thrown but only the\nmovements of throwing it imitated. A rabbit was tossed up in the air\ntwo or three times, and then disappeared at the report of a pistol;\nin reality the rabbit was not tossed at all on the last apparent\nthrow, but was slipped into the hollow of the table.[4]\n\nThe more closely the conditions that lead to correct inferences in\nordinary experiences are imitated, the more successful will be the\nillusion; and a useful principle of conjuring illusions is to _first\nactually do_ that which you _afterward_ wish the audience to _believe\nthat you continue to do_. Thus, when coins are caught in mid-air\nand thrown into a hat, a few are really thrown in; but the others\nare palmed in the hand holding the hat, and allowed to fall when\nthe other hand makes the appropriate movements. Some of the rings\nto be mysteriously linked together are given to the audience for\nexamination and found to contain no opening, the audience at once\nconcluding that the rings which the performer retains are precisely\nlike them. In general, to gain the confidence of the person to be\ndeceived is the first step alike in sleight-of-hand and in criminal\nfraud.\n\n\nIII\n\nAs we turn from the objective to the subjective conditions of\ndeception, we enter the true domain of psychology; for the most\nscientific deceiver is he who employs least external aids, and\ncounts most upon his power of captivating the intellect. Just as we\ninterpret appearances by the forms they most commonly assume, so it\nis our average normal selves that interpret them. A variation in our\nsense-organs or in our judging powers will lead to illusion. The\neffects of contrast may serve as apt illustrations. When passing\nfrom a dark to a light room the light seems glaringly bright; a hand\nimmersed in hot water and then in lukewarm water will feel the latter\nas cold; when accustomed to the silence of the country the bustle of\nthe city seems unusually noisy. Fatigue produces similar results.\nFatigue the eye for red, and it sees white light as green; the last\nmile of a long walk seems the longest; the last hour of a long wait,\nthe most tedious. So long as we recognize our unusual condition and\nallow for its effects, we are not deceived; but under the influence\nof emotion this power is readily lost, as it may be permanently lost\nin the insane. The delusions of the insane are often influenced by\nmisinterpretations of real but abnormal sensations under the guidance\nof a dominant idea. On the basis of an an\u00e6sthetic skin a patient may\ncome to believe that he is made of glass or stone; subjective noises\nin the ear, due to disturbances of the circulation, are transformed\ninto the jeers and taunts of an invisible persecutor. But for the\npresent we will assume that the judging powers do not vary beyond\ntheir normal limits.\n\nIn every perception two factors contribute to the result. The one is\nthe nature of the object perceived, the other that of the percipient.\nThe effect of the first factor is obvious and well recognized; the\nimportance of the second factor is more apt to be overlooked. The\nsunset is a different experience to the artist from what it is to the\nfarmer; a piece of rocky scenery is viewed with quite a different\ninterest by the artist and the geologist. The things that were\nattractive in childhood have lost their charm; and what was then,\nif noticed at all, considered stupid, has become a cherished hobby.\nEven from day to day, our interests change with our moods, and our\nviews of things brighten with the weather or the good behavior of\nour digestive organs. Not only will the nature of the impression\nchange with the interests of the observer, but even more, whether or\nnot an object will be perceived at all, will depend upon the same\ncause. The naturalist sees what the stroller entirely overlooks; the\nsailor detects a ship in the distant horizon where the landsman\nsees nothing; and this is not because the naturalist and the\nsailor have keener vision, but because they know what to look for.\nWhenever an impression is vague, or an observation made under poor\nconditions, this subjective element comes to the front. Darkness,\nfear, any strong emotion, any difficulty in perception reveal the\nsame influence. \"La nuit tous les chats sont gris.\" Expectation, or\nexpectant attention, is doubtless the most influential of all such\nfactors. When awaiting a friend, any indistinct noise is readily\nconverted into the rumbling of carriage-wheels; the mother hears\nin every sound the cry of her sick child. After viewing an object\nthrough a magnifying-glass, we detect details with the naked eye\nwhich escaped our vision before. In spite of the fact that the answer\nin the book happens to be wrong, a considerable proportion of the\nclass succeeds in reaching it. Everywhere we are apt to perceive\nwhat we expect to perceive, in the perception of which we have an\ninterest. The process that we term \"sensation,\" the gathering of\nevidence by the senses, is dual in character, and depends upon the\neyes that see as well as upon the things that are present to be seen.\n\nAccordingly, the conjurer succeeds in his deception by creating an\ninterest in some unimportant detail, while he is performing the real\ntrick before our eyes without our noticing it. He looks intently at\nhis extended right hand, involuntarily carrying our eyes to the same\nspot while he is doing the trick with the unobserved left hand. The\nconjurer's wand is extremely serviceable in directing the spectator's\nattention to the place where the performer desires to have it.[5]\nA call upon the attention in one direction prevents its dispersion\nin another. When engrossed in work, we are oblivious to the noise\nof the street or even to the knock at the door. An absent-minded\nperson is one so entirely \"present-minded\" to one train of thought\nthat other stimuli go unperceived. The pickpocket is psychologist\nenough to know that at the railway station, the theatre, or wherever\none's attention is sharply focused in one direction, is he apt to\nfind the psychological moment for the exercise of his pursuit. It\nis in the negative field of attention that deception effects its\npurpose. Houdin, the first of the famous prestidigitateurs (died\n1871), gives it as one of his rules never to announce beforehand the\nnature of the effect which you intend to produce, in order that the\nspectator may not know where to fix his attention. He also tells us\nthat whenever you count \"_one_, _two_, _three_,\" as preliminary to\nthe disappearance of an object, the real vanishing must take place\nbefore you say \"_three_,\"--for the audience have their attention\nfixed upon \"_three_,\" and whatever is done at \"one\" or \"two\" entirely\nescapes their notice. The \"patter\" or setting of a trick often\nconstitutes the real art of its execution, because it directs or\nrather misdirects the attention. When performing before the Arabs,\nHoudin produced an astounding effect by a very simple trick. Under\nordinary circumstances the trick was announced as the changing of the\nweight of a chest, making it heavy or light at will. The mechanism\nwas simply the attachment and disconnection of an electro-magnet, in\nthose days a far less familiar affair than now. To impress the Arabs\nhe announced that he could spirit a man's strength away and restore\nit again at a moment's notice. The trick succeeded as usual, but was\nchanged from a mere trick to sorcery--the Arabs declaring him in\nleague with the devil.\n\nThe trick, above cited, of supporting a child in mid-air, was\nperformed by Houdin at the time when the inhalations of ether for\npurposes of insensibility were first introduced. This idea was\nin the minds of the audience, and magical effects were readily\nattributed to etherization. Accordingly the trick was announced as\n\"suspension in equilibrium by atmospheric air through the action of\nconcentrated ether,\" and so successfully was this aspect of the trick\naccepted that protests were sent in against \"the unnatural father\nwho sacrificed the health of his poor child to the pleasures of the\npublic.\" In the same way, Kellar introduces a \"thought-reading\"\nperformance, by going through the movements of hypnotizing the lady\nwho assists in the trick; this enables him to present the phenomenon\nin a mysterious light, and incidentally his manipulations furnish the\nopportunity to connect the end of a speaking-tube concealed in the\nlady's hair with another portion attached to the chair. In brief, the\neffect of a trick depends more upon the receptive attitude of the\nspectators than upon what is really done. \"Conjuring,\" Mr. Triplett\nobserves, \"is thus seen to be a kind of game of preperception wherein\nthe performer so plays upon the psychical processes of his audience\nthat the issues are as he desires.\"\n\nThere is, too, a class of tricks which illustrate a process, the\nreverse of this; and which depend for their \u00e9clat upon making the\nissues coincide with the apparently freely expressed choice of the\nspectator, while really the performer as rigidly determines the\nresult as in all other cases. One of the best of these proceeds\nby collecting some eight or nine questions prepared by as many\npersons in the audience, then placing them in a hat, drawing out\none at random, and finding the answer to the question thus selected\nwritten on the inside surfaces of a pair of slates. The deception\nbegins in the substitution for the collected slips of paper, of the\nsame number of slips all containing the same carefully prepared\nquestion; the production of the writing on the blank slate is a\nchemical technicality. It is a similar result that is obtained in\nforcing a card; or when the conjurer asks the audience to select\none of a group of similar objects, and then himself decides whether\nthe selected object shall be used for the trick or discarded;\nlikewise, when a magic bottle is presented from which any desired\nvariety of liquor may be produced, it is easy to suggest the choice\naccording to the available possibilities. There is thus an imitation\nof the psychological factors as well as of the objective factors\nof real experience; and both are utilized in the deceptions of the\nprofessional conjurer.\n\nThe art of misleading the attention is recognized as _the_ point of\ngood conjuring, the analogy of the diplomacy that makes the object\nof language to conceal thought; and many appropriate illustrations\nof this point may be derived from this field. The little flourishes,\ntossing an object up in the air, ruffling or springing a pack of\ncards, a little joke--all these create a favorable opportunity, a\n_temp_ when the attention is diverted and the other hand can reach\nbehind the table or into the \"pocket.\" It is not necessary to pursue\nfurther these details of technique; it will suffice to analyze the\npoints of interest in the chest-and-ring trick described above. Here\nthe moment for the exchange of the rings is the one which is least\nsuggestive of its being a part of the performance, and therefore\nleast attended to. The preparations for the shooting absorb the\nattention and allow the introduction of the small table at the rear\nto pass unnoticed; while the series of drawings of the chests so\nentirely prepare the spectator for the appearance of the last chest\nfrom the one preceding, that he actually sees the chest emerge from\nwhere it never had been.\n\nIt is necessary, however, not only to provide an opportunity for\nnon-attention or misdirected attention, but to be able to take\nadvantage of it when the proper moment arrives. Here enters the\ndexterity alike of pickpocket and of conjurer. The training in\nquickness and accuracy of motion, in delicacy of touch, in the\nsimultaneous perception of a wide range of sense-impressions, are\namong the psychological requisites of a successful conjurer. He must\ndissociate the natural factors of his habits, actually doing one\nthing while seemingly attending to another; at the same time his eyes\nand his gestures and his \"patter\" misdirect the attention to what\nis apparently the essential field of operation, but really only a\nblind to distract attention away from the true scene of action. The\nconjurer directs your attention to what he does not do; he does not\ndo what he pretends to do; and to what he actually does he is careful\nneither to appear to direct his own attention nor to arouse yours.\n\n\nIV\n\nThere is, however, one important factor lacking in the conjurer's\nperformance to illustrate completely the psychology of deception;\nit is that the mental attitude of the observer is too definite. He\nknows that he is being deceived by skill and adroitness, and rather\nenjoys it the more, the more he is deceived. He has nothing at stake;\nhis mind rests easy without any detailed or complete explanation\nof how it was done. Quite different must have been the feeling of\nthe spectator before the necromancer of old, in whose performance\nwas seen the evidence of secret powers that could at a moment's\nnotice be turned against any one to take away good luck, to bring on\ndisease, or even to transform one into a beast. When magic spells\nand wonder-working potions were believed in, what we would now speak\nof as a trick was surrounded with a halo of awe and mystery by the\nsympathetic attitude of the spectators. The most complete parallel\nto this in modern times is presented by the physical phenomena\nof Spiritualism; and so many of the manifestations presented by\nperforming mediums in evidence of Spiritualism have been exposed and\nproven to be conjuring tricks, that it is no longer an assumption to\nconsider them in this connection. Spiritualistic phenomena present\na perfect mine for illustrations of the psychology of deception, and\nit is these that I shall consider as the final topic in this cursory\nview.\n\nThe first general principle to be borne in mind is that the medium\nperforms to spectators _in doubt_ as to the interpretation to be\nplaced upon what they see, or more or less prepared or determined\nto see in everything the evidence of the supernatural. This mental\nattitude on the part of the spectators is worth more to the medium\nthan any single factor in the performance. The difference between\nsuch a presentation and one addressed to persons cognizant of the\nconjuring element in the performance and interested in its detection,\ncannot be exaggerated. It is this that makes all the difference\nbetween the s\u00e9ance swarming with miracles, any one of which\ncompletely revolutionizes the principles of science, and the tedious\ndreariness of a blank sitting varied only by childish utterances and\namateurish sleight-of-hand. Careful observers often report that the\nvery same phenomena that were utterly beyond suspicion in the eyes of\nbelievers are to unprejudiced eyes so apparent \"that there was really\nno need of any elaborate method of investigation\"; close observation\nwas all that was required, and Mr. Davey, who conducted an admirable\ninvestigation of the reliability of accounts of sleight-of-hand\nperformances, has experimentally shown that of equally good\nobservers, the one who is informed of the general _modus operandi_ by\nwhich such a phenomenon as \"slate-writing\" is produced will make much\nless of a marvel of it than one who is left in doubt in this regard.\n\nWith these all-powerful magicians--an expected result and the\nwillingness to credit a marvel--clearly in mind, let us proceed from\nthose instances in which they have least effect up to the point where\nthey form the chief factor. First come a host of conjuring tricks\nperformed on the stage in slightly modified forms, but which are\npresented as \"spiritualistic.\" So simple a trick as scratching a name\non one's hand with a clean pen dipped in water, then writing the\nname on a slip of paper, burning the slip and rubbing the part with\nthe ashes, thus causing the ashes to cling to the letters formed on\nthe hand and reveal the name, has been offered as a proof of spirit\nagency. Whenever an article disappears or rapidly changes its place,\nthe spiritualist is apt to see the workings of hidden spirits; and\nover and over again have the performances of professional conjurers\nbeen declared to be spiritual in origin in spite of all protest from\nthe conjurers themselves. Here everything depends upon the possession\nof certain technical knowledge; judging without such knowledge is apt\nto be mere prejudice. Another very large class of phenomena consists\nof those in which the performer is placed in a position apparently\ninconsistent with his taking any active part in their production;\nrope-tying tests, cabinet s\u00e9ances, the appearance of a \"spirit-hand\"\nfrom behind a screen, locking the performer in a cage, sewing him\nin a bag, and so on. The psychologist has very little interest in\nthese; their solution depends upon the skill with which knots may be\npicked, locks unfastened, and the other devices by which security\nmay be simulated. The chief interest in such performances is the\nhistorical one, for these have done perhaps more than anything else\nto convince believers of the truth of Spiritualism. Here, where\neverything depends upon the security of the fastenings (for once\nfree, the medium can produce messages from the spirit-land limited\nonly by his ingenuity and boldness), upon the particular moment\nwhen the examination was permitted or the light turned down, upon\nthe success with which an appearance of security and intactness\nof seals and knots may be simulated, it might be supposed that\nall possible precautions had been taken to control and eliminate\nthese possibilities; while, as a matter of fact, the laxity of most\ninvestigators in this regard is well known. These performances\ndeceive because people overlook the technical acquisitions needed\nto pronounce upon the possibility or impossibility of a fastening\nhaving been tampered with and apparently restored without detection.\nIf manufacturers of safes were equally credulous, and gave equally\nlittle time to the study of the security of locks, \"safe\" would be an\nironical expression indeed.\n\nPassing next to the most interesting of spiritualistic\nmanifestations, those in which self-deception comes to the\nforeground, I need hardly dwell at length upon the tilting of\ntables, the production of raps by movements of which the sitters are\nunconscious; for these have been so often and so ably presented that\nthey must now be well understood. Suffice it to say that it has been\nobjectively proven that it is almost impossible not to give some\nindication of one's thoughts, when put upon the strain; and that\nunder excitement, these indications may become palpably plain and yet\nremain unperceived by the individual who gives them. The extreme\nsubtlety of these indications is met by the unusual skill of the\nprofessional mind-reader, who takes his clue from indications which\nhis subject is \"absolutely confident he did not give.\" The assurances\nof sitters that _they know_ they did not move the table are equally\nvalueless; and nothing but objective tests will suffice. The most\nwholesome lesson to be derived from the study of these phenomena\nis the proof that not all our intentions and actions are under\nthe control of consciousness, and that, under emotional or other\nexcitement, the value of the testimony of consciousness is very much\nweakened. Again, it is almost impossible to realize the difficulty\nof accurately describing a phenomenon lying outside the common range\nof observation. Not alone that the knowledge necessary to pronounce\nsuch and such a phenomenon impossible of performance by conjuring\nmethods is absent, but with due modesty and most sincere intentions\nthe readiness with which the observing powers and the memory play\none false is overlooked. In the investigation of Mr. Davey, above\nreferred to, the sitters prepared accounts of the \"slate-writing\"\nmanifestations they had witnessed, and described marvels that had\nnot occurred, but which they were convinced they had seen--messages\nwritten on slates utterly inaccessible to Mr. Davey, and upon slates\nwhich they had noticed a moment before were clean. The witnesses are\nhonest; how do these mistakes arise? Simply a detail omitted here, an\nevent out of place there, an unconscious insertion in one place, an\nundue importance given to a certain point in another place--nothing\nof which any one needs feel ashamed, something which it requires\nunusual training and natural gifts to avoid. The mistake lies in not\nrecognizing our liability to such error.\n\nIf, however, the spectator is once convinced that he has evidence\nof the supernatural, he soon sees it in every accident and incident\nof the performance. Not only that he overlooks natural physical\nexplanations, but he is led to create marvels by the very ardor of\nhis sincerity. At a materializing s\u00e9ance the believer recognizes\na dear friend in a carelessly arranged drapery seen in a dim\nlight. Conclusive evidence of the subjective character of such\nperceptions is furnished by the fact that the same appearance\nis frequently recognized by different sitters as the spiritual\ncounterpart of entirely different and totally dissimilar persons. A\n\"spirit-photograph\" is declared to be the precise image of entirely\nunlike individuals. In the \"Revelations of a Spirit Medium,\" we\nread that a wire gauze mask placed in front of a handkerchief,\nmade luminous by phosphorus, and projected through the opening\nof the cabinet, was \"recognized by dozens of persons as fathers,\nmothers, sisters, brothers, cousins, sweethearts, wives, husbands,\nand various other relatives and friends.\" Each one sees what he\nexpects to see, what appeals to his interests the most intensely.\nWhat the unprejudiced observer recognizes as the flimsily disguised\nform of the medium, the believer transforms into the object of his\nthoughts and longings. Only let the form be vague enough, the light\ndim enough, the emotions upon a sufficient strain, and that part of\nperception in which the external image is deficient will be readily\nsupplied by the subjective tendencies of each individual. In the\npresence of such a mental attitude the possibilities of deception\nare endless; the performer grows bolder as his victim passes from\na watchful, critical attitude to one of easy conviction, and we\nget scientific proofs of the fourth dimension of space, of the\npossibility of matter passing through matter, of the levitation or\nelongation of the medium's body, of the transcendence of the laws of\ngravity. And the same performance that convinced Professor Zoellner\nof the reality of the fourth dimension of space would prove to the\nspiritualist the intercourse with deceased friends, would convince\nthe theosophist of the flight of the performer's astral body; and,\nit may not be irrelevant to add, it was the same type of performance\nthat served and yet serves to terrify the minds of uncultivated and\nsuperstitious savages. All depends not upon what is done, but upon\nthe mental disposition of the spectator. Little by little, through\nneglect, through mal-observation and lapses of memory, through an\nunwillingness to mistrust the reports of an excited consciousness,\ncaution is abandoned and credulity enters. Mediums are actually seen\nflying out of one window and in through another. The wildest and\nmost far-fetched fantastic explanation is preferred above a simple\none; the bounds of the normal are passed; real hallucinations set\nin; conduct becomes irrational, and a state hardly distinguishable\nfrom insanity ensues. If this seems improbable, turn to the records\nof witchcraft persecutions and read upon what trifling and wholly\nimaginary evidence thousands of innocent lives were sacrificed; and\nthis not by ignorant, bloodthirsty men, but by earnest, eminent, and\nreligious leaders. A child is taken sick, is remembered to have been\nfondled by an old woman; therefore the woman has put the child under\na spell and must be burned. A man sees an old woman in the woods,\nand, on turning about, the old woman is gone and a hare flies across\nhis track; he concludes that she turned herself into a hare, and the\nwitch test is applied. When the personal devil was believed in, he\nwas seen daily clothed in the garments that imagination had given\nhim, and engaged in mischief and villainy of all kinds. When witchery\nwas the dominant superstition, all things gave evidence of that. So\nlong as Spiritualism forms a prominent cult with a real hold upon the\nbeliefs of its adherents, the number of mediums and manifestations\nwill be correspondingly abundant. Create a belief in the theory, and\nthe facts will create themselves.\n\n\nV\n\nIn the production of this state of mind a factor as yet unmentioned\nplays a leading r\u00f4le, the power of mental contagion. Error, like\ntruth, flourishes in crowds. At the hearth of sympathy each finds\na home. The fanatical lead, the saner follow. When a person of\nnervous temperament, not strongly independent in thought and action,\nenters a spiritualistic circle, where he is constantly surrounded\nby confident believers, all eager to have him share their sacred\nvisions and profound revelations, where the atmosphere is replete\nwith miracles, and every chair and table may at any instant be\ntransformed into a proof of the supernatural, is it strange that\nhe soon becomes affected by the contagion of belief that surrounds\nhim? He succumbs to its influence imperceptibly and hesitatingly at\nfirst, and perhaps yet restorable to his former modes of thought by\nthe fresh air of another and more steadfast mental intercourse, but\nmore and more certainly and ardently convinced the longer he breathes\nthe s\u00e9ance atmosphere. No form of contagion is so insidious in its\nonset, so difficult to check in its advance, so certain to leave\ngerms that may at any moment reveal their pernicious power, as a\nmental contagion--the contagion of fear, of panic, of fanaticism, of\nlawlessness, of superstition, of error. The story of the witchcraft\npersecutions, were there no similar records to deface the pages of\nhistory, would suffice as a standing illustration of the overwhelming\npower of psychic contagion. To illustrate with any completeness its\nimportance in the production of deception or in the dissemination\nof error, would carry us beyond the proper limits of the present\ndiscussion. It enters at every stage of the process and in every\ntype of illusion. Although it has least effect when deception is\ncarried on by external arrangements, by skilful counterfeits of\nlogical inferences, yet even then it enters into the distinction\nbetween a critical, skeptical, and irresponsive body of spectators,\nand one that is sympathetic, acquiescent, and cordial; it renders it\neasier to effect bold and striking impressions with a larger audience\nthan with a smaller one; its power is greatest, however, where the\nsubjective factor in deception is greatest, more particularly in such\nforms of deception as have been last described.\n\nIn brief, we must add to the many factors which contribute to\ndeception the recognized lowering of critical ability, of the power\nof accurate observation, indeed of rationality, which merely being\none of a crowd induces. The conjurer finds it easier to perform to\nlarge audiences because, among other reasons, it is easier to arouse\ntheir admiration and sympathy, easier to make them forget themselves\nand enter into the uncritical spirit of wonderland. It would seem\nthat in some respects the critical tone of an assembly, like the\nstrength of a chain, is that of its weakest member. \"The mental\nquality of the individuals in a crowd,\" says M. Le Bon, \"is without\nimportance. From the moment that they are in the crowd the ignorant\nand the learned are equally incapable of observation.\"\n\n\nVI\n\nIn this review of the types of deception I have made no mention of\nsuch devices as the gaining of one's confidence for selfish ends,\npreying upon ignorance or fear, acting the friend while at heart\nthe enemy, planned connivance and skilful plotting, together with\nthe whole outfit of insincerity, villainy, and crime. It is not\nthat these are without interest or are unrelated to the several\ntypes of deception above considered, but that they are too complex\nand too heterogeneous to be capable of ready or rigid analysis.\nWhen deception becomes an art of life, consciously planned and\ncraftily executed, there must be acting and subterfuge and evasion\nto maintain the appearance of sincerity. The psychology of the\nprocesses therein concerned is almost coincident with the range of\nsocial, intellectual, and emotional influences. Complex as these\noperations may be, they have, in common with the less intricate forms\nof deception, the attempt to parallel the conditions underlying the\nlogical inferences which it is desired to induce. If we add this\ngreat class of deceptions to those already enumerated, we may perhaps\nrealize how vast is its domain, and how long and sad must be the\nchapter that records the history of human error.\n\nEthics is so closely related to psychology--right knowing to right\ndoing--that a brief _h\u00e6c fabula docet_ by way of summary may not be\nout of place. We find, first, a class of sense-deceptions which are\ndue to the nature of our sense-endowment, and deceive only so long as\ntheir true character remains unknown. These are neither pernicious\nnor difficult to correct. Next comes a class of deceptions that\ndeceive because we are ignorant of the possibilities of technical\ndevices, such as those used in legerdemain, and pronounce upon the\npossibility or impossibility of a certain explanation in advance\nof complete knowledge. But still another class, and that the most\ndangerous and insidious, are the deceptions in which self-deception\nplays the leading r\u00f4le. The only safeguard here is a preventive; the\nthorough infusion of sound habits of thought, a full recognition of\nthe conditions under which the testimony of consciousness becomes\ndubious, an appreciation of the true value of objective scientific\nevidence, and an inoculation against the evils of contagion by an\nindependent, unprejudiced, logical schooling. When once the evil\nspirit of self-deception, fed by the fire of contagion and emotional\nexcitement, begins to spread, reason has little control. As Tyndall\ntells us, such \"victims like to believe, and they do not like to\nbe undeceived. Science is perfectly powerless in the presence\nof this frame of mind.... It [science] keeps down the weed of\nsuperstition, not by logic, but by slowly rendering the mental soil\nunfit for cultivation.\" With the spread of an education that fosters\nindependence and self-reliance, with the growth of the capacity to\nprofit by the experiences of others, with the recognition of the\ntechnical requisites that alone qualify one for a judgment in this\nor that field, with a knowledge of the possibilities of deception\nand of the psychological processes by which error is propagated, the\nsoil upon which superstitions, psychic delusions, mental epidemics,\nor senseless fads are likely to flourish will gradually be rendered\nunfit.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[3] By Norman Triplett, \"The Psychology of Conjuring Deceptions,\"\n_American Journal of Psychology_, xi. 4, July, 1900. This most recent\nand extensive treatment of this topic furnishes a well-selected\nstorehouse of fact, together with suggestive and able interpretations\nof the material of conjuring deceptions. I shall draw from this\nmaterial in several portions of this essay, without further detailed\nacknowledgment.\n\n[4] Mr. Triplett went through a similar performance with a ball in\nthe presence of school children; and of 165 children, 78 described\nhow they saw the ball go up and disappear; of those who were thus\nhallucinated 40 per cent. were boys and 60 per cent. were girls.\nHallucinations of perfumes in children were obtained by another\nexperimenter when water was sprayed from bottles labeled as perfumes;\n76 per cent. of 381 pupils saw a toy camel move when a crank attached\nto the camel by a string was turned, although the camel remained\nquite motionless. The experimental tests, though rather cold and\nlifeless when compared with the dramatic stage deceptions, illustrate\nthe same process, and make possible a comparative study of the\ndegree of deception in different individuals and under different\ncircumstances.\n\n[5] \"Again, a mere tap with the wand on any spot, at the same time\nlooking at it attentively, will infallibly draw the eyes of a whole\ncompany in the same direction.\"--_Houdin._\n\nRobert Houdin, often termed \"the king of the conjurers,\" was a man\nof remarkable ingenuity and insight. His autobiography is throughout\ninteresting and psychologically valuable, and his conjuring precepts\nabound in points of importance to the psychologist.\n\n\n\n\nTHE PSYCHOLOGY OF SPIRITUALISM\n\n\nI\n\nIn 1848, from the town of Hydeville, New York, came the somewhat\nstartling announcement that certain knockings, the source of which\nhad mystified the household of one of its residents, seemed to be\nintelligently guided and ready to appear at call. Somewhat later,\ncommunication was established by agreeing that one rap should mean\n_no_, and three raps _yes_; to which was afterwards added the device\nof calling off the alphabet and noting at which letters the raps\noccurred. In this way, the rapper revealed himself as the spirit of\na murdered peddler. Within a short period the news of this simple\nand childish invention had called into existence thousands of\nspirit-circles; had developed wonderful \"mediums\" to whose special\ngifts the manifestations were ascribed; had amassed a vast store\nof strange testimony; had added to the rappings such performances\nas moving tables, causing objects to be mysteriously thrown about,\nplaying on instruments by unseen hands, materializing spirit flowers,\nproducing spirit forms and faces, gathering messages from spirits on\nsealed slates, and so on. In brief, the movement became an epidemic;\nand that despite the fact that from the beginning and continuously\nsatisfactory and rational explanations were offered of what really\noccurred, and that mediums were constantly detected in the grossest\nfraud. So early as 1851 the peculiar rappings occurring in the\npresence of the Fox sisters, the originators of the movement, were\nconclusively traced to the partial dislocation and resetting of a\njoint of the knee or foot; and the raps failed to occur when the\ngirls were placed in a position in which the leverage necessary for\nthis action was denied them. Many years thereafter, in 1888, Margaret\nFox (Mrs. Kane) and Katie Fox (Mrs. Jencken) publicly confessed\nthat the raps to which they as children gave rise were produced by\ndislocation of the toes; and one of them added to their confession\na demonstration of how this was done. It is unfortunate alike that\nthe character of the confessers leaves much to be desired, that the\nconfession was both belated and made under sensational surroundings,\nand that the sinners have no better excuse to offer for their long\nsilence than that the movement was started when they were too young\nto appreciate what was being done, and that when they realized the\nfraud which they were fostering and the success with which they\nwere meeting, it was too late or too difficult to retract. None the\nless, these circumstances do not destroy the interest in tracing the\nevidence of deception and the presence of a moral taint to the very\nstarting-point of one of the most widespread delusions of modern\ntimes.\n\nThe psychological aspect of the phenomena of Spiritualism may be\npresented in a consideration of these questions: How is it that\nthe manifestations produced in evidence of spirit-control carry\nconviction? What is the origin of this mass of testimony in favor\nof spiritualistic marvels? Whence this general tendency to believe\nin the reality of spirit-influence as thus manifested? For the\npurposes of these inquiries it will be profitable to consider a few\ntypical manifestations and to observe their true inwardness. Among\nthe most influential mediums was Henry Slade; through him many were\nconverted to Spiritualism, including the famous Z\u00f6llner coterie, for\nwhom he gave a spiritual demonstration of the reality of the fourth\ndimension of space. After all the prominence which has been given to\nthe Z\u00f6llner sittings and the importance attached to them by reason\nof the eminence of the participants, it is somewhat unexpected to\nread in the report of a reliable observer who interviewed Z\u00f6llner's\nassociates, that \"of the four eminent men whose names have made\nfamous the investigation, there is reason to believe one, _Z\u00f6llner_,\nwas of unsound mind at the time, and anxious for an experimental\ndemonstration of an already accepted hypothesis (the fourth dimension\nof space); another, _Fechner_, was partly blind, and believed because\nof Z\u00f6llner's observations; a third, _Scheibner_, was also afflicted\nwith defective vision, and not entirely satisfied in his own mind as\nto the phenomena; and a fourth, _Weber_, was advanced in age, and did\nnot even recognize the disabilities of his associates.\" None knew\nanything about conjuring, and, deservedly honored as these men were\nin their own specialties, they were certainly not fitted to compete\nwith a professional like Slade. One of Slade's standard performances\nwas the production of communications on a slate held beneath a\ntable, in answer to questions asked by his sitters verbally or in\nwriting, the writing in some cases being concealed in folded slips\nof paper. In his performances before the Seybert Commission it was\nsoon discovered that the character of the writing on the slates was\nof two kinds. The long messages were neatly written, with the i's\ndotted and the t's crossed, and often produced unasked, or not in\ndirect answer to a question; while the short ones in prompt answer\nto direct questions were scrawled, hardly legible, and evidently\nwritten without the aid of the eye. The many methods of producing\nthe short writings were repeated by a professional prestidigitateur\nmuch more skillfully than by Slade. The commission distinctly saw\nevery step in Slade's method on one occasion or another, but were\nutterly baffled by the conjurer (Mr. Harry Kellar), who subsequently\nrevealed his methods to one of their number. The long messages were\nwritten beforehand, on slates to be substituted at a favorable\nopportunity for the ones supplied to the medium. At the last s\u00e9ance\nwith Dr. Slade, two prepared slates were resting against a table\nbehind him, and one of the investigators kept a sharp watch upon\nthese slates. \"Unfortunately, it was too sharp; for one second the\nmedium saw me looking at them. It was enough. That detected look\nprevented the revelation of those elaborate spirit messages. But\nwhen the s\u00e9ance was over, and he was signing the receipt for his\nmoney, I passed round behind his chair and pushed these slates with\nmy foot, so as to make them fall over, whereupon the writing on one\nof them was distinctly revealed.\" The medium at once pushed back\nhis chair, snatched the slates, hurriedly washed them, and could\nwith difficulty regain sufficient composure to sign the receipt for\nthe exorbitant payment of his services. Another observer says with\nregard to Slade: \"The methods of this medium's operations appear\nto me to be perfectly transparent, and I wish to say emphatically\nthat I am astonished beyond expression at the confidence of this\nman in his ability to deceive, and at the recklessness of the risks\nwhich he assumes in the most barefaced manner. The only reason of\nour having any so-called 'manifestations,' under the circumstances,\nwas because of the fact that the committee had agreed in advance to\nbe entirely passive, and to acquiesce in every condition imposed.\"\nMrs. Sidgwick, an able English observer, detected the fraudulent\ncharacter of Slade's performances from the beginning. She points out\nfive important grounds of suspicion: \"His conjurer-like way of trying\nto distract one's attention, his always sitting so as to have the\nright hand to manipulate the slate, the vague and general character\nof the communications, his compelling one to sit with one's hands in\na position that makes it difficult to look under the table, and his\nonly allowing two sitters at a time.\"\n\nThe Seybert Commission, it should be explained, owes its origin\nto the bequest of an ardent believer in Spiritualism, Mr. Henry\nSeybert, to the University of Pennsylvania; which was coupled with\nthe condition that this university should appoint a commission\nto investigate modern Spiritualism. It is from their report[6]\nthat several of my illustrations are taken. The members of this\ncommission began their investigations with an entire willingness\nto accept any conclusion warranted by facts; and their chairman,\nDr. Horace Howard Furness, confessed \"to a leaning in favor of the\nsubstantial truth of spiritualism.\" They examined many of the most\nfamous mediums and the manifestations that contributed most to\ntheir fame. Their verdict, individually and collectively, is the\nsame regarding every medium with whom they saw anything noteworthy:\ngross, intentional fraud throughout. The mediums were treated with\nthe utmost fairness and courtesy; their conditions were agreed to\nand upheld; every one, in each kind of manifestation, was caught in\nthe act of trickery, or else the trick was repeated and explained\nby one of the commission. This testimony goes far to justify\nthe substitution of \"trick\" for \"manifestation,\" of \"senseless\ncant\" for \"spiritualistic explanation,\" of \"adroit conjurer\" for\n\"medium.\" While the accumulative force of this conclusion can only\nbe appreciated by a reading of the report itself, a few further\nillustrations will contribute to a realization of the nature of the\n\"manifestations\" and their typical _milieu_. Mrs. Patterson, medium,\ngives a performance similar to that of Slade. Dr. Knerr had a sitting\nwith her, and adjusted a mirror about his person so as to reflect\nwhatever was going on beneath the table. \"In the mirror I beheld a\nhand ... stealthily insert its fingers between the leaves of the\nslate, take out the little slip (containing the question), unfold\nand again fold it, grasp the little pencil ... and with rapid but\nnoiseless motion ... write across the slate from left to right a few\nlines; then the leaves of the slate were closed, the little pencil\nlaid on the top,\" and the spirits were graciously invoked to send a\nmessage.\n\nThe monotony of the narrative of somewhat vulgar deception is\nagreeably relieved by the entertaining account given by Dr. Furness\nof his experiences with mediums. He sent out sealed letters, the\ncontents of which certain mediums claimed to be able to read and to\nanswer by the aid of spirits, and found the seals tampered with,\nand mucilage and skill used to conceal the crime; he asked the same\nquestion of various mediums and received hopelessly contradictory\nanswers; he detected the form of the medium in her assumed\nmaterializations, and found the spirit ready to answer to any and\nevery name in fiction or reality, from \"Olivia\" of \"The Talking Oak\"\nto Shakespeare. One of the questions asked by Mr. Furness related\nto the ownership in life of a skull in his possession, used for a\nlong time as the \"Yorick's skull\" at a Philadelphia theatre. He was\ntold by one medium that it was \"Marie St. Clair,\" by another that\nit was \"Sister Belle.\" Hence these remarks: \"Marie St. Clair, who,\non spiritual authority as I have shown above, shares the ownership\nwith Sister Belle of 'Yorick's' skull in my possession, has never\nfailed to assent whenever I ask a Spirit if it be she. To be sure,\nshe varies with every different medium, but that is only one of\nher piquant little ways, which I early learned to overlook and at\nlast grew to like. She is both short and tall, lean and plump, with\nstraight hair and with curls, young and middle-aged, so that now it\naffords me real pleasure to meet with a new variety of her.\" Equally\namusing is the conversation with a Spirit who was led to assent to\nthe suggestion that she was \"Olive,\" and at length was addressed\nthus: \"'Oh, Olive, there's one thing I want so much to ask you\nabout.... What was the matter with you that afternoon, one summer,\nwhen your father rode his hunter to the town, and Albert followed\nafter upon his; and then your mother trundled to the gate behind\nthe dappled grays? Do you remember it, dear?' 'Perfectly.' 'Well,\ndon't you remember, nothing seemed to please you that afternoon,\nyou left the novel all uncut upon the rosewood shelf, you left your\nnew piano shut, something seemed to worry you? Do you remember it,\ndear one?' 'All of it; yes, yes.' 'Then you came singing down to\nthat old oak, and kissed the place where I had carved our names with\nmany vows. Tell me, you little witch, who were you thinking of all\nthe time?' 'All the while of you,' she sighed. 'And do you, oh, do\nyou remember that you fell asleep under the oak, and that a little\nacorn fell into your bosom and you tossed it out in a pet? Ah, Olive\ndear, I found that acorn, and kissed it twice and kissed it thrice\nfor thee! And do you know that it has grown into a fine young oak?'\n'I know it,' she answered softly and sadly, 'I often go to it.' This\nwas almost too much for me, and as my memory, on the spur of the\nmoment, of Tennyson's 'Talking Oak' was growing misty, I was afraid\nthe interview might become embarrassing for lack of reminiscences;\"\nso the materialization of a very human form was brought to a close.\nTo this may be added--to illustrate the barefacedness of the medium's\nbusiness--the fact, communicated to me by Dr. Furness, that a noted\nmedium had visited a professional juggler, and, \"making no secret to\nhim of his trickery as a medium for independent slate-writing, had\npurchased from the juggler several other tricks with which to carry\non his spiritualistic trade.\"\n\nThere is both entertainment and instruction in Dr. Knerr's account\nof a s\u00e9ance in which the spirit of an Indian and the mysterious\nuse of a drum were to form parts of the performance. He tells of\nhis success in getting some printer's ink on the drum-sticks just\nbefore the lights were lowered, and of the bewildered astonishment\n(when the lights were turned up after the Indian had manifested) at\nthe condition of the medium's hands. \"How in the world printer's\nink could have gotten smeared over them while under the control of\n'Deerfoot, the Indian,' no one, not even the medium, could fathom.\"\nWe may read how a medium who professed to materialize a \"spirit\"\nright-hand while apparently holding his sitter's hand or arm with\nboth his own, was shown to imitate this double grip with one hand\nand to do the hocus-pocus with the other. We may vary the nature of\nthe fraud almost indefinitely and observe how universal, how coarse,\nhow degrading it is, and how readily it may be induced to leave its\nhiding-place to snatch at a cunningly offered bait,--until in the\nend, if it were not so sad, it would be only ridiculous.\n\nIn the reports of the investigations of mediums, published by the\nSociety for Psychical Research (vol. iv.), we find accounts of the\nperformances of one Englinton, also with slate-writing, and whose\nsuccess, as described by enthusiastic sitters, does not fall short\nof the miraculous. Yet the description of this wonder-worker's\ndoings by a competent observer, Professor Carvill Lewis, renders\nthe manifestations absolutely transparent. He sat intently watching\nEnglinton for an hour, and nothing happened; fearing a blank s\u00e9ance,\nhe purposely diverted his attention. The moment he looked away the\nmanifestations began, and he could see \"the medium look down intently\ntoward his knees and in the direction of the slate. I now quickly\nturned back my head, when the slate was brought up against the table\nwith a sharp rap.\" The man\u0153uvre was repeated with the same result;\nand while the writing was going on, Professor Lewis distinctly saw\n\"the movement of the central tendon in his wrist corresponding to\nthat made by his middle finger in the act of writing. Each movement\nof the tendon was simultaneously accompanied by the sound of a\nscratch on the slate.\" Again, for the answer to the request to define\n\"Idocrase,\" Englinton required the use of a dictionary, and left the\nroom for a minute; the answer was then written just as it is given\nin Webster's dictionary; but, unfortunately, _albumina_ was read\nfor _alumina_. When the slate, which acts with a spring, was to be\nclosed, Englinton suddenly sneezed; when the writing was small and\nfaint, he shifted his position until he came within a few inches\nof it; a postage stamp secretly glued across the two leaves of the\ndouble slate prevented all manifestations; a double fee immediately\ncaused further manifestations, when, owing to the exhaustion of\npower, such had just been declared to be impossible; and the writing\non the slates was identified by an expert as that of Englinton. It\nwas the same Englinton who was convicted of connivance with Mme.\nBlavatsky in the production of a spurious theosophic marvel; and\nit is to him that the following story, supplied by Mr. Padshah and\nindorsed by Mr. Hodgson (the exposer of Mme. Blavatsky), relates:\nMr. Padshah and a friend had asked for Gujerati writing at a s\u00e9ance,\nbut without success. Mr. Padshah (without informing his friend) sent\nanonymously to Englinton a poem in Gujerati; and the friend received\nfrom the medium a minutely faithful copy of the same on a slate, as\nthe direct revelation of the spirits!\n\n\nII\n\nBut all this accounts for only part of the problem. To convict every\nmedium of fraud is not a complete explanation of the appearance which\nthis belief presented in its most characteristic form some decades\nago, and still presents. It remains to account for the great success\nof the movement; for the fact that so many have been deceived and so\nfew have really understood; to show why we are to believe the Seybert\nCommission, and not credit the countless miracle-mongers. This is\npsychologically the most interesting portion of the problem, and has\nbeen very successfully treated by Mrs. Sidgwick, Mr. Hodgson, and Mr.\nDavey, of the Society for Psychical Research.\n\nThere is a very broadspread notion that anybody can go to a\nspiritualistic s\u00e9ance and give a reliable opinion as to whether\nwhat he or she may chance to see is explicable as conjuring or\nnot. Especially where the right to one's opinion is regarded as a\ncorollary to the right of liberty, does this notion prevail. It is\nprobably not an exaggeration to maintain that most such claimants are\nabout as competent to form a trustworthy opinion on such a subject as\nthey are to pronounce upon the genuineness of a Syriac manuscript.\nThe matter is in some aspects as much a technical acquisition as is\nthe diagnosticating of a disease. It is not at all to the discredit\nof any one's powers of observation or intellectual acumen to be\ndeceived by the performances of a conjurer; and the same holds true\nof the professional part of mediumistic phenomena. Until this homely\nbut salutary truth is impressed with all its importance upon all\nintending investigators, there is little hope of bringing about a\nproper attitude towards these and kindred phenomena. We believe that\nthere will be an eclipse of the moon when the astronomer so predicts,\nnot because we can calculate the time or even understand how the\nastronomer does it, but because that is a technical acquisition which\nhe has learned and we have not; and so with a thousand other and more\nhumble facts of daily life. Spiritualism, to a large extent, comes\nunder the same category; and observers who have acquainted themselves\nwith the possibilities of conjuring and the natural history of\ndeception, who by their training and endowment have fitted themselves\nto be competent judges of such alleged ultra-physical facts--these\npersons have the same right to our confidence and respect as a body\nof chemists or physicians on a question within their province. It by\nno means follows that all scientists are fitted for an investigation\nof this kind, nor that all laymen are not; it does follow that a body\nof trained and able observers, who are aware of the possibilities of\nfaulty observation and of the tendency to substitute hasty inference\nfor fact, who know something about deception as a psychological\ncharacteristic, who have acquired or call to their aid the technical\nrequisites for such an investigation, are better fitted to carry it\nto a logical outcome than are others, equally distinguished in other\ndirections and equally able, if you will, but who have not these\nspecial qualifications. It follows that it is not fair for you to\nset up what you think you have seen as overthrowing their authority;\neven if you happen to be an unprejudiced and accurate observer and\nhave weighed the probability of your observations being vitiated by\none or other of the many sources of error in such observation, it is\nonly a small fact, though of course one worthy of notice. There is no\ngood reason why the average man should set so much store by his own\nimpressions of sense, when the fallibility of other witnesses is so\nreadily demonstrable.\n\nWhatever of seeming dogmatism there is in this view is removed by the\nexperimental demonstration furnished by Messrs. Hodgson and Davey,\nthat the kind and amount of mal-observation and faulty description\nwhich an average observer will introduce into the account of a\nperformance such as the medium gives, is amply sufficient to account\nfor the divergence between his report of the performance and what\nreally occurred. The success of a large class of tricks depends\nupon diverting the observer's attention from the points of real\nimportance, and in leading him to draw inferences perfectly valid\nunder ordinary circumstances but entirely wrong in the particular\ncase. It must be constantly remembered that the judging powers are\nat a great disadvantage in observing such performances, and that\nit is a kind of judgment in which they have little practice. In\nthe intercourse of daily life a certain amount of good faith and\nof confidence in the straightforwardness of the doings of others\nprevents us from exercising that close scrutiny and suspicion here\nnecessary. We know that most of our neighbors have neither the\nintention nor the sharpness to deceive us, and do not live on the\nprinciple of the detective, who regards every one as dishonest\nuntil proven to be otherwise. This attitude of extreme suspicion is\nindispensable in dealing with the phenomena now under discussion.\nIt follows, therefore, that the layman cannot serve as a pilot for\nhimself or for others in such troubled waters. This, however, if duly\nrecognized, need not be a matter of concern. \"This unpreparedness\nand inobservancy of mind in the presence of a conjurer,\" says Mr.\nHodgson, is not \"a thing of which any one who is not familiar with\nthe tricks already need be ashamed.\" Even a professional may be\nnonplussed by a medium's performance, if he have no experience in the\nspecial kind of sleight-of-hand required for the trick. This is the\nexperience of Mr. Harry Kellar; he at first declared himself unable\nto explain slate-writing as a trick, but now can repeat the process\nin a variety of ways, and with far greater skill than is shown by the\nmediums. We may therefore approach Mr. Davey's investigation with\nthe assurance that, in all probability, we too should have failed\nto detect what was really done, and should have rendered quite as\nerroneous account of what we saw as did his actual sitters; and\naccording to our training and temperament we should have drawn our\nseveral conclusions, and all of them variously wide of the mark.\n\nMr. Davey (who, by the way, was at one time deceived almost into\nconversion by spiritualistic phenomena, and who, before he took up\nthe matter seriously, recorded his conviction that \"the idea of\ntrickery or jugglery in slate-writing communications is quite out\nof the question\") was an expert amateur conjurer, and repeated the\nslate-writing performances of such as Englinton with at least equal\nskill. He arranged with Mr. Hodgson to give sittings to several\nladies and gentlemen, on the condition that they send him detailed\nwritten accounts of what they had seen. He did not pose as a medium\nnor accept a fee, but simply said that he had something to show\nwhich his sitters were to explain as best they could, and with due\nconsideration of trickery as a possible mode of explanation. The\n\"medium\" has here a decided advantage over Mr. Davey, because his\nsitters come to him with a mental attitude that entertains, however\nremotely, the possibility of witnessing something supernatural;\nand this difference is sufficient to create an adjustment of the\npowers of observation less fitted to detect trickery than if the\nperformer refrains from announcing himself as the go-between of the\nsupernatural. This is well illustrated in the reports of Mr. Davey's\nsitters; for a few friends who were told beforehand that they were\nto witness a sleight-of-hand performance, or were strongly led to\nbelieve it such, made much less of a marvel of the performance than\nthose who had not been thus enlightened. \"Nevertheless\" (I am citing\nfrom Mr. Podmore's r\u00e9sum\u00e9), \"the effect produced was such that a\nwell-known professional conjurer expressed his complete inability\nto explain the results by trickery; that no one of his sitters ever\ndetected his _modus operandi_; that most were completely baffled,\nor took refuge in the supposition of a new form of electricity,\nor 'a powerful magnetic force used in double manner: (1) a force\nof attraction, and (2) that of repulsion'; and that more than\none spiritualist ascribed the phenomena to occult agency, and\nregarded--perhaps still regard--Mr. Davey as a renegade medium.\"\n\nMr. Davey's performances, _as described_ by many of his sitters,\nlike the descriptions of the performances of many a medium, are\nmarvelous enough to demand the hypothesis of occult agency: \"Writing\nbetween a conjurer's own slates in a way quite inexplicable to\nthe conjurer; writing upon slates locked and carefully guarded by\nwitnesses; writing upon slates held by the witnesses firmly against\nthe under-surface of the table; writing upon slates held by the\nwitnesses above the table; answers to questions written secretly in\nlocked slates; correct quotations appearing on guarded slates from\nbooks chosen by the witnesses at random, and sometimes mentally,\nthe books not touched by the 'medium'; writing in different colors\nmentally chosen by the witnesses, covering the whole side of one\nof their own slates; messages in languages unknown to the medium,\nincluding a message in German, for which only a mental request had\nbeen made, and a letter in Japanese in a double slate locked and\nsealed by the witness; the date of a coin placed by the witness in a\nsealed envelope correctly written in a locked slate upon the table,\nthe envelope remaining intact; a word written between slates screwed\ntogether and also corded and sealed together, the word being chosen\nby the witness after the slates were fastened by himself, etc.,\netc. And yet, though 'autographic' fragments of pencil were 'heard'\nweaving mysterious messages between and under and over slates, and\nfragments of chalk were seen moving about under a tumbler placed\nabove the table in full view, none of the sitters witnessed that best\nphenomenon, _Mr. Davey writing_.\"\n\nIt must not be supposed that the errors of mal-description and\nlapse of memory thus committed are at all serious in themselves; on\nthe contrary, they are mostly such as would be entirely pardonable\nin ordinary matters. Mr. Hodgson places them in four classes. In\nthe first, the observer _interpolates_ a fact which really did not\nhappen, but which he was led to believe had occurred; he records that\nhe examined the slate, when he really did not. Secondly, for similar\ncauses, he _substitutes_ one statement for another closely like it;\nhe says he examined the slate minutely, when he really only did so\nhastily. Thirdly, he _transposes_ the order in which the events\nhappened, making the examination of the slate occur at a later period\nthan when it really took place. Lastly, he _omits_ certain details\nwhich he was carefully led to consider trivial, but which really\nwere most important. Such slight lapses as these are sufficient\nto make a marvel of a clever piece of conjuring; add to this the\nincreased temptations for mal-observation afforded by the dim light\nand mysterious surroundings of the medium, as well as by the\nsympathetic attitude of the sitters, and the wide divergence between\nthe miraculous narratives of spiritualists and the homely deceptions\nwhich they are intended to describe, is no longer a mystery.\n\nIt cannot be too strongly insisted upon how slight may be the clue\nthat holds the key to the explanation, how easy it is to overlook\nit, how mysterious the performance becomes without it. It may be the\ndifference between placing the slate in a given position and starting\nto do so when the hand of the medium naturally comes forward to\nreceive it; it may depend upon whether the slates were examined just\nbefore or just after a certain detail in the performance which was\ncarefully not made prominent; it may depend upon the difficulty of\nreally seeing a quick and unexpected sleight-of-hand movement on the\npart of a skilled performer; it may depend upon whether the question\nasked was really of your own choosing, or was deftly led up to; it\nmay depend upon a score of other equally insignificant details upon\nwhich the assurance of the average person, that such mal-observation\nor misdescription did not occur, is almost worthless. These are\nsome of the slighter factors in the case; there may be much more\nserious ones which lead not merely to exaggeration but to elaborate\nfalsification and distortion of truth, and to the emphatic assertion\nof the most extravagant miracles, coupled usually with the assurance\nthat there was no possibility or room for deception. Mr. Davey's\nperformance was relatively a matter-of-fact test with critical and\nintelligent sitters; hence we should expect the divergence between\nreport and reality to be far less serious than when the question\nat issue is the demonstration of the supernatural by an appeal\nto the religious fervor and to the emotional susceptibilities of\nwould-be believers and sympathetic propagandists. I shall return\nto this difference of attitude in discussing the prepossession\nin favor of the belief in Spiritualism; for the present, it is\nsufficient to notice that under the most favorable combination of\ncircumstances--that is, an able, educated, and experienced observer\nwitnessing a definite performance in a calm, critical mood, and\ncarefully preparing a written account of his observations--the\ndifference between actual fact and the testimony of the witness is\nstill considerable, and the divergence often upon essential points.\nWe are accordingly justified in making allowance for double or treble\nor a hundredfold more serious divergence between fact and report,\nwhen we pass to decidedly less favorable conditions, such as those of\nthe ordinary spiritualistic test or s\u00e9ance; for these surely present\nconditions least conducive to accuracy of observation or of record.\n\nIt is seldom that so direct and forcible an application of\nexperimental results to actual mental experiences occurring under\nfamiliar circumstances can be made, as is the case in regard to\nthis noteworthy investigation of Messrs. Hodgson and Davey. This\ninvestigation, almost at one stroke, throws a blinding light upon\nthe entire field of the phenomena; accounting in large part for the\nvast aggregate of testimony in favor of miracles by actual witnesses,\ndemonstrating the readiness with which we may unwittingly deceive\nourselves by false observation and others by lapses of memory, as\nto what we actually witnessed; and again presenting the nature of\nthese fallible characteristics of sense-perception and memory, of\ninference and judgment, so strikingly and tangibly as to serve as\na classic illustration for the psychologist. The practical import\nof these considerations has been quite generally disregarded by\nupholders of the spiritualistic hypothesis, and has by no means been\nfully appreciated by those who lay claim to an opinion upon the\nsignificance of spiritualistic manifestations, and who discuss the\npsychological questions which they involve.\n\nIt is pertinent to add that after Mr. Davey's death, Mr. Hodgson\nfelt free to publish a precise account of what Mr. Davey actually\ndid during the slate-writing s\u00e9ances.[7] The description from before\nthe footlights may thus be compared with the account from behind the\nscenes; and although verbal accounts must always be weak and lack\nthe realistic touch of the _mise en sc\u00e8ne_, yet this account makes\npossible a kinetoscopic reproduction, as it were, of the original\nsitting; we may observe the point at which the several sitters\ncommitted their faults of defective observation or report; we may\nexamine at leisure the several steps in the performance which the\neyes overlooked in the hasty single glimpse afforded by the sitting\nitself; we may attend to details which in the original sitting\nreached only the outlying and evanescent phases of consciousness.\nBut, on the whole, the psychological comprehension of the \"s\u00e9ance\"\nwas sufficiently manifest without this disclosure of the _modus\noperandi_; the disclosure has its value, however, in removing the\npossibility of certain forms of criticism of the results, in\npresenting data by which the specific nature of mal-observation may\nbe more concretely studied, and in convincing the more obstinate and\nskeptical of how natural it is to err in matters beyond the range of\none's intimate experience.\n\nA corroborative illustration of the subjective contribution to\ndeceptions of this type--the part that \"always comes out of our\nhead,\" in Professor James's phrase--is furnished by M. Binet's series\nof photographs, taken at the rate of ten or twelve per second, of the\nhands of the performer during a sleight-of-hand performance; for the\nphotographs do not show the essential illusion which the eyes seem to\nsee, but which is really supplied by the fixed interpretative habits\nof the spectators.\n\nThe conclusion thus experimentally arrived at by Messrs. Hodgson\nand Davey is reinforced by other investigators. After witnessing a\ns\u00e9ance that was merely a series of the simplest and most glaringly\nevident tricks, Mrs. Sidgwick was expected to have had all her doubts\nentirely removed, and was assured that what she had seen was better\nthan the materializations at Paris. \"Experiences like this make one\nfeel how misleading the accounts of some completely honest witnesses\nmay be; for the materializations in Paris were those which the Comte\nde Bullet had with Firman, where near relatives of the Count were\nbelieved constantly to appear, and which are among the most wonderful\nrecorded in spiritualistic literature. And, after all, it appears\nthat these marvelous s\u00e9ances were no better than this miserable\npersonation by Haxby.\"\n\nThe Seybert Commission finds that \"with every possible desire on the\npart of spiritualists to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing\nbut the truth, concerning marvelous phenomena, it is extremely\ndifficult to do so. Be it distinctly understood that we do not for an\ninstant impute willful perversion of the truth. All that we mean is\nthat, for two reasons, it is likely that the marvels of spiritualism\nwill be, by believers in them, incorrectly and insufficiently\nreported. The first reason is to be found in the mental condition of\nthe observer; if he be excited or deeply moved, his account cannot\nbut be affected, and essential details will surely be distorted.\nFor a second reason, note how hard it is to give a truthful account\nof any common, everyday occurrence. The difficulty is increased a\nhundredfold when what we would tell partakes of the wonderful. Who\ncan truthfully describe a juggler's trick? Who would hesitate to\naffirm that a watch, which never left the eyesight for an instant,\nwas broken by the juggler on an anvil; or that a handkerchief was\nburned before our eyes? We all know the juggler does not break the\nwatch, and does not burn the handkerchief. We watched most closely\nthe juggler's right hand, while the trick was done with his left. The\none minute circumstance has been omitted that would have converted\nthe trick into no-trick. It is likely to be the same in the accounts\nof the most wonderful phenomena of spiritualism.\"\n\nIf we desire a concrete instance of this omission of an important\ndetail, we may turn once more to Dr. Furness's narrative. Certain\nhighly intelligent observers had described to him the marvelous\naccomplishments of a Boston medium; and this is his own account:\n\"There are two tables in the room of s\u00e9ance, at one of which sits the\nmedium, at the other, the visitor. The visitor at his table writes\nhis question in pencil at the top of a long slip of paper, and,\nafter folding over several times the portion of the slip on which\nhis question is written, gums it down with mucilage and hands it to\nthe medium, who thereupon places on the folded and gummed portion\nhis left hand, and in a few minutes with his right hand writes down\nanswers to the concealed questions; these answers are marvels of\npertinency, and prove beyond a cavil the clairvoyant or spiritual\npowers of the medium.\" Dr. Furness went to the medium, prepared his\nslip of paper about as described, and thus continues: \"As soon as he\ntook his seat, and laid the strip on his table before him, I rose and\napproached the table so as to keep my paper still in sight; _the row\nof books entirely intercepted my view of it_. The medium instantly\nmotioned to me to return to my seat, and, I think, told me to do so.\nI obeyed, and as I did so could not repress a profound sigh. Why had\nno one ever told me of that row of books?\"\n\n\nIII\n\nI have thus passed in review a series of facts and considerations\nin pursuance of the general inquiry as to why the manifestations\nproduced in evidence of spirit agency deceive, and as to the origin\nof the vast testimony in favor of spiritualistic marvels. It is\nnot necessary for the purposes of the psychological discussion to\ndemonstrate that all such manifestations are fraudulent; it is not\neven necessary--although with limitless time and energy it might be\ndesirable--to examine all of the various kinds of manifestations\nwhich the ingenuity of mediums has devised, or which have been\npresented through mediumistic agency.[8] All that is necessary is\nto examine a sufficient number of manifestations of acknowledged\nstanding and repute among spiritualists,--manifestations, be it\nclearly understood, which have actually brought hundreds and\nthousands of converts to its ranks, which have been persistently\nbrought forward as indisputable evidence of supernatural agency--and\nto show that in reference to these, actual and extensive deception\nhas taken place. It would not be proper to declare that at this point\nthe psychologist's interest ends; for the centre of interest in such\nproblems may shift from one point to another. The central point in\nthe present discussion, however, is not what is the evidence in\nfavor of the spiritualistic hypothesis logically worth,--although\nthe considerations here presented have obvious and radical bearings\nupon that question. If that were our quest, we should put the\nspiritualists upon the defensive; for the burden rests upon them\nto show the inadequacy of the natural explanation of the phenomena,\nand to present the special facts that point to the correctness\nof the spiritualistic as opposed to other explanations. We may\nrecognize, in passing, to what sorry excuses they are driven in its\ndefense: writing, they are driven to explain, is best produced in the\ndark, because dark is \"negative,\" and light is \"positive\"; if the\nspirit that appears resembles the medium, that is an effect of the\nmaterializing process; if a piece of muslin is found in the medium's\ncabinet (and obviously used as drapery in the materializations),\nit is supposed to have been brought by the spirits to clothe their\nnakedness, or that the spirit which had brought the muslin \"had to\nvanish so quickly that it had no time to dematerialize the muslin;\"\nif writing does not appear when the slates are looked at, that is\nbecause the \"magnetism\" of the eye interferes with this spiritual\nprocess of writing; and did not Slade receive an express command\nfrom the spirits forbidding him, on penalty of cutting off all\ncommunication, to attempt to write on sealed slates? Some even claim\nthat fraud and genuine manifestations go hand in hand, or that\nthe former are the work of evil spirits counterfeiting conjuring\ntricks. A prominent spiritualist openly announces that Slade \"now\noften cheats with an almost infantile audacity and na\u00efvet\u00e9, while at\nthe same or the next s\u00e9ance, with the same investigators,\" genuine\nspiritualistic phenomena occur; while another disciple holds that the\ntrue spirit in which to approach the study is an \"entire willingness\nto be deceived.\" Surely there is no duty resting upon scientific\nmen to consider the claims of a system that resorts to such idle and\nextravagant hypotheses, and that fosters and prospers in such a moral\natmosphere.\n\nWe may therefore profitably confine our attention to the\npsychological lessons to be drawn from the record of fraud and\ndeception which the exploitation of Spiritualism has produced.[9]\nWhen the day comes when the manifestations above considered shall be\ndefinitely conceded to have a natural explanation along the general\nlines here presented, and the spiritualists shall have taken refuge\nin other and distinctively different manifestations, then it may\nbecome advisable to prepare a revised account of the psychology of\nSpiritualism.\n\nThere remains an important series of considerations that form an\nessential factor in the psychological comprehension of the phenomena\nof Spiritualism; this is the effect of bias and prepossession.\nWhen by one means or another a strong faith in the reality of\nspiritualistic manifestations has been induced; when the critical\nattitude gives place to a state of extreme emotional tension; when,\nperhaps, special griefs and trials give undue fervor to the desire\nfor a material proof of life after death, of communion with the\ndear departed; when the convert becomes a defendant of the faith,\nanxious to strengthen the proofs of his own conviction,--then we have\nno longer mere unintentional lapses of observation and memory to\ndeal with, but actual mental blindness to obvious fraud and natural\nexplanations; then caution is thrown to the winds and marvels are\nreported that are the result of expectant attention and imagination,\nor of real illusion and hallucination. The blamelessness that may be\nconceded for one's mystification by conjuring performances cannot\nbe extended to the present class of experiences; here it is not\nunusualness of external arrangements that forms the main factor in\nthe deception, but the abnormal condition of the observer's mind.\nThe materialization s\u00e9ances offer a sufficient example of this form\nof manifestation. To recognize a departed friend in the thinly\ndisguised form of the medium is most naturally interpreted as a mark\nof weak insight or of strong prejudice. \"Again and again,\" writes Dr.\nFurness, \"men have led round the circles the materialized spirits of\ntheir wives and introduced them to each visitor in turn; fathers have\ntaken round their daughters, and I have seen widows sob in the arms\nof their dead husbands. Testimony such as this staggers me. Have I\nbeen smitten with color-blindness? Before me, as far as I can detect,\nstands the very medium herself, in shape, size, form, and feature\ntrue to a line, and yet, one after another, honest men and women at\nmy side, within ten minutes of each other, assert that she is the\nabsolute counterpart of their nearest and dearest friend; nay, that\nshe is that friend. It is as incomprehensible to me as the assertion\nthat the heavens are green, and the leaves of the trees deep blue.\nCan it be that the faculty of observation and comparison is rare, and\nthat our features are really vague and misty to our best friends? Is\nit that the medium exercises some mesmeric influence on her visitors,\nwho are thus made to accept the faces which she wills them to see?\nOr is it, after all, only the dim light and a fresh illustration\nof _la nuit tous les chats sont gris_?\" In the confessions of an\nexposed medium we read: \"The first s\u00e9ance I held, after it became\nknown to the Rochester people that I was a medium, a gentleman from\nChicago recognized his daughter Lizzie in me after I had covered my\nsmall mustache with a piece of flesh-colored cloth, and reduced the\nsize of my face with a shawl I had purposely hung up in the back of\nthe cabinet.\" With such powerful magicians as an expectant interest\nand a strong prepossession, the realm of the marvelous is easily\nentered; but the evidence thus accumulated may be said to have about\nthe same scientific value as the far more interesting entertainments\nof the \"Thousand and One Nights.\" \"Sergeant Cox,\" Mr. Podmore tells\nus, \"adduced the hallucinatory feeling of a missing limb in proof\nof a spiritual body; and a writer in the 'Spiritualist,' 'not yet\nconvinced of the spiritualistic theory,' could even pronounce the\nafter-images produced by gazing at a straw hat to be 'independent\nof any known human agency.' From all of which it may be gathered\nthat the conscientious spiritualist, when on marvels bent, did not\ndisplay a frugal mind.\" Such opinions certainly justify Mr. Podmore's\nremark that there are spiritualists, \"not a few, who would be capable\nof testifying, if their prepossessions happened to point that way,\nthat they had seen the cow jump over the moon; and would refer for\ncorroborative evidence to the archives of the nursery.\"\n\nIt is natural to suppose that prepossession of such intensity could\noccur only amongst the less intelligent and less discerning portions\nof mankind; but to a considerable extent, and certainly in sporadic\ninstances, this is not the case. The distinguished naturalist who\nshares with Darwin the honor of contributing to modern thought the\nconceptions of evolution, in his ardent advocacy of Spiritualism,\nhas recorded his assent to the belief that professional conjurers,\nperforming at the Crystal Palace in London, could not accomplish\ntheir tricks without supernatural aid. With peculiar obliviousness\nto the double-edgedness of his remark, he writes: \"If you think\nit all juggling, point out where the difference lies between it\nand mediumistic phenomena.\" The same prepossession renders him so\nimpervious to the actual status of the evidence for Spiritualism as\nto permit him to record so preposterous a statement as the following:\nThe physical phenomena of Spiritualism \"have all, or nearly all, been\nbefore the world for twenty years; the theories and explanations\nof reviewers and critics do not touch them, or in any way satisfy\nany sane man who has repeatedly witnessed them; they have been\ntested and examined by skeptics of every grade of incredulity, men\nin every way qualified to detect imposture or to discover natural\ncauses,--trained physicists, medical men, lawyers, and men of\nbusiness,--but in every case the investigators have either retired\nbaffled, or become converts.\" And in the latest utterances of the\nsame authority the failure to credit the marvels of Spiritualism is\nput down along with the equal neglect of phrenology, as among the\nsignal failures of our \"wonderful century.\" If any further instances\nbe required of the astounding effects of bias and prepossession in\nmatters spiritualistic, the vast literature of the subject may be\nreferred to as a sad but instructive monument of its influence.\n\n\nIV\n\nThe consideration of the effects of a prepossession in favor of a\nbelief in spirit-agency leads naturally to a consideration of the\norigin of the belief. This tendency to believe in the return to\nearth of the spirits of the departed, is probably to be viewed as a\nform of expression of the primitive animism that dominates savage\nphilosophy, that pervades the historical development of religion\nand of science, and that crops out in various ways throughout all\ngrades of civilization and all levels of society. Combined with\nit is an equally fundamental love for the marvelous, and a more\nor less suppressed belief in the significance of the obscure, the\nmysterious, the occult. These belief-tendencies, accordingly, have\nan anthropological significance and an historical continuity which\nMr. Lang thus presents: \"These instances prove that, from the\nAustralian blacks in the Bush, who hear raps when the spirits come,\nto ancient Egypt, and thence to Greece, and last, in our own time,\nand in a London suburb, similar experiences real or imaginary are\nexplained by the same hypothesis. No 'survival' can be more odd and\nstriking, none more illustrative of the permanence, in human nature,\nof certain elements. To examine these psychological curiosities may,\nor may not, be 'useful,' but, at the lowest, the study may rank as\na branch of mythology or folk-lore.\" Mr. Tylor fully concords with\nthis view: \"The received spiritualistic theory,\" he says, \"belongs\nto the philosophy of savages.... Suppose a wild North American\nIndian looking on at a spirit-s\u00e9ance in London. As to the presence\nof disembodied spirits, manifesting themselves by raps, noises,\nvoices, and other physical actions, the savage would be perfectly\nat home in the proceedings; for such things are part and parcel\nof his recognized system of nature.\" Mr. Podmore's comment upon\nthe spiritualistic hypothesis expresses a kindred thought. \"As the\npeasant referred the movement of the steam-engine to the only motive\nforce with which he was acquainted, and supposed that there were\nhorses inside, so the spiritualists, recognizing, as they thought,\nin the phenomena the manifestations of will and intelligence not\napparently those of any person visibly present, invoked the agency of\nthe spirits of the dead. We can hardly call this belief an hypothesis\nor an explanation; it seems indeed at its outset to have been little\nmore than the instinctive utterance of primitive animism.\"\n\nThe strongly rooted, anti-logical tendencies of our nature, thus\nindicated, come to the surface in various and unexpected ways,\nand give rise to views and cults that have much in common with\nthe manifestations and beliefs of Spiritualism. It is this very\ncommunity that forms one of the recognizable stigmata of such\nmovements; everywhere there is an appeal to the yearning for the\nmysterious, for special signs and omens that may reinforce the\npersonal interpretation of the events of the universe, and reveal the\ntranscendence of the limitations of natural law. These movements,\ntoo, seem at different epochs to flare up and spread into true\nepidemics, utterly consuming all inherent foundations of logic and\ncommon sense, in the white heat of the emotional interest with which\nthey advance. It seems to matter little how trivial, how absurd,\nhow vulgar, how ignorant, or how improbable the manifestations may\nbe, the passion for belief in their mysterious origin sets all\naside. Why returning spirits should devote their energies to playing\ntambourines, and conjuring with slates, to Indian dances, and vapid,\nbombastic, and ungrammatical \"inspirational\" speeches, seems not even\nto be considered. It requires as little evidence and as ridiculous\nevidence to prove a spirit to a spiritualist as it did to prove a\nwitch to a witch-finder. Those whose feelings are not appealed to by\nthe doctrines of Spiritualism will assuredly never be attracted by\nits logic.\n\nThe psychologist who observes the natural history of the belief in\nSpiritualism,--its origin, and mode of propagation, its blossoming\nand fruitage, is naturally led to consider the nature of its decline.\nThat it declines rapidly in the presence of newer rivals for popular\nfavor, appealing to much the same mental and emotional traits, and\ntherefore finding a similar constituency, has been made evident\nin the vicissitudes of its career. It suffered considerably at the\nperiod when the meteoric showers of Theosophy passed over our planet;\nit is subject to the waning of interest that always accompanies\nfamiliarity, and that makes even the most exciting experiences pale\nwith time. Such familiarity also gives opportunity for the return\nof a calm and critical investigative attitude, such as the last two\ndecades, in particular, have brought about. That such investigation\nis destined seriously to influence opinion, and eventually to triumph\nover error and superstition, no one with confidence in the ultimate\nrationality of mankind will be inclined to doubt. In the case of\nSpiritualism, logic will find a worthy ally in the more discerning\ndevelopment of the moral sensibilities which true culture always\nbrings with it. When it is realized that a system that aims to\ninstruct men in regard to beliefs appealing most earnestly and deeply\nto the human heart appears in the light of exact investigation as\na tottering framework, held together by gross fraud, covered over\nwith innocent self-deception, but also with vulgar sham; when it is\nrealized that under the shelter of such a system men and women all\nover our land are daily and hourly preying upon the credulity of\nsimple-minded folk, and obtaining a livelihood by means for which\nthe law provides punishment,--the moral indignation following upon\nthis realization will impart vigor to the protest against such\npractices, which a mere sense of their irrationality would fail to\nincite. The moral and \u00e6sthetic aversion which many of the practices\nand tenets of Spiritualism arouses in those whose ideals are sound\nand steadfast may prove to be a more serious menace to the spread of\nthe belief, a more potent source of its decay, than even its inherent\ninconsistencies and improbabilities.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[6] _Preliminary Report of the Commission appointed by the University\nof Pennsylvania to investigate Modern Spiritualism_, Philadelphia,\n1887, Lippincott, p. 159. The members of the commission were: Dr.\nWilliam Pepper, Dr. Joseph Leidy, Dr. G. S. Koenig, Prof. R. E.\nThompson, Prof. G. S. Fullerton, Dr. H. H. Furness, Mr. Coleman\nSellers, Dr. J. W. White, Dr. C. B. Knerr, and Dr. S. Weir Mitchell.\n\n[7] _Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research_, vol. viii.\n253.\n\n[8] I desire not to seem to overlook the fact that there\nare manifestations presented by Spiritualism of a different\ncharacter from those above considered. There are, for example,\nthe inspirational messages revealed through the medium when in a\ntrance-like condition, and which are supposed to rest for their\nproof of supernatural origin on the testimony of the medium or\nupon their internal content. The psychological status of these and\nsimilar mediumistic phenomena must be interpreted in the light of our\nknowledge of hypnotic and allied conditions, of automatic writing,\nof modifications of conscious and subconscious personality. I do\nnot consider that the evidence which these phenomena contribute\ntowards the establishment of the probability of the truth of the\nspiritualistic hypothesis at all affects the estimate arrived at in\nthe main discussion. That there are other than the physical phenomena\nof Spiritualism should, however, not be overlooked.\n\n[9] There is a minor problem of psychological interest in regard\nto the fraud apparent in these manifestations, that is worthy of\nconsideration: namely, the motives for such fraud. That greed for\ngain and notoriety constitute two of the main inducements is obvious\nenough; that the latter is a far more widespread and variable mental\ninducement than we ordinarily realize, has been shown by the cases\nin which fraud has been detected. In addition we must recognize the\nexistence of deception as the expression of a deep-seated instinct\nabnormally present in not a few persons. It is deception for the\nlove of imposing upon humanity, mingled somewhat with a love of the\nconspicuousness and interest which the deceiver's position brings\nwith it; and this often exists where the motives for it cannot be\naccurately determined. Cases of deception on the part of children,\non the part of those who present suspicions of the hysterical\ntemperament, and cases of so-called disinterested deception, have\nbeen collected in sufficient number to make the criticisms which are\nadvanced against professional mediums quite as cogent in the case\nof unpaid and private mediums. I may refer to the discussion of the\nsubject by Mr. Podmore. _Studies in Psychical Research_, p. 185, sqq.\n\n\n\n\nHYPNOTISM AND ITS ANTECEDENTS\n\n\nImportant periods in the history of science are as likely to be\ncharacterized by changes in attitude towards the accepted body of\nknowledge, as by the extension of its realm through new discoveries.\nThe contrast between the undeveloped and the advanced stages of a\nscience is as well realized by noting the totally different mode\nin which facts are viewed, as by observing the vast increase in\nthe range of recorded fact. The alchemist and the chemist have far\nmore in common in the way of operations and material than in their\nconceptions of the purposes and the method of their pursuits. The\nastrologer and the astronomer are again most characteristically\ndifferentiated by their motives and point of view; both observe\nthe positions of planet and star, and calculate orbits and phases\nand oppositions; but nothing is more absurdly irrelevant to the\nastronomer's purpose than the hope of predicting the fortunes of\nmen. A more modern example of a similar relation is that between\nphrenology and the physiological doctrine of the localization of\nfunctions in the brain. And alchemist, astrologer, and phrenologist\nhave this in common: that they aimed at immediately practical ends.\nThe one hoped to create wealth, the other to foretell and control\nfate, and the third to insure success by discovering the earmarks\nof natural gifts. They distorted the facts of nature, and in the\nnarrow pursuit of a practical goal, substituted for realities their\nown fanciful theories, or the elaborations of their defective logic.\nScience advances most favorably when the best energies are devoted to\na comprehension of fundamental principles and to the accumulation of\ndata under the guidance of the interests to which these principles\ngive rise; and when the work proceeds with the confidence that, more\nindirectly but more surely, will the richest practical benefits thus\naccrue. The marked contrast exemplified in the history of chemistry\nand astronomy, and in a more limited way of brain physiology, make\nit proper to speak of the very different pursuits with which they\nwere associated as their antecedents and not as early stages of their\nown development. Intimate as may be the relations between the two\nhistorically, the one represents but the forerunner of the other;\nit indicates in what direction interest guided thought before that\nchanged interest appeared, which made possible the germination and\ngrowth of the true science. Only when the weeds had been rooted out\ndid the flowers begin to thrive.\n\n\nI\n\nThe history of hypnotism furnishes another and a varied illustration\nof a similar relation. If we accept as the essential fact of modern\nhypnotism the demonstration of an altered nervous and mental state,\nin which suggestibility is increased to a quite abnormal degree;\nin which, accordingly, functions not ordinarily under the control\nof voluntary effort become so controllable, and there are induced\nsimple and complex modifications of physiological and psychological\nactivities,--then the condition of opinion that prevailed prior\nto the recognition of the true significance of the phenomena in\nquestion, the false and unfounded and mystical conceptions concerning\nthem, may properly be grouped together as the antecedents of\nhypnotism. The entire aspect of the problem under the one r\u00e9gime\nis strikingly different from its appearance under the reign of the\nsuccessor.\n\nIn the presentation, from the point of view of modern hypnotism, of\nthe more important steps in the tortuous and laborious transition\nfrom unbridled speculation and fantastic practices to a rational\nand consistent body of truth, a twofold interest may be maintained;\nthe one, in the fluctuation of opinion antecedent to the scientific\nrecognition of hypnotism, and the other in the _dramatis person\u00e6_\nconcerned in this history and their contributions, great and small,\nfor good or for ill, to that gradual and irregular change of attitude\nthe tested residue of which modern hypnotism embodies. The latter\ninterest will form a helpful guide for selection among the complex\nsequence of events with which we shall have to deal. Accounts of the\nwell-established phenomena of hypnotism are so readily accessible,\nthat it seems sufficient to emphasize these two fundamental\npoints--the ultimate recognition of an altered psycho-physiological\nstate, and of the dominant part which suggestion plays in the\ndevelopment of hypnotic phenomena--and to accept them as furnishing\nthe principles according to which the survey of the antecedents of\nhypnotism is to be conducted.\n\nIt will appear that much of the conflict which the present tale\nunfolds is the conflict between the rational investigation of\nintelligible facts and the unwarranted attempts at an explanation\nof alleged miracles,--a phase of the conflict between science and\nmysticism. The imperfectly understood is apt to be explained by the\nstill more obscure; totally imaginary forms of energy are called\nupon to account for poorly observed effects; and so the mystery\ndeepens, superstition spreads, and charlatanism finds a fertile\nfield for its display. This conflict in the present instance is by\nno means confined to the past; the mystical and the miraculous, or\nat least the unintelligible side of hypnotic phenomena still finds\nits exponents. Accounts of observations and experiments purporting\nto demonstrate that hypnotism not only presents hyper\u00e6sthesia and\nexaggerated forms of mental activity, but transcends all normal\npsychological processes and reveals a hidden world in which other\nforces and other modes of mental communication freely appear,\nare widely circulated and sometimes with the authority of names\nof repute. But the more discerning, the more exact, and the more\nlogical students of hypnotism, cannot accept such observations, and\nhave often been able to point out the unmistakable sources of error\nwhich gave rise to them. The shrewdness of hypnotized subjects, the\nunconscious suggestion of the operator, looseness of observation and\ntheoretical bias, exercise the same influence for error to-day as\nthey presented in the antecedents of hypnotism.\n\nIn reading the story of former opinion, it is of advantage to keep in\nmind the well-established facts regarding hypnotism, not alone for\nthe sake of recognizing what is important and what unessential, what\nare the instructive and what the irrelevant facts and details, but\nalso for the equal advantage of securing data for the interpretation\nof phenomena, which in the absence of present-day knowledge, and in\nthe misleading accounts current at the time, naturally gave rise\nto extravagant forms of explanation. Our knowledge of insanity,\nhysteria, and trance-conditions, of the influence of the mind\nover the body, of the nature of illusion and hallucination, of\nprepossession and suggestion, shed a strong light upon religious\necstasy, upon demon-possession, upon cures by shrines and relics,\nor by the king's touch, upon the contagion of psychic epidemics,\nupon the action of magnetized tree or \"mesmerized\" water, upon the\nperformances of \"sensitives\" and somnambulists, and the sensational\nscenes enacted about the \"baquet.\" Our historical survey might\naccordingly include an account of the states of insensibility and of\nthe potent power of suggestion, which occurred in connection with\nthe religious observances in the practices of ancient civilizations,\nand have always formed, as they still form, a characteristic cult\namong primitive peoples. That such states, closely corresponding\nto the hypnotic trance, are induced for magical purposes among\nsavages is more than probable; equally clear is it that interspersed\nthrough the venerable record of magic and witchcraft and ecstasy\nand exorcism and miraculous cures, are accounts of states, induced\nusually by religious fervor, which are strongly suggestive of\nsome of the characteristics of the hypnotic condition. But in the\ninterests of unity and brevity it will be best to limit attention\nto those ancestors of hypnotism, of whose methods and practices we\nhave fairly definite information. More especially does the career of\nMesmer supply the most favorable starting-point of the survey; yet\nsome notice should be taken of those who preceded him in achieving\nreputation as healers of disease.\n\n\nII\n\nOne of the best known of these healers was Valentine Greaterick\n(or Greatrakes), who was born in Ireland in 1628, and who came to\nEngland (about 1665) by invitation of Lord Conway, upon a mission\nthus quaintly expressed: to cure \"that excellent lady of his, the\npains of whose _head_, as great and as unparalleled as they are,\nhave not made her more known and admired at home and abroad, than\nhave her other endowments.\" Lady Conway seems to have been intensely\ndevoted to mystical pursuits, and assembled at Ragley Castle such men\nas Greatrakes, Rev. Joseph Glanvill, F.R.S., author of _Sadducismus\nTriumphatus_, Dr. Henry Moore, the Cambridge Platonist, and others\nof whom Mr. Lang speaks as \"an unofficial but active society for\npsychical research, as that study existed in the seventeenth\ncentury.\" They told tales of \"levitation\" and witchcraft and the\nmovements of bodies by unseen agencies, at all of which one or the\nother had been an eyewitness; and Greatrakes seems to have taken as\nprominent a part in these as in the healing proceedings. Greatrakes\nwas called to his career by a special indication of providence--\"he\nheard a voyce within him (audible to none else) encouraging to the\ntryals; and afterwards to correct his unbelief the voice aforesaid\nadded this signe, _that his right hand should be dead, and that the\nstroaking of his left arme should recover it again_, the events\nwhereof were fully verified by him three nights together by a\nsuccessive infirmity and cure of his arme.\" While he failed to cure\nLady Conway's headaches \"he wrought a few miracles of healing among\nrural invalids,\" and seems to have been particularly successful\nwith nervous complaints. \"I saw him,\" writes a contemporary, \"put\nhis Finger into the Eares of a man who was very thick of Hearing,\nand immediately he heard me when I asked him very softly severall\nquestions.\"\n\nThe status of the medical science of the day is well reflected in\nthe comment of Henry Stubbe, physician at Stratford upon Avon, from\nwhose contemporary account our knowledge of Greatrakes is obtained.\nFor explanation of the cures, he suggests \"that God had bestowed upon\nMr. _Greatarick_ a peculiar Temperament, or composed his Body of\nsome particular Ferments, the _Effluvia_ whereof, being introduced\nsometimes by a light, sometimes by a violent Friction, should restore\nthe Temperament of the Debilitated parts, reinvigorate the Blood,\nand dissipate all heterogeneous Ferments out of the Bodies of the\nDiseased, by the Eyes, Nose, Mouth, Hand and Feet.\" However crude may\nseem this cure by the \"Precipitation of the Morbifique Ferment,\" the\ntheoretical position of Mesmer is not less hypothetical, dogmatic,\nand gratuitous. Indeed, to Greatrakes's and his biographer's credit,\nit should be noted that they recognized the distinction between\nfunctional and organic complaints; that Mr. Greatarick \"meddles\"\nonly with such diseases as \"have their Essence either in the masse\nof Blood and Spirit (or nervous liquors) or in the particular\nTemperament of the parts of the Body,\" that he cures no disease\n\"wherein there is a decay of Nature.\" \"This is a confessed truth by\nhim, he refusing still to touch the Eyes of such as their sight has\nquite perished.\" None the less his cures were regarded as miraculous,\nand Dr. Stubbe tells us that \"as there is but one Mr. Greatarick,\nso there is but one Sunne\"; and to dispel incredulity in regard to\nthese wonders, he adds: \"We are all Indians and Salvages in what we\nhave not accustomed our senses: What was conjuring in the last age is\nMathematiques in this. And if we do but consider the sole effects of\nGun-powder, as it is severally to be used, and revolve with ourselves\nwhat we would have thought if we had been told those Prodigies, and\nnot seen them; will we think it strange if men think the actions\nof extraordinary Ferments impossible?\" But to leave the \"Ferments\"\nfor the recorded account of what was done, we can only note that\nGreatrakes's methods consisted mainly of strokings and passes and\nin driving the pains from one point to another until they went out\nat the fingers or toes. There is nothing recorded that definitely\nsuggests the production of the hypnotic state; but direct suggestion,\nreinforced by manipulations, obviously had much to do with the cures.\nThey clearly approximate more closely to the faith-cure methods of\nto-day than to the phenomena of hypnotism.\n\nThe latter half of the eighteenth century seems to have offered\nsocial, intellectual, and political conditions peculiarly favorable\nto the success of fantastic schemers, of propagandists of\nstrange philosophies, and advertisers of supernatural procedures\nfor short-circuiting the road to health, wealth, knowledge, and\nimmortality. In this period there appeared Swedenborg's inspired\nrevelations and philosophic cult; Cagliostro's extravagant claims of\npersonal power and bold-faced impostures; Schrepfer, who combined\nwith Masonic mysteries a striking anticipation of the materializing\ns\u00e9ances of modern spiritualism; Gassner, the priest, exorcist,\nand healer; and finally Mesmer, the founder of animal magnetism,\nand through it the parent of an endless progeny of unproved and\nunprovable systems, and of equally irrational practices.\n\nIt is worth while to consider for a moment the career of Gassner, if\nfor no other reason than that Mesmer witnessed Gassner's procedures,\nand that their methods have some points in common,--in particular the\ncalling out of acute symptoms, or \"a crisis,\" as a means of cure.\nJohann Joseph Gassner, a Suabian priest, appeared as a curer of\ndisease about 1773; he regarded most maladies as of Satanic origin,\nand attempted cures by driving out the demon of disease by appeal to\ndivine agency. After inquiry regarding the nature of the complaint\nand its symptoms, he would urge the patient to have faith, and\nperhaps would offer a prayer for his recovery; he would then call out\nthe various symptoms of pain, stiffness, weakness, and the like, and\nat the word \"_Cesset_\" these symptoms would disappear. \"_Cesset ista\nDebilitas_,\"--the patient becomes as strong and as active as though\nhe had never been sick. \"_Modo adsit Febris tantum in Manu et Brachio\ndextro_,\"--the right hand becomes cold and numb, and trembles,\nthe pulse in this arm is rapid, feverish, and strong, but slow and\nnormal in the left. \"_Cesset in ista Manu et adeat sinistram_,\"--the\nleft arm now becomes as the right had been, and the pulse of the\nright is now normal; and so the treatment proceeds, accompanied by\nthe invocation, \"_Pr\u00e6cipio hoc in nomine Jesu_.\" This process of\nalternation of pain and its remission is continued, until at length\nthe patient is dismissed as cured. The status of Gassner's cures,\nexcept for their more pronounced religious character, is much the\nsame as those of Greatrakes; both exhibit the effects of suggestion,\nbut neither recognized the process of suggestion, nor gives evidence\nof having produced an abnormal condition. This, however, is by no\nmeans excluded; and Greatrakes's account of the insensibility of his\nown arm, as well as the similar state induced in his patients by\nGassner, indicate a high degree of suggestibility.\n\n\nIII\n\nFriedrich Anton Mesmer was born in Iznang, on the Lake of Constance,\nMay 23, 1734; destined by his parents for the church, he turned from\nthe study of theology to that of law, and again changed to medicine.\nHe graduated as a physician from the University of Vienna in 1776,\nand in his doctor's thesis upon \"The Influence of the Planets on\nthe Human Body,\" he attempted to revive the underlying doctrines of\nastrology from a medical point of view. He defined the \"quality of\nanimal bodies, rendering them susceptible to the influence of heaven\nand earth,\" as \"animal magnetism;\" and regarded the action involved\nas analogous to that of the moon upon the ebb and flow of the tide.\nThe fluctuations and periodicities of disease he sought to produce\nartificially, and therefore called his theory the \"imitative theory,\"\nthe object being to imitate the ups and downs of nature. He records\nhis first practical test on the 28th of July, 1774, when he placed\nmagnets upon the chest and feet of his patient, a young lady, who\nwas suffering from a variety of morbid symptoms. Shortly thereafter\n\"she felt internally a painful streaming of a very fine substance\ngoing now here and now there, but finally settling in the lower\npart of her body, and freeing her from all further attacks for six\nhours.\" Somewhat later, when the same patient chanced to be suffering\nfrom one of her attacks, and was lying unconscious, she responded\nby violent movements to the slightest touch of Mesmer, but remained\nentirely unresponsive to the manipulations of a bystander. One of\nsix cups was then chosen by Mesmer's visitor to be impressed with\nmagnetic properties. Contact with this cup, which Mesmer had touched,\nproduced in the patient movements of her hands and expressions of\npain. Mesmer's influence made itself felt at a distance of eight\nsteps, and even when a third person stood between the two. These\nsimple observations were the humble beginnings of the practices of\nanimal magnetism.\n\nThe details of Mesmer's early doings are of special value, for in\nthem we may expect to discover the true nature of the man and his\nsystem; our knowledge of them is derived mainly from the account,\nwritten some thirty-five years after the events, by a not too\ndiscerning eyewitness. They give a sufficiently definite picture\nof his manner and methods. Magnets and electric machines, passes\nand strokings, fantastic dress and equally fantastic manipulations,\nhe utilized even before he became well known. The method was always\nthe same; calling out pains and paroxysms and crises, and in turn\nallaying the symptoms thus aroused until the patient was pronounced\ncured. From the first, too, he was anxious to secure the recognition\nof authoritative bodies of scientific men. Early in 1775, Mesmer\nproposed his theory for acceptance to several learned societies, but\nreceived no encouragement. His use of magnets (which he probably\nderived from the astronomer, Hell) had aroused the opposition of his\nfellow-practitioners, and his professed cure of a prot\u00e9g\u00e9 of Maria\nTheresa involved him in a somewhat unseemly dispute, ultimately\nnecessitating his departure from Vienna. In February, 1778, he came\nto Paris, where he entered upon a remarkable but brief career,\nterminating somewhat abruptly in 1784.\n\nMesmer has left us a narrative of his doings during the first three\nof these years--a record devoted almost exclusively to a wearisome\naccount of his controversies with the various learned societies of\nParis. He appealed to the French Academy of Sciences and to the Royal\nMedical Society, announcing a most wonderful physical discovery, to\ndescribe which suitable words were as yet lacking. Mesmer wished\nthese societies to sanction his discovery, not to act as judges of\nits truth, of which he says there can be no reasonable doubt. He\noffered them a series of dogmatic propositions, setting forth the\nnature of animal magnetism, and apparently desired the cures to\nbe considered a subordinate part of the issue. He was, however,\ncontinuously engaged in curing disease. His most valuable convert\nwas M. Deslon, a member of the Medical Faculty of Paris, a man of\nconsiderable influence, who at once espoused Mesmer's cause with\nunlimited enthusiasm. He invited a dozen of his colleagues to meet\nMesmer at dinner, and had read to them an exposition of the system\nof animal magnetism. The company seem not to have been very deeply\nimpressed; for it was with difficulty that Deslon induced three\nof them to associate themselves with him in an investigation; and\nthey soon deserted him, when their requests for simple, unambiguous\ntests and their explanation of the observed effect as due to an\noverstimulated imagination, were alike disregarded. The point at\nissue in these tests seems to have been whether Mesmer in his own\nperson possessed an influence or magnetic radiation, which brought\nhim into rapport with his magnetically sensitive subjects; but Mesmer\napparently regarded any test that reflected the skeptical attitude\nof the investigators as unbecomingly suspicious. Deslon, however,\nremained a staunch believer in the new system, and defended its cause\nbefore the Faculty of Medicine, dwelling upon the honor of having\nit presented to them, and the eternal glory they would merit by\naccepting \"the most important discovery at which the human mind had\never marveled.\" But the Faculty voted to reject the propositions, and\nDeslon lost his seat in their body.\n\nThis adverse action, together with Mesmer's threat to leave France,\nseems to have swelled the enthusiasm in his behalf to enormous\nproportions. He tells us that he received a letter from the queen\nurging him not to shirk his duty to mankind by leaving France at this\njuncture, that he was visited by a high official in behalf of the\nking offering him an annuity of 20,000 livres, with an additional\n10,000 livres for the rental of an establishment for operating his\ncures. Mesmer insisted upon the formal and irrevocable admission of\nthe existence and utility of his discovery as preliminary to all\nnegotiations, and demanded, in addition to the annuity, the gift of\nan estate; but this was a step farther than royal protection would\nventure.\n\nOur information regarding the latter portion of Mesmer's Parisian\ncareer is meagre. In 1781 Deslon published his work on \"Animal\nMagnetism,\" in which he repeats with undiminished enthusiasm his\npraises of Mesmer, describes the marvelous cures he has witnessed and\nprophesies the eventual triumph of the system. Shortly thereafter\nMesmer went to the Spa; Deslon remained in Paris and began to treat\npatients by animal magnetism and with great success. He formed a\nspecial private class of educated men and women, from each of whom\nhe received ten louis d'or per month. Upon hearing of this, Mesmer\nhurried back to Paris and found his former adherents divided into\nMesmerists and Deslonists. He then (October, 1782) denounced Deslon\nas one who had betrayed his secrets and was misrepresenting the\nsystem. Through the efforts of friends, an inner circle--the first\nof the \"Loges d'Harmonie\"--was formed, consisting of one hundred\nmembers, each of whom paid one hundred louis d'or for the privilege\nof hearing Mesmer's exposition of his whole secret. Dissensions\nand discussions continued to arise; one of his hearers said \"that\nthose who know the secret are in greater doubt than those who are\nignorant of it;\" and M. Berthellot, the chemist, who in paying his\nfee reserved the right of criticism, was so irritated at the pedantic\nand ridiculous treatment to which he was subjected, that he upset\nthe \"baquet\" and left the room in a violent rage. Matters went on in\nthis way, with frequent propositions of a scientific examination, and\nas frequent refusals on the part of Mesmer to have further dealings\nwith scientific societies, until, in 1784, the famous commission was\nappointed by the throne.\n\nThis commission was composed of four members of the Faculty of\nMedicine, MM. Borie (who at his death was succeeded by M. Majault),\nSallin, Darcet, Guillotin, to whom were added five members of the\nAcademy of Sciences, MM. Franklin, Leroy, Bailly, Lavoisier, and\nde Bory. Their report describes in scrupulous and careful detail\neverything that they witnessed at the house of Deslon, who carefully\nand circumstantially assured them that Mesmer's procedures and his\nown were quite the same; and who allowed them the greatest freedom\nin examinations and tests. They tried the treatment themselves, but\nfelt no effects. They emphasized the fact that public performances\nin which excitement and contagion have full play are more successful\nthan private ones, and that the subjects most easily influenced\nare to be found among the ignorant rather than among the educated\nclasses. They blindfolded one of their subjects, and pretended to\nperform the usual passes, while they really did nothing; yet the\nexpected results ensued. It was believed that when the subject\ncame in contact with a tree that had been magnetized, the symptoms\nof an approaching crisis would be manifested; accordingly they had\na tree in Franklin's garden magnetized, but their subject went to\nfour other trees and at each exhibited the usual phenomena. From\nsuch experiments, ingeniously devised and varied, the commissioners\nconcluded that the effects witnessed were due to an overstimulated\nimagination, to an anticipation of the result, to excitement and\ncontagion. \"Let us represent to ourselves,\" they say, \"the situation\nof a person of the lower class, and in consequence ignorant,\nattacked with a distemper and desirous of a cure, introduced with\nsome degree of ceremony to a large company partly composed of\nphysicians, where an operation is performed upon him, totally new,\nand from which he persuades himself beforehand that he is about to\nexperience prodigious effects. Let us add to this that he is paid\nfor his compliance, that he thinks he shall contribute more to our\nsatisfaction by professing to experience sensations of some kind, and\nwe shall have definite causes to which to attribute these effects.\"\n\nThere was presented at the same time a secret report by the same\ncommission, dwelling upon the dangers to morality inherent in these\npractices. A commission appointed by the Royal Medical Society\nreported to the same effect. They found in all their experiments that\nan expectation of the result was necessary to its accomplishment,\nand they directed attention anew to the entire lack of proof of\nany of Mesmer's propositions regarding the magnetic fluid. To this\nsecond report there was one dissenting voice, that of Jussieu, the\nbotanist, who, while rejecting all belief in animal magnetism, yet\ncuriously regarded heat, as developed by friction, as an essential\nfactor of the phenomena. Furthermore, M. Thouret reported, by request\nof the same society, upon the literature and history of the doctrine,\nand traced the notions which Mesmer advanced to older writers; and\nshowed the similarity of his practices to those of former astrologers\nand mystics. In opposition to these reports, of which more than\ntwenty thousand copies were issued, Mesmer denounced the government,\nthe scientific societies, the medical profession, and all who had\nopposed him. His attitude may be inferred from the closing words of a\nletter to Franklin. \"I am like you, Sir, one of those whom one cannot\noppress without danger, one of those men, who, because they have done\ngreat things, dispose of insult as other men dispose of authority. If\nany one like you, Sir, cares to try it, I have the world as my judge,\nand if the world can forget the good I have done, and prevent the\ngood I wish to do, I have posterity as my avenger.\"\n\nThese adverse reports were most influential in terminating Mesmer's\ncareer in Paris; but in this they were assisted by other events.\nSeveral deaths at the \"baquet\" alarmed his adherents, and were\npromptly turned to account by his opponents. The death of M. Court\nde G\u00e9belin, an author and prominent man of the day, was the occasion\nof the characteristic comments of the period; and especially so as\nhe had recently and publicly announced his indebtedness for renewed\nhealth to Mesmer. One of the journals noted his death thus: \"M.\nCourt de G\u00e9belin vient de mourir, gu\u00e9ri par le Magnetisme animale;\"\nanother suggested for his epitaph:--\n\n      \"Ci g\u00eet ce pauvre G\u00e9belin,\n      Qui savait grec, h\u00e9breu, latin;\n      Admirez tous son h\u00e9ro\u00efsme,\n      Il fut martyr de magnetisme.\"\n\nA comedy entitled \"Docteurs Modernes\" brought the \"baquet\" upon the\nstage, ridiculed Mesmer and his procedures, and hinted with no great\ndelicacy at the abuses to which the popularity of his treatment might\ngive rise. In England the system was thus satirized:\n\n    THE WONDERFUL MAGNETICAL ELIXIR\n\n      Take of the chymical oil of Fear, Dread,\n          and Terror, each                         4 ounces;\n          of the rectified Spirits of Imagination  2 pounds;\n\n    Put all these ingredients into the bottle of fancy,\n    digest for several days, and take forty drops at about\n    nine in the morning, or a few minutes before you\n    receive a portion of the Magnetic Effluvia. They will\n    make the effluvia have a surprising effect, etc., etc.\n\nIn 1785 there appeared a mock funeral oration upon Mesmer,\ntravestying with endless extravagance his pretensions and methods.\nCaricature was a favorite mode of attack; and the examples that have\nescaped destruction vividly preserve the spirit and the local color\nof the times. Yet both learned and unlearned opinion was divided,\nand the press was the medium of eulogy as well as of denunciation.\nOf still greater importance were the discoveries of the Marquis de\nPuys\u00e9gur, one of Mesmer's disciples, which diverted the interest in\nanimal magnetism into a new channel; and, finally, the turmoil of\nthe French Revolution drove Mesmerism into obscurity, and Mesmer to\na retreat in the town of Frauenfeld, near the lake of Constance.\nOur last picture of Mesmer shows him living in simple seclusion,\ncomplaining of the world's treatment of him, performing cures among\nthose about him, and cherishing to the end his belief in animal\nmagnetism. He died March 5, 1815, at Meersburg, where he lies buried.\n\n\nIV\n\nThe system of animal magnetism Mesmer summed up in a series of\ntwenty-seven propositions presented entirely without proof, asserting\nthe existence of an \"universally diffused subtle fluid, appearing\nin all portions of the celestial system, and affecting the animal\neconomy by insinuating itself into the nerves; it has properties\nanalogous to that of the magnet, may be reflected like light,\npropagated like sound, and may be increased, opposed, accumulated,\ntransmitted to another object, and transported; furthermore this\nprinciple, which is, in a way, a sixth sense artificially acquired,\nwill cure nervous disease directly, and others indirectly by\nprovoking salutary crises, thus bringing the art of healing to\nperfection.\" Mesmer's methods varied at different stages of his\ncareer. The use of magnets as the main or exclusive factor in his\ncures, he seems to have abandoned before going to Paris; at first\nhe made the passes with his hands, or with an iron rod, directing\nhis fingers toward his patient, and emphasizing these movements by\nstrokings and rubbings. The object of these manipulations was to\nconcentrate and send out the magnetism with which his body was\nsaturated. This magnetism he could transfer to others or to inanimate\nobjects. \"I have magnetized paper, bread, wool, silk, leather,\nstone, glass, water, different metals, wood, men, dogs,--in one\nword, all that I have touched, so that these substances produced the\nsame effects on the patients as the magnets.\" When his increasing\nsuccess no longer allowed him to attend personally to all his\npatients, he employed a valet toucher, or imparted the curative\nproperties to water, to a tree, etc. At the height of his career he\ndevised the \"baquet,\" which he describes as a \"small open vessel\non a three-legged support, from which emerged some bent iron rods,\nthe points of which could be easily applied to the outer parts of\nthe body, such as the head, breast, stomach, etc.\" The baquet and\nother paraphernalia served to concentrate and impart the fluid that\nissued abundantly from Mesmer's person. An eyewitness thus describes\nthe results of the treatment: \"Some patients experienced pains and\nfever; others fell into unusual and severe convulsions, frequently\nlasting for three hours; others became faint and dazed, and but\nfew remained unaffected. There were manifested the most violent\ninvoluntary distortions of the limbs; partial suffocation, heaving of\nthe abdomen, wild glances, were observed; one patient utters piercing\ncries, another has fits of laughter, while a third bursts into tears.\nNothing can break this spell save the command of the magnetizer,\nand whether the patients be in the wildest frenzy or in the deepest\nstupor, a word, look, or nod of the master is sufficient to bring\nthem to consciousness. This violent condition was technically termed\na crisis, and deprived the patients of all consciousness so that\nnone could at all remember what had been felt, heard, or done while\nin this condition; and yet they were so sensitive that one could not\ncome in contact with them, not even touch the chair on which they\nsat, without causing fright and convulsions which only the master\ncould pacify.\" As the cures progressed, the patients lost their\nsensitiveness to the magnetic fluid. The scenes about the baquet have\ncome to be the most usual association with the name of Mesmer. The\ndimly lit room, the odor of incense, the mellow tones of the organ,\nthe hushed silence and anxious expectancy; the entrance of Mesmer,\nwand in hand, clad in striking robes, to initiate the crises that\nthen spread by the contagion of nervous disorder; all these reflect\nthe intellectual and social conditions of the time, and are most\nnaturally interpreted as the adaptation of a shrewd adventurer to his\nenvironment.\n\nIn the light of this account it becomes clear that while an\naltered condition of the nervous system and a state of increased\nsuggestibility were constantly manifested in Mesmer's _salle des\ncrises_, yet Mesmer did not at all appreciate the nature of the\nprocess by which the effects were produced, nor the condition which\nhe brought about in his patients. In brief, Mesmerism in the hands\nof Mesmer was clearly only an antecedent of hypnotism. Yet certain\nof the more detailed descriptions of the scenes about the baquet\nunmistakably indicate that some of Mesmer's subjects went into a true\nhypnotic condition; that as many or more were the victims of more or\nless complex hysterical attacks is equally clear. But to this aspect\nof the phenomena, Mesmer was entirely inattentive. His attention was\ndevoted to the elaboration of the physical agencies which in his\nview were the cause of the phenomena, and to the production of the\nrather violent symptoms of the crisis which he always regarded as an\nessential part of the curative procedure. He elaborated the baquet,\nfilled it with bottles and glass and iron filings and water arranged\nin fanciful ways, and in some mystical sense suggestive of magnetic\ninfluences. Mesmerism thus consisted of the induction of crises by\nanimal magnetism, as concentrated in Mesmer's person and assisted by\nthe baquet, by passes and physical manipulations. Farther than this\nMesmer never went in his comprehension of the phenomena that we now\nknow as hypnotism. Indeed, when he was confronted with Puys\u00e9gur's\nsubjects in the somnambulic state, he regarded the production of this\ntrue hypnotic condition as foolish, and considered it to be only a\nsubordinate phase of the magnetic crisis. Towards the close of his\nlife, and when the turmoil and the glory of his Parisian career\nwere memories of the past, when he had had abundant opportunity for\nreflection and for the observation of the altered condition which the\nstatus of Mesmerism had assumed, Mesmer still maintained unaltered\nthe dogmas of animal magnetism.\n\nIn criticism of the attitude of the commission, it may certainly be\nheld that they underestimated the significance of what they saw and\nused the term \"imagination\" in a sense both vague and uncritical;\nand yet the tenor of their conclusions was as wholesome as it was\njustifiable. They were primarily concerned with the correctness of\nthe proposed explanation of the phenomena, and with the value of the\ncurative procedures; and on these points their verdict is logically\nreached and forcibly stated. The psychic element in the guidance\nof conduct as in the treatment of diseases they were prepared\nto acknowledge, but not as an indorsement of animal magnetism.\n\"In searching for an imaginary cause for animal magnetism, the\nactual power which man exercises over his fellow-beings without\nthe immediate and evident intervention of a physical agent, is\nrecognized.\" Their tests evidence their appreciation of the efficacy\nof suggestion, a power which they admit \"can be elaborated to an\nart.\" While it may properly be urged that the report contributed to\nthe postponement of the scientific study of this class of phenomena,\nits admirable logical qualities entitle its authors to the gratitude\nand honorable remembrance of mankind. Indeed, in deference to\nthe excited state of public opinion of the time, they subjected\nthemselves and others to most painstaking tests, assuming the burden\nof disproof, and treating Mesmer's arbitrary attitude with more\nthan scientific fairness. Their verdict not only destroyed Mesmer's\npretensions, but held out a rational, though in our present lights an\ninadequate, interpretation of the phenomena, then so sensationally\npresented to an excited and distraction-loving public.\n\n\nV\n\nBefore the commissioners had completed their examination, the\naspect of animal magnetism was, in the hands of a French nobleman,\nundergoing an entire change. The Marquis A. M. J. Chastenet de\nPuys\u00e9gur, born in 1752, came of a distinguished family, and himself\ntook an important part in the Revolution; his death was the result\nof a romantic but imprudent act of devotion to the royalist cause,\non the occasion of the coronation of Charles X. in 1825. He was one\nof Mesmer's select pupils, and himself a good subject at the baquet;\nand likewise remained a firm supporter of the doctrines of animal\nmagnetism. He had constructed a baquet at his estate at Buzancy,\nand was applying the \"Mesmeric\" practices among his dependents. It\nhappened on the fourth of May, 1784, that he had magnetized his\nsubject, Victor, in the usual way, when (to continue with his own\nwords) \"what was my surprise to see at the end of a quarter of an\nhour this man sleeping peaceably in my arms without convulsion or\npain.... He spoke and seemed occupied with his own thoughts.... I\nperceived that these were affecting him unpleasantly, and I stopped\nthem and suggested pleasanter ones, which indeed was not difficult.\nSoon I saw that he was happy, imagining that he had drawn a prize or\nwas dancing at a f\u00eate, etc.; these ideas I fostered, and thus forced\nhim to move about on his chair as if dancing to a melody, which I\nmade him repeat aloud, by humming it myself.\" Upon awakening, Victor\nremembered nothing of what had happened. In this observation there\nare clearly recognizable an altered mental condition, a sleep-like\nunconscious state, loss of memory upon awakening, and suggestibility\nof sensations, ideas, and movements,--all important characteristics\nof a true hypnosis. Indeed, this may be considered as the first\nclearly recorded and uncomplicated production of the condition which\nmade possible the study of hypnotism.\n\nThe phenomena thus presented might readily have been the\nstarting-point of a scientific investigation of this peculiar\nstate, had not a subsequent observation unfortunately directed the\nexperiments into a different channel. When Victor was again thrown\ninto this \"magnetic crisis\" or sleep,--as Puys\u00e9gur at first termed\nit,--he began to speak, describing his ailments, directing what\nshould be done to effect his cure, and giving similar prescriptions,\nwhen questioned in regard to the treatment of others. This strange\ncondition, which by its analogy to sleep-walking came to be termed\n\"artificial somnambulism,\" was destined to mark a turning-point in\nthe history of the topic. It was evident, almost from the outset,\nthat the baquet and the other paraphernalia, the crises, pain,\nand contortions were rendered quite unnecessary. The patients had\nbecome their own physicians, prescribing such simple remedies as\nwere familiar to them by use or hearsay, and predicting the time of\nappearance and the nature of the symptoms, such as they had witnessed\nabout the baquet or in everyday life. Within two months of the first\nobservation, 62 cures had been effected under Puys\u00e9gur's direction,\n300 patients were in attendance, and 10 somnambulists had been\ndiscovered; before the close of the year (1784) Puys\u00e9gur published\na volume detailing his cures, his correspondence, and his theory of\nanimal magnetism.\n\nFrom the point of view of modern hypnotism, Puys\u00e9gur's position is\na most important one, more important, indeed, than that of Mesmer.\nHis literary productions and his personal activity in the formation\nof the Loges d'Harmonie (organizations devoted to the study of\nanimal magnetism) were the most influential factors in keeping alive\nthe study of these phenomena after Mesmer's downfall, and in their\nrevival after the long interruption of the Revolution. Puys\u00e9gur's\nviews were at first identical with those of Mesmer; he believed in\nthe magnetic fluid and the baquet and the crises; but his practices\ngradually dispensed with all these manipulations and regarded\nthe action of the will upon the somnambules as the essential and\nsufficient method of effecting a cure. His conceptions were extremely\nfanciful, and the point of view of his later writings is considerably\nat variance with that of his earlier compositions. \"Some day,\" he\npredicts, \"after five or six thousand years of existence upon earth,\nmankind will admit that there is a fluid, or rather a conserving\nagent of their existence and their health, which they can utilize ...\nand direct for the benefit of their fellow-men by the simple action\nof their wills.\" This universal magnetism is regarded as acting\ndirectly through the human will; \"croyez et veuillez\" is his motto.\nThe tree likewise acts upon the patients connected with it, through\nthe magnetic action imparted to it by the will of the magnetizer.\nPuys\u00e9gur regarded what he termed the instinctive electro-magnetism\nof man as analogous to the force by which the chick imparts movement\nand life to the germ upon which she broods. It was, however, his\npractical influence, and not that of his decidedly fantastic views,\nwhich guided the progress of the antecedents of hypnotism. The\ncontributions of his successors, as of his predecessors, cannot\ndeprive him of the credit of discovery of the hypnotic condition and\nof the first clear appreciation of its importance. But the progress\nwhich Puys\u00e9gur's discovery had brought about was almost at once lost\nby the extravagant claims which were soon made for the somnambules\nin their prediction and direction of the course of disease. They\ncame to be regarded as possessed of supernormal powers by which they\ncould perceive the anatomical conditions of their patients; they\npredicted the future, or rather they were impressed in advance with\na sensation of what was to happen--\"_presentiment_\" or \"_optique\npreliminaire_\"; they traveled in spirit to distant times and places;\nthey were _en rapport_ with the magnetizer, hearing and obeying him\nalone, and interpreting his unexpressed thoughts and wishes; their\nremedies were declared infallible, and Puys\u00e9gur himself, after thirty\nyears of experience, records that he had met with no case of a\nwrong prediction. The valuable discovery of an artificially induced\ncondition, recognizable by definite physiological and psychological\nchanges, was at once engulfed in a senseless search for the wonderful\nand the pursuit of fantastic theories.\n\nNext in importance to the discoveries of Puys\u00e9gur were those of\nDr. P\u00e9tetin, of Lyons. His general position is much the same as\nthat of Puys\u00e9gur; for \"animal magnetism,\" he substituted an \"animal\nelectricity,\" (such was the title of his posthumous volume, 1808);\nand he claimed to have found that the intervention of poor electric\nconductors opposed the appearance of certain of the phenomena of the\nsomnambulic state. In a work published in 1787, he described a new\ncondition characterized by a fixed rigidity of the limbs, to which\nhe gave the name (still applied to it) of \"catalepsy,\" and which\ncontinues to be one of the characteristic modifications artificially\nproduced by hypnotization. Dr. P\u00e9tetin describes how his subject,\nwhen magnetized, became insensible to external stimuli, how her pulse\nslackened, her muscles became fixed, and how she would maintain\nany position in which she was placed with statue-like rigidity.\nDr. P\u00e9tetin was also the first to record the automatic repetition\nby the subject of the movements of the operator; the recollection\nwhen re-magnetized of what had happened in a previous somnambulic\ncondition, but had been forgotten in the normal interval; and he\nalso recorded the production of what is now known as a negative\nhallucination. When he had suggested to his subject that whoever\nwould touch a certain candlestick would disappear from her sight,\nthe subject no longer saw the individual thus spirited away. But as\nin the case of Puys\u00e9gur, so also in that of P\u00e9tetin, he became known\nnot for his most careful and significant observations, but for those\nwhich administered to the love of the marvelous, and which were in\nessence totally erroneous. P\u00e9tetin's contribution to the aggregate\nof error in which this study was to be merged was the memorable\n\"transposition of the senses.\" The same subject who brought to his\nnotice the cataleptic condition led him into this extravagance. This\nsubject while magnetized began to sing vociferously; while engaged in\nchanging her position during her catalepsy, his chair slipped, and he\nfell toward her, exclaiming, \"Oh, how unfortunate that I cannot stop\nthis singing.\" \"Oh, doctor,\" she replied, \"do not worry, I won't\nsing any more;\" and she stopped at once. Presently the singing was\nresumed, and no words of the doctor could stop it, until he spoke\nto her in the attitude previously assumed by the accidental fall,\nwith his head near her stomach. In this position she heard him and\nobeyed, but gave no heed to his commands when he shouted them into\nher ear. And thus was originated the transposition of the senses;\nfor P\u00e9tetin at once concluded, in accordance with the remarkable\nsensibilities attributed to somnambules, that his subject heard\nthrough her stomach. By further experiments he became convinced\nthat tastes and odors could be similarly perceived, and that his\nsubject could read what was written on a card applied to her stomach.\nHe also credited the various other exalted and marvelous mental\nfaculties of his subjects, and added to the prevailing mystery and\nsupernatural tendency of the period. His historical influence was but\nslight; he was regarded as a mesmerist, and was chiefly remembered\nby his introduction of the transposition of the senses into the\ntraditional system of artificial somnambulism. It is interesting to\nnote that the detection of error in another's work does not protect\nagainst a similar error in one's own; Puys\u00e9gur, while accepting with\nimplicit faith the extravagances of his own subjects, was able to\nrecognize that unconscious suggestion lay at the basis of P\u00e9tetin's\nobservations. If at first, he remarks, P\u00e9tetin had happened to\nsuppose that his cataleptics could speak only during the wane of the\nmoon in May, they would have been dumb for eleven and a half months.\n\n\nVI\n\nThe early decades of the present century witnessed a revival of\ninterest in animal magnetism. Those whom the Revolution had turned\naway from their favorite studies returned to them; new societies were\norganized; journals in the interest of the science were founded; it\nwas recognized by various governments and scientific associations;\nthe Berlin Academy in 1818 offered a prize of 3000 marks for the best\nmemoir on the subject; Mesmer was brought forth from his obscurity,\nand many of the distinctive traits of his system were reintroduced\nand amplified. The movement was no longer confined to France, but\nspread all over Europe, and even reached America. Its most continuous\nconnection was, however, still with Paris, and mainly with the\nlearned societies to which Mesmer had appealed in vain.\n\nIn contrast to the dominant belief in the miraculous endowment of\n\"somnambulic\" subjects, there were a few who presented the subjective\nnature of the phenomena. The career of Faria, a priest of Portuguese\nextraction, who resided long in India, is regarded by some as\noccupying an important place in the history of hypnotism. The Abb\u00e9\nFaria came to Paris in 1814 and gave public exhibitions, in which\nhe produced many of the typical hypnotic phenomena, and explained\nthem as dependent not at all on his own powers, but entirely upon\nthe susceptibility and the faith of his subjects. He rejected alike\nany belief in a personal influence or in a magnetic or other fluid.\nHe simply asked his subjects to think determinedly of sleep, or to\nlook at the back of his hand; and then in an authoritative voice\nhe would call out \"_dormez_,\" emphasizing the command by pressing\nhis hand on the subject's forehead. By such simple means he put to\nsleep three or four of every five subjects, and that within a minute\nor two. He demonstrated the production of forced movements, the\ndeprivation of control of simple movements, the false perceptions of\nsense, etc., all as products of suggestion, and indeed anticipated\nmany of the typical phenomena of modern hypnotism. Faria's career was\nprematurely curtailed by an unfortunate incident; an actor succeeded\nin feigning sleep in one of his performances, and forthwith branded\nhim as an impostor. If we may credit certain accounts, his position\npractically anticipated that of Braid; but, according to others,\nwhile impressed with the value of verbal suggestion, he was not free\nfrom the prevailing mysteries and dogmas of somnambulism. In 1819\nBertrand delivered a course of public lectures on animal magnetism,\nnotable for their appreciation of the r\u00f4le of suggestion in their\nproduction. For example, he sent a magnetized letter to his patient\nwhich, when applied to the body, produced the desired symptoms; but\na second letter, not magnetized, but supposed to be so, and a third\nletter, written by a friend in imitation of Bertrand's handwriting,\nwere equally efficacious. These are, however, some of the exceptional\nexponents of the doctrines, which in the main were concerned with the\nmiraculous element of somnambulism introduced by Puys\u00e9gur and his\nfollowers.\n\nIt is to be noted that in the revival of hypnotism the scene of\noperation was transferred from the baquet and _salle des crises_ to\nthe hospital; the subjects are no longer persons of fashion seeking\nrelease from ennui, but patients of the poorer classes, suffering\nmainly from one or other of the protean forms of nervous derangement.\nSome very remarkable subjects were discovered at the Salp\u00eatri\u00e8re by\nGeorget and Rostan, and the former inserted a chapter on somnambulism\nin his textbook of physiology. In 1820 Husson authorized magnetism at\nthe H\u00f4tel Dieu; and within a brief time somnambules were to be found\nat almost all the hospitals of Paris. The phenomena presented were\nthose introduced by Puys\u00e9gur; patients became somnambulic, prescribed\nfor themselves and others, perceived by an internal sense the details\nof their own anatomy, foresaw the future, and developed a variety of\nabnormal sensibilities. Baron Du Potet, who experimented extensively\nat the H\u00f4tel Dieu, was convinced that his subjects could perceive his\nsilent wish and obey his unexpressed command. In Germany appeared\neccentric systems of \"Tellurism\" and \"Siderism,\" and the occult was\nrampant. The mysterious and extreme phenomena were accentuated, and\nthe value and genuineness of the entire somnambulic condition were\nmade to rest upon the demonstrability of miracles. Here and there a\nfew of the simpler phenomena, such as insensibility to pain, were\nproduced, but in the main these were neglected.\n\nOf this type were the observations that, through the zeal of Dr.\nFoissac, the Academy of Medicine was called upon to consider in\n1825. He offered to exhibit his subjects, claiming for them all\nthe supernormal powers above indicated--that, indeed, \"they were\npossessed of the genius that had inspired Hippocrates.\" The work\nof this commission was not free from dissensions; and five years\nelapsed before they were able to submit a report. The report was\nextremely favorable to the magnetists, and urged that, while some\nof the effects produced were too trivial to serve as evidence of a\nnew system, and while others could be explained as due to the action\nof the imagination, \"some results depend solely upon magnetism and\ncannot be produced without it.\" The commission corroborated the\nphysiological and other effects that had been already recorded,--such\nas quickening of respiration and circulation, the induction of\ntremors and convulsive movements, insensibility to pain and to\nordinary stimuli, the rapport between subject and operator, the\ncontinuity of memory in successive magnetic states; but the chief\nstress was laid upon the more wonderful operations. Of these they\ncertified as genuine, reading with closed eyes, the prediction of\nthe course of disease, clairvoyance, and general mental exaltation.\nThey also testified to the value of the therapeutic effects, and\nconclude that the \"academy should recognize and encourage researches\ninto magnetism as an interesting branch of psychology and natural\nhistory.\" The report was read, but met with such decided disapproval\nthat it was withheld from the public. Its fundamental error was the\nsupposition that the demonstration of so unaccountable a phenomenon\nas reading without the use of the eyes was necessary to or could\nestablish the existence of animal magnetism; they also erred through\nignorance of the extreme rigidity of conditions necessary to exclude\nthe endless possibilities of deception, conscious and unconscious,\nand of the remarkable subtlety and hyper\u00e6sthesia of hysterical and\nhypnotic subjects.\n\nThe next scene upon the stage of the Academy of Medicine was enacted\nin 1837. At this time, the painless extraction of a tooth from a\npatient in a somnambulic condition aroused considerable attention,\nespecially as the operator, Dr. Oudet, was a member of the Academy.\nOther painless surgical operations upon magnetized patients were\nreported. At about this time, Dr. Berna directed the attention of\nthe Academy to his subjects, for whom he claimed such powers as\nreading with closed eyes. To test these claims a commission of nine\nwas appointed, and reported promptly, July 17, 1837. This report was\nnegative in the extreme. It raised the objection that everything\nwas made to rest upon the testimony of these somnambulists; it\ndeclared that even the proofs of insensibility were defective, and\nflatly denied the existence of the condition of somnambulism. The\nalleged interpretation of the will of the operator was referred to\nunconscious suggestion; the attempt at reading with the eyes closed\nand the recognition of objects applied to the occiput was either a\ntotal failure, or depended for its small measure of success upon the\nshrewd guesses of the subjects, whose honesty was regarded as not\nabove suspicion. \"We are at a loss what to think of a somnambulist\nwho described the knave of clubs on a blank card, who transformed the\nticket of an academician into a gold watch with a white dial plate\ninscribed with black figures, and who, if she had been pressed, would\nperhaps have gone on to tell us the hour marked by this watch.\" The\ncommission of 1837, even more specifically than that of 1825, was\ncalled upon to consider alleged marvels; and this circumstance should\nbe taken into account in applying to them, as may properly be done,\nthe same criticism as was directed against former commissions. They,\ntoo, have mistaken the real issue, and their justifiable skepticism\nregarding such facts as reading without the use of the eyes unduly\nbiased their judgment in regard to the simpler and readily verifiable\nphenomena.\n\nThe next step was certainly a practicable one; Burdin, a member of\nthe Academy, offered a prize of three thousand francs to any one\nwho could read without the use of the eyes. The offer was open for\ntwo years, and subsequently the time was extended. Considering the\nlarge number who had claimed this power, few offered themselves\nfor examination; and these either clearly failed to meet the test\n(being detected in the manipulation of the bandage, and the like),\nor those who had the somnambulists in charge refused to conform to\nthe conditions required by the examiners; and so the prize was never\nawarded. The Academy then voted, October 1, 1840, to refuse from that\ntime on to give any consideration to questions relating to animal\nmagnetism.\n\n\nVII\n\nSoon after the study of animal magnetism was thus denied academic\nrecognition in France, it was in some measure divested of its\nmystifying and confusing accretions, by the independent observations\nof an English surgeon, James Braid. Braid's first experience with the\nphenomena of animal magnetism was at the s\u00e9ance given by Charles\nLafontaine, a traveling mesmerist, at Manchester, on November 13,\n1841. He came to this exhibition inclined to regard the phenomena\nas due to deception, trickery, and illusion, and saw nothing to\ndisturb his belief. At a second attendance, he was impressed with\nthe fact that the \"magnetized\" subjects were unable to open their\neyes; this he attributed to a paralysis of the nervous centres by a\ntoo prolonged or too intense sensory strain. Braid at once initiated\nexperiments at his home. He began by asking a friend to stare\nfixedly at the neck of a bottle, held close to and a little above\nhis eyes; in a few minutes the subject's eyelids closed, his head\ndropped, and he went to sleep; the same process was repeated upon\nMrs. Braid, with an equally successful result. These experiments were\nsoon extended, and Braid was successful in sending to sleep nearly\nall who presented themselves. The regularity and simplicity of the\nprocess, as well as the unmistakable evidences of an altered mental\ncondition, left no doubt of the genuineness of the induced sleep. \"I\nnow stated that I considered the experiments fully proved my theory,\nand expressed my entire conviction that the phenomena of mesmerism\nwere to be accounted for on the principle of a derangement of the\nstate of the cerebro-spinal centres, and of the circulatory, and\nrespiratory, and muscular systems, induced, as I have explained, by a\nfixed stare, absolute repose of body, fixed attention, and suppressed\nrespiration concomitant with that fixity of attention. That the\nwhole depended upon the physical and psychical condition of the\npatient, arising from the causes referred to, and not at all on the\nvolition, or passes of the operator, throwing out a magnetic fluid,\nor exciting into activity some mystical universal fluid or medium.\nI further added that having thus produced the primary phenomena, I\nhad no doubt that the others would follow as a matter of course,\ntime being allowed for their gradual and successive development.\"\nThe practical importance of the change of view thus inaugurated\nwas extreme; it combated the prevalent notion that to prove the\nreality of the magnetized condition, it was necessary to perform\nmiracles; it recognized different degrees and stages of the induced\ncondition; it emphasized the dependence of the condition upon the\nstate of the nervous system, and supplied the physiologist with a\nrational interest in the phenomena; it discarded the vain hypothesis\nof an universal fluid; it simplified the methods of producing the\nstate, and showed its analogy to ordinary sleep; it proved that\nthe phenomena were independent of the will or any subtle power of\nthe operator, but depended essentially upon the compliance and\nsuggestibility of the subject.\n\nThe importance of Braid's position in the history of hypnotism is\nnot easily overrated; it depends largely upon the fact that he was\nthe first to recognize the physiological aspect of the phenomena and\nto abandon completely any relation with the fantastic theories and\npractices that grew up in the wake of animal magnetism. It cannot be\nsaid that Braid's discoveries, however original with him, had not\nbeen anticipated by others; indeed, it is clear that the Abb\u00e9 Faria's\nmethod of inducing the condition and the phenomena that he exhibited\nwere essentially the same as those to which Braid directed attention;\nwhile Bertrand, and even Puys\u00e9gur and others, had recognized the\nr\u00f4le of suggestibility and imagination in producing many of the\neffects. But Braid, far more clearly than any one else, presented the\nphenomena from a legitimate scientific view, correlated the various\nphenomena with one another, and laid the foundations of a true\nscience of hypnotism. Without disparaging the labors of others in\nthis field, and without forgetting the unfortunate circumstances in\nBraid's career which detracted from his influence, the title may be\njustly claimed for him, of the founder of modern hypnotism, as he was\nalso the inventor of the term.\n\nIt would take us too far into the details of the hypnotic condition\nto describe Braid's practices and experiments; attention will be\ndirected only to those points which have a bearing upon the further\nhistory of the topic. At the outset, Braid recognized that he was\ndealing with an altered nervous condition, in which were present\nhyper\u00e6sthesia, or exalted sensibility of several of the senses,\ntogether with a control over functions normally beyond the reach\nof the will; that these powers could be used to neutralize pain,\nas well as for curative suggestions in the treatment of disease;\nand that the phenomena had a distinct relation to ordinary sleep;\nthis last relation led him at first to speak of the topic as\n\"Neurypnology,\"--the title of his first book, published in 1843.\nIt is quite intelligible that the confused and misleading form in\nwhich the phenomena were presented during Braid's time prevented him\nfrom grasping at once or completely the true subjective nature of\nthe condition, in spite of the clearness with which he recognized\nthe marks of its genuineness. Thus, he regarded that a physical\ninfluence had much to do with the result, and confessed that he was\nentirely at a loss to understand why a breath of air upon the skin,\nas by blowing upon it, should terminate the hypnotic condition; or\nmake a rigid limb flexible, or restore the sight of one eye, and\nleave the other insensible; or change the condition from that of\ngeneral inactivity to one of extreme mobility and excitability.\nLater, however, he recognized in all this, the action of suggestion\ncombined with the imaginative ingenuity of the subject. But his most\nserious handicap was his connection with the doctrines of phrenology,\nthen occupying a very conspicuous position in the public eye. It\nwas brought into connection with mesmerism or hypnotism by the\nperformances of professional exhibitors, who claimed that pressure\nupon different parts of the head of the magnetized subject induced\nthe display of the corresponding \"faculties.\" It seems quite clear\nthat Braid was entirely misled by these curious experiments; and\nin spite of the fact that he later abandoned all belief in their\nreality, and explained them as due to suggestion and association;\nand further that he presented some grounds for believing that his\nformer experiments were intended to disprove phrenology,--yet it\nis perfectly clear why the medical profession and the intelligent\npublic should have discredited Braid's labors by reason of his\nnotorious connection with the doctrines of phrenology. Surely a\nwork which recorded such experiments as the following naturally\nexcited a feeling of distrust. Patients, on being \"pressed over the\nphrenologist's organ of time, always expressed a desire 'to write'--a\nletter--to her mother or brother; over their organ of tune, 'to\nsing'; between this and wit, 'to be judicious'; the boundary between\nwit and causality, 'to be clever'; causality, 'to have knowledge';\nin the centre of the forehead, to have 'a certain perception of\nlearning'; and so on.\" And again \"I placed a cork endways over the\norgan of veneration and bound it in that position by a bandage\npassing under the chin. I now hypnotized the patient, and ... after\na minute and a half an altered expression of countenance took place,\nand a movement of the arms and hands, which latter became clasped\nas in adoration, and the patient now arose from the seat and knelt\ndown as if engaged in prayer. On moving the cork forward, active\nbenevolence was manifested, and, on being pushed back, veneration\nagain manifested itself.\" We are then assured that the subjects knew\nnothing of phrenology, were perfectly honest, and that no indications\nwere given of the expected results. Braid frankly records his belief\nin the possibility of calling out phrenological activities by\npressure on definite points of the cranium; and the only loophole\nof explanation which he left open was the one to which he later\nresorted, claiming that the manifestations may be due to \"a system\nof training during the sleep, so that they may come out subsequently\nas acts of memory, when corresponding points are touched, with which\nparticular ideas have been associated through audible suggestion.\"\nIn brief, in this explanation, given in 1854, Braid demonstrated the\nadmitted possibility of arousing emotions in hypnotic subjects by\ninducing the expressions with which those emotions were associated.\nBut in 1843 he wrote, \"If I am to believe the evidence of my senses,\ntherefore, in anything, I cannot see how I can doubt the relation\nwhich consists between certain points of the cranium and the mental\nmanifestations which are excited by acting on them during hypnotism.\nI believe there are few physiological phenomena which can be more\nclearly demonstrated, especially at such an early stage of their\ninvestigation.\"\n\nBraid's later works did not attract the attention which they\ndeserved, and perhaps it is proper to base an estimate of his\ninsight into the phenomena of hypnotism upon his more mature\nbut less influential writings. In these, Braid recognized the\nsubjective nature of the phenomena as fully as they are recognized\nby the extreme representatives of the \"suggestionist\" school of\nto-day. Indeed, he spoke of the state as \"Monoideism,\" to emphasize\nthe fact that, while in this condition, the subject's mind was\ntotally absorbed in one idea; and that this narrow concentration\nof consciousness, this influence of the dominant idea, completely\ncontrolled mental and physical action, and rendered the subject\ninsensible to all other stimuli. Braid acquired a profound knowledge\nof the effects of suggestion, both directly, as verbal suggestion,\nand the indirect suggestion of manner and expectation. He tells of\na physician in London who used \"mesmerism\" with his patients, and\nwho produced catalepsy of the hands and arms and other wonderful\neffects by the application of magnets. Braid recognized that the\nsubject, though asleep, was in a condition in which she could hear\nwhat was going on. He assured the physician (in the subject's\nhearing) that he had a little instrument in his pocket, which though\nnot a magnet, would produce equally marked effects. Braid gave the\npatient the little instrument, with the remark to the physician\nthat it would produce catalepsy in both hands and arms; and such\nwas the result. Next, Braid declared that now she would be unable\nto hold it, which also was the case, the little instrument dropping\nout of her hands whenever it was given to her. When the patient\nwas aroused, Braid next told the physician that when the little\ninstrument was suspended on the third finger of the right hand of\nthe patient, it would send her to sleep; to which the physician\nresponded, \"It never will.\" But Braid insisted that it would;\nand the event proved that he was correct. The little instrument,\nso variously potent in combination with a proper suggestion, was\nnothing more than his portmanteau key and ring. It illustrates the\nreverse of Voltaire's saying, that incantations, together with a\nsufficient amount of arsenic, will kill your neighbor's sheep. In\nthe same way Braid proved that the experiments which seemed to show\nthat certain persons were sensitive to metals were in reality due\nto unconscious suggestion, and that when, unknown to the subjects,\nwood was substituted for metals, the expected results ensued. The\npeculiar effects described by Reichenbach's sensitives he naturally\nreferred to the same cause; as also the doctrine, then brought\nforward, that susceptible individuals could perceive the effects of\ndrugs enclosed in sealed vials. All these alleged phenomena were\ncorrectly referred to unconscious suggestion and to hyper\u00e6sthesia.\nHom\u0153opathic remedies, he argued, owed their efficiency to the same\naction of the expectant imagination; for the effect could hardly be\nascribed to a quantity so minute that a patient would have to take\na dose every second of the day and night for 30,000 years to get a\nsingle grain of the substance. He analyzed the possibilities of error\nin the interpretation of clairvoyance; and showed that perfectly\nnatural and well-understood processes were sufficient to furnish an\nintelligible mode of accounting for so much of the success as could\nbe verified. He recognized the dangers of hypnotism in inexperienced\nhands; although he believed that the moral sensibility of the subject\nwas sufficiently retained in the hypnotic condition to prevent the\nabuse of the state for criminal purposes. He appreciated its field of\napplicability in the cure of disease, though he by no means regarded\nit as a panacea, and also its special use in surgical operations.\nIn fine, Braid, in spite of certain shortcomings, which are\ncharacteristic only of his earlier writings, stands out pre\u00ebminently\nas the first to appreciate at their true value the entire range of\nthe complex factors of the hypnotic condition; to distinguish the\ngenuine phenomena from those which owed their marvelous aspect to\nunconscious suggestion; and to show the relation of the whole topic\nto the recognized body of scientific knowledge.\n\n\nVIII\n\nIn spite of these very great merits, Braid's influence was for a\nconsiderable time a slight and uncertain one; this was probably\ndue not alone to the opposition which his methods and teachings\naroused in the medical profession, but far more to the natural\ndistrust of a topic which was exploited in the form of popular and\nvulgar exhibitions. The main association of hypnotism was still\nwith the absurd notions of animal magnetism, and with attempts to\ndemonstrate marvels, such as clairvoyance and the sensitiveness to\nmagnets. It thus came about that, during the period subsequent to\nBraid's discoveries, hypnotism presented a varied aspect. On the one\nhand, unlimited skepticism and a determined repudiation of readily\nverifiable observations; on the other, uncritical enthusiasm without\nappreciation of science and its methods. But in addition to the\nconservatism of the man of science, and the groundless pretensions\nof the mesmerist, are found the contributions of a few discerning\nstudents aiding, though in a sporadic and uncertain way, the progress\nof the science. What had been repeatedly established was forgotten\nand had to be re\u00ebstablished; observations made by those who in some\none direction had fallen into error were discredited, and had to be\nverified anew. The progress was thus tortuous and ill-defined, but\nnone the less the essential and important phenomena were gaining\nwider and more authoritative recognition. The use of hypnotism as\nan an\u00e6sthetic was most influential in compelling the attention\nof the medical profession; for the frequent reports of surgical\noperations upon hypnotized patients by men of reputation could hardly\nbe dismissed as illusory. As early as 1821 Recamier had utilized\nthe magnetic insensibility for surgical purposes; in 1829 Clocquet\nperformed a severe operation upon a magnetized woman; in 1837 Oudet\nextracted a tooth from a patient in this condition; from 1842 on a\nnumber of English surgeons--Tupham, Ward, Elliotson, Purland--used\nhypnotism for various surgical operations, and a Mesmeric Infirmary\nfor this purpose was successfully maintained. Many of the reports of\nsuch operations were received with extreme skepticism. The celebrated\nsurgeon, Lisfranc, regarded Clocquet as a dupe; and Oudet met with\na similar reception. Most extensive and remarkable were the series\nof operations performed in India upon natives by Dr. Esdaile, and\nreported in 1846. The most shocking and dangerous pathological\ngrowths were removed without pain and with the minimum of discomfort.\nDr. Esdaile is entitled to high rank in the account of this period,\nbecause his work was done so largely in independence of others;\nmoreover, he developed a theory of the phenomena quite analogous to\nthat of Braid; and in days when an\u00e6sthetics were but little known\nnaturally grew enthusiastic over the value of the practices which he\nhad so successfully demonstrated.\n\nA more detailed account of this period than is here possible would\nconsider the physiological contributions of such as Carpenter and\nBennett and Mayo, whose criticisms and explanations of the alleged\nmarvels and false theories of mesmerism stemmed but could not stay\nthe flow of extravagant practices and beliefs with which England was\nthen deluged; with the carefully detailed conclusions and experiments\nof Azam, of Demarquay, and Girard-Teulon, of Durand de Gros (who\nlater assumed the name of Phillips, and through whom Braid's\nwork was introduced into France); and of several other and often\nindependent workers. There is one, however, whose position is worthy\nof separate notice, and who in a peculiar way forms the transition\nbetween the present status of hypnotism and that which prevailed a\nhalf century ago. I refer to Dr. A. A. Liebault, who, until within\nrecent years, maintained at Nancy the hypnotic clinic founded by him\nforty years ago. In 1866, he published a valuable and original work\ndescribing his methods and practice. He put his subjects to sleep by\nverbal command, and suggested to them the relief of their pains and\nailments, enforcing the suggestions with such prescriptions as were\nlikely to be effective. He thus adopted the method of \"suggestion\" as\nthe central point of the system, and may be regarded as the founder\nof the \"suggestionist\" school, also known, though not in the main by\nreason of his labors, as the school of Nancy. Living in retirement,\nout of touch with the medical profession, presenting his results in a\nform unattractive to the scientific mind, and encumbered by peculiar\npersonal views, his work attracted no attention; and it remained for\nmore influential investigators, particularly Charcot at Paris and\nBernheim at Nancy, to establish the recognized doctrines of modern\nhypnotism.\n\n\nIX\n\nIt will be instructive at this point to retrace our steps and\ncomplete the survey of the antecedents of hypnotism by some account\nof a series of contributions, which, while they may represent\nthe backward steps in the zigzag line of progress from obscure\nspeculations to science, are nevertheless important historical\nfactors in the continuity of the movement, and in the maintenance\nof the interest in this branch of psychological study. The\nfanciful doctrines, which Mesmer revived, originated in medi\u00e6val\nmysticism and superstition; and at no time, from then till now,\nhave such extravagant systems and notions failed to attract an\nall too extensive class of intellectual malcontents, to whom the\nprogress of knowledge seems absurdly slow and laborious. Before\nthe establishment of the scientific theory of the relation of body\nand mind, the opportunity in this field for such speculations was\nendless, and it is to the vast history of pseudo-science that an\naccount of these properly belongs. It is for the purpose of gaining\na proper understanding of the various conceptions which were and are\nassociated with hypnotism that an excursion into this barren area is\nhere made. The fantastic schemes of Mesmer, Puys\u00e9gur, and P\u00e9tetin,\nand even of Braid, have already been noticed, and the seed sown by\nthem still bears undesirable fruit. To J. P. F. Deleuze (1785-1835),\nauthor of influential works on mesmerism, may be accorded the\ndoubtful honor of ranking as leader in the movement which continued\nthe mystic and eccentric elements of animal magnetism. He accepted\nthe combined marvels of mesmerism and somnambulism. He directed his\nefforts towards the elaboration of the paraphernalia of the baquet,\nthe wand and passes, and the inculcation of most detailed cautions\nand regulations for the guidance of the operator. Every movement of\nthe hand, and eyes, and head assumed special significance. The poles\nof the human frame must be considered, and no departure made from\nthe prescribed manipulation. The process of demagnetizing is thus\ndescribed:--\n\n\"When you wish to put an end to the sitting, take care to draw\ntoward the extremity of the hands and toward the extremity of the\nfeet, prolonging your passes beyond these extremities and shaking\nyour finger each time. Finally, make several passes transversely\nbefore the face, and also before the breast, at the distance of\nthree or four inches; these passes are made by presenting the two\nhands together, and briskly drawing them from each other, as if\nto carry off the superabundance of fluid with which the patient\nmay be charged. You see that it is essential to magnetize, always\ndescending from the head to the extremities, and never mounting\nfrom the extremities to the head.\" The magnetism is imparted to\ninanimate objects, and \"one may magnetize a pitcher of water in two\nor three minutes, a glass of water in one minute. It is unnecessary\nto repeat here that processes pointed out for magnetizing water,\nlike everything else, would be absolutely useless, if they were not\nemployed with attention and with a determinate will.\" \"The magnetizer\nwho uses a wand ought to have one of his own, and not lend it to any\nperson, lest it should be charged with different fluids--a precaution\nmore important than it is commonly thought to be.\" It is this\nphase of the subject that found its way into Germany, and was most\ntypically embodied in the writings of Wolfart, Kieser, and Ennemoser.\nFor such mystics nothing seemed too absurd to find credence, nor too\nprofound to find an explanation in animal magnetism.\n\nIt was through Deleuze's influence, also, that mesmerism was\ntransplanted to America. As early as 1837, Charles Poyen lectured and\nwrote on animal magnetism in New England; he exhibited the usual\nphenomena, made the usual claims for supernatural faculties, and gave\nthe usual fanciful expositions. It was, however, through Dods and\nGrimes, in 1850, that mesmerism became prominent in America, under\nthe absurd name of \"electro-biology.\" The popular interest which\nthey aroused may be inferred from the fact that they were invited to\nexhibit before Congress, the signatures of Clay and Webster appearing\nin the letter of invitation. The absurdity of their writings is\nsufficiently evident in the following extracts: \"Let two persons\nof equal brain, both in size and fluid, sit down. Let one of these\nindividuals remain perfectly passive, and let the other exercise\nhis mental and physical energies according to the true principles\nof mesmerizing, and he will displace some of the nervo-vital fluid\nfrom the passive brain and deposit it in his own instead. The next\nday let them sit another hour, and so on day after day, until the\nacting brain shall have displaced the major part of the nervo-vital\nfluid from the passive brain and filled up that space with its own\nnervous force, and the person will yield to the magnetic power\nand serenely slumber in its inexpressible quietude.\" \"Your brain\nbeing magnetically subdued is worth hundreds of dollars to you. You\nare then ready for the day of distress.\" An ignorant young man is\nmagnetized and forthwith converses with a \"mental activity which put\nto blush men of superior education and intellectual endowments.\"\nAn eminent lawyer is astonished at his learning and his quotations\nfrom legal authorities. He speaks Greek, Latin, French, Polish,\nall perfectly, and without accent; though when awake he knows no\nlanguage but English. Grimes determined the function of parts of\nthe brain from the answers of his somnambulist, and thus discovered\nthat the corpus callosum is designed to equalize the flow of the\nnervous fluid. From the same source he received the assurance of the\ncorrectness of his phrenological views. \"I then asked her concerning\nthe location and uses of several new phreno-organs, which I supposed\nthat I had discovered, and to my surprise she answered me without the\nleast hesitation, and confirmed all my previous opinions, not even\nexcepting those opinions which I had never mentioned to any one, and\nwhich she could only have known by clairvoyance.\"\n\n\"Electro-biology\" made its way into England, and there found a\nplace among the endless forms of absurdity and pseudo-science then\nprevalent. A few illustrations are powerless to give any adequate\nnotion of the extent and variety of the extravagant pretensions with\nwhich animal magnetism was saturated in the years following Braid's\nobservations. The diabolic origin of mesmerism was discussed by\npulpit and press; a pamphlet, entitled \"Dialogue between a Mesmerist\nand a Christian,\" maintained that the two faiths were incompatible.\nIt was generally urged that mesmerism favored materialism, and in\n1856 the Catholic Church issued an edict against the practice. The\nskepticism of the medical profession found expression in extreme and\ncertainly unscientific statements. Dr. Buchanan (1851) of Glasgow,\nholding that the alleged condition was the result of acting and\ntrickery, proposed the experiment of telling a hypnotized boy that\nhe could not move, and then applying the birch; this, he felt\nconfident, would satisfactorily refute the whole doctrine, and if,\nin ninety-nine cases out of one hundred, the boy did not scamper\noff, though his feet were mesmerized, he promised to recant \"and to\nbelieve in mesmerism ever after.\" There is unfortunately no record of\nthe acceptance of this test, which, in comparison with the hypnotic\nan\u00e6sthesia of surgical operations then performed, would have been\neasily met. From the following comment of a medical journal, in 1843,\none may infer that the controversy did not always recognize the\n_politesses_ of discussion. \"The mesmero-mania has nearly dwindled\nin the metropolis into servile fatuity, but lingers in some of\nthe provinces with the _gobe-mouches_ and chaw-bacons, who, after\ngulping down a pound of fat pork, would, with well-greased gullets,\nswallow such a lot of mesmeric mummery as would choke an alligator or\nboa-constrictor.\"\n\nThe two writers to be presently cited are selected as illustrations\nof the truth that the possession of intellectual attainments in\nother directions does not insure against such gross errors as are\nabout to be noticed, and the second, moreover, serves as a type of\nthe compilations of the period, to which the reader may be referred\nfor further instances. The reputation of Miss Harriet Martineau\ninsured general attention to her \"Letters on Mesmerism\" (1845).\nMiss Martineau was cured of a long-standing illness by magnetic\ntreatment, the operator being a noted mesmerist, Spencer T. Hall.\nThe magnetizing process gave rise to peculiar sensations which\nwere attributed to the action of the magnetic fluid. \"My head has\noften appeared to be drawn out, to change its form according to\nthe traction of my mesmerist, and an indescribable but exceedingly\nagreeable sensation of transparency and lightness through a part or\nwhole of the frame has followed.\" Miss Martineau was thus made a\nconvert to mesmerism, and initiated experiments of her own, finding\nin her maid, J., a somnambule of unusual powers. She maintained\nher health by following the prescriptions given by the somnambule,\nand the latter exhibited the many varieties of marvels with which\nwe have become familiar. The spontaneous or suggested utterances\nof the somnambule upon matters relating to her exalted condition\nwere unquestioningly accepted. \"Do the minds of the mesmerist and\nthe patient become one?\" \"Sometimes, but not often.\"--\"Is it, then,\nthat they taste, feel, etc., the same things, at the same moment?\"\n\"Yes.\"--\"Will our minds become one?\" \"I think not.\"--\"What are your\nchief powers?\" \"I like to look up and see spiritual things; I can see\ndiseases, and I like to see visions.\"--\"Can the mind hear otherwise\nthan by the ear?\" \"Not naturally; but a deaf person can hear the\nmesmerist when in the sleep; not anybody else, however.\"--\"How is it\nthat you can see without your eyes!\" \"Ah! that is a curious thing. I\nhave not found it out yet.\"\n\nFrom the \"Letters to a Candid Inquirer on Animal Magnetism,\" by\nWilliam Gregory, M.D., F.R.S.E., professor of chemistry in the\nUniversity of Edinburgh, selections appropriate to our present\npurpose may be made almost at random. Some writing is placed in the\nhands of the somnambule, and from this she pictures the writer, tells\nof the lady's recent ailments, her surroundings, her travels, and\nher condition; and when the lady herself is presented she immediately\nrecognizes her as the subject of her vision. A lost watch is\nrecovered and the thief detected by the same means; the whereabouts\nof absent friends traveling in distant lands is determined by\nplacing a sample of their handwriting or a lock of their hair in\nthe somnambule's hands. The somnambule transports herself to past\ntimes, and details the events of the life of Mary, Queen of Scots,\nas she witnesses them. In her magnetic vision she follows, day by\nday, the adventures of Sir John Franklin, who was then in the Arctic\nregions. She frequently spoke of his occupations, and, when asked\nthe time of day, found it either by looking at a timepiece in the\ncabin or by consulting Sir John's watch; and from the difference in\ntime indicated by the somnambule the longitude of Sir John Franklin's\nlocation and the directions of his movements were calculated. \"On a\nSunday afternoon in February, 1850, she said it was about 10 A.M.\nthere, and described the captain, Sir John, as reading prayers to\nthe crew, who knelt in a circle with their faces upward, looking\nat him and appearing very sorrowful. She even named the chapter of\nSt. Mark's gospel which he read on that occasion.\" Although we are\nna\u00efvely told that, \"as a general rule, we ought to verify the vision\nbefore admitting it as an instance of genuine clairvoyance,\" yet in\nthis case the somnambule's assertions had been so uniformly verified\nthat it seemed unnecessary to question the correctness of her mental\nArctic explorations.\n\nAll the varieties of supernatural conditions--conscious lucidity,\nconscious clairvoyance, sympathetic clairvoyance, sympathetic\nretrovision, direct clairvoyance, mental traveling, introvision and\nprevision, spontaneous retrovision--were formulated and added their\nquota to the general mystery. The doctrine of cross-magnetism, or\nthe disturbing influence of different magnetizers, was developed,\nand became a favorite mode of accounting for failures of all kinds.\nExtravagant doctrines originating in other fields of pseudo-science\nwere incorporated into magnetism; the magic mirror or crystal was\none of these. The notion is doubtless very ancient,--compare the\nshew-stone of Dr. Dee (1527-1608),--and was revived by Baron Du\nPotet, who drew a black magic circle on the floor with a piece of\ncharcoal; this the subject approached, stared at it fixedly, and\nseemed fascinated by it; grew excited, breathed hard, moved to and\nfro, and then saw visions in the magic mirror. \"It was no dream nor\nnightmare; the apparitions were actually present. A series of events\nwere unrolled before him, represented by signs and figures which he\ncould understand and gloat over, sometimes joyful, sometimes gloomy,\njust as these representations of the future passed before his eyes!\nVery soon he was overcome by delirium, he wished to seize the image,\nand darted a ferocious glance towards it; he finally started forward\nto trample on the charcoal circle, the dust from it arose, and the\noperator approached to put an end to a drama so full of emotion and\nterror.\"\n\n\"Darlingism\" was a term brought forward by one Darling, who used a\ndisc, said to be made of zinc and copper, to put his subjects to\nsleep. Like electro-biology, it was merely a new name for the same\nphenomena exhibited in connection with absurd theoretical notions.\nThe phrenological manifestations, so unfortunately countenanced by\nBraid, continued to be exhibited by others in connection with the\nhypnotic state. Clairvoyance continued to be regarded as one of the\nmost essential tests of the mesmeric condition, and took a prominent\npart in public exhibitions. Somewhat later it was incorporated into\nthe equipment of spiritualism, and this movement probably exerted a\nmystic influence upon mesmerism.\n\nThe investigations of Baron Reichenbach added a new class of\nsensitives. Reichenbach announced the doctrine of an \"odic\" force\nor \"odyle,\" streaming forth from magnets and from the human frame,\nand affecting the human system; certain sensitives could see these\nemanations, and magnetized subjects at once become \"odic\" sensitives.\nThe doctrine that certain persons are sensitive to metals was an\nancient one. It reappeared in the myths that were woven about Casper\nHauser, the wild boy of Nuremberg (1828), who gave evidence of\nhis unusual origin by shuddering in the presence of a needle, and\nevidencing intense agony in passing a hardware shop. Miss Martineau's\nJ. holds a piece of steel so tightly that no one can wrench it from\nher, but touch the steel with gold and it falls from her hands\nat once. The following citation will show how this movement was\nutilized in mesmeric practices: \"But to ascertain whether he (a\nMajor Buckley, a mesmerist) can obtain conscious clairvoyance, he\nmakes slow passes from his own forehead to his own chest. If this\nproduces a blue light in his face, strongly visible, the subject will\nprobably acquire conscious clairvoyance. If not, if the light be\npale, the subject must first be rendered clairvoyant in the sleep.\nTaking those subjects who see a very deep blue light, he continues\nto make passes over his own face, and also over the object, a box or\na nut, for example, in which written or printed words are inclosed,\nwhich the clairvoyant is to read. Some subjects require only a pass\nor two to be made clairvoyant, others require many. They describe\nthe blue light as rendering the box or nut transparent, so that they\ncan read what is inside. If too many passes be made by Major B., the\nblue light becomes so deep that they cannot read, and some reverse\npasses must be made to render the light less deep. Major Buckley has\nthus produced conscious clairvoyance in eighty-nine persons, of whom\nforty-four have been able to read mottoes contained in nut-shells,\npurchased by other parties for the experiment.\"\n\nIt must not be supposed that these practices have entirely\ndisappeared. In a work published as late as 1869 we may read\nsuch sentences as, \"the clairvoyance of an idiot in a state of\nsomnambulism would inspire me with more confidence if I were sick\nthan the greatest geniuses which grace modern medicine;\" and again,\n\"it never could be imagined with what tact, accuracy, and precision,\nsomnambulists account for anything that takes place in them. They are\nliterally present at the performance of all their organic functions;\nthey detect in them the slightest disorder, the minutest change.\nThen of all this he forms a clear, exact, and mathematical idea.\nHe could tell, for instance, how many drops of blood there are in\nhis heart; he knows, almost to a gramme, how much it would require\nto satisfy his appetite at the moment; how many drops of water\nwould be necessary to satisfy his thirst, and his valuations are\ninconceivably exact. Time, space, forces of all kinds, the resistance\nand weight of objects, his thoughts, or rather his instinct measures,\nhe calculates, appreciates all these matters by a single glance of\nthe eye.\" In the lectures and cheap compendiums telling \"How to\nMesmerize,\" and giving \"The Whole Art of Mesmerism,\" by which the\ntraveling mesmerists of yesterday, if not of to-day, extend their\nfame, one may find these very same doctrines side by side with\ngarbled accounts of recent discoveries in hypnotism. But we have\nalready dwelt too long upon the aberrations of the human intellect,\nin which the ludicrous and the solemn are so curiously combined.\n\n\nX\n\nThe transition from the antecedent to the present status of\nhypnotism was accomplished in the main by two factors; by the\nprecise determination, according to rigidly scientific methods,\nof the physiological and psychological characteristics of the\nhypnotic state, and by the advocacy of its claims and the further\ndevelopment of its sphere of influence, on the part of professional\nmen of ability and acknowledged standing. The mischievous and\nerratic associations of mesmerism, as also of hypnotism, were\ndifficult to outgrow. Unjustifiable skepticism and neglect were the\nnatural consequences of extravagance, perversion, and charlatanism.\nEven the repeated and verifiable production by hypnotic means of\nan\u00e6sthesia sufficient for serious surgical operations, was ignored;\npartly, perhaps, because of the discovery of ether, which turned\nthe interest in an\u00e6sthetics into new channels. The legitimate and\nprogressive investigations of such as Braid, Liebault, Azam, Durand\nde Gros, and others, were only fitfully and sparsely recognized. As\nlate as 1874 Dechambre, in his Medical Encyclopedia, declares that\nall the phenomena rest upon self-deception and delusion, and that\nthe condition does not exist. But beginning with the third quarter\nof the century the attitude rapidly changed. Richet (1875) published\nan important paper in an authoritative physiological journal, in\nwhich he again established by scientific methods the reality of the\nhypnotic condition. In this he wrote, \"It requires considerable\ncourage to speak aloud the word somnambulism. The stupid credulity\nof the masses and the pretensions of certain charlatans have brought\nthe thing itself as well as the name into such disfavor that there\nare but few men of science who do not look disparagingly upon any\ncommunication on the subject.\" The advocacy of Charcot (1878) and\nhis demonstrations at the Salp\u00eatri\u00e8re finally succeeded in gaining\nthe day; and in 1882 the ban placed upon academic discussions of\nthis subject was lifted by the reception on the part of the Academy\nof Science of a memoir by Charcot on hypnotism. The extensive series\nof studies instigated by him at the Salp\u00eatri\u00e8re, and carried on\nwith marked ability and success by those who in some measure drew\ntheir inspiration from the field of inquiry which he inaugurated;\nthe recognition which he secured for the presentation of studies\nupon hypnotism before learned societies; the far-reaching influence\nof his authority,--all contributed to the acceptance of hypnotism\nas a scientific fact, and the inclusion of its study within the\ncircle of the sciences. It should be carefully noted, however,\nthat the period (which, to connect it with the name of but one\nof its representatives, may be called the period of Charcot),\nthough marked by important extensions of our knowledge of hypnotic\nphenomena, was in essence a period of reinstatement. All the\nessential and fundamental discoveries had been made and forgotten,\nand even had been rediscovered decades before; but not until this\nperiod were they extensively and authoritatively acknowledged.\nThis reinstatement was naturally the result of co\u00f6peration of\nmany workers; while hypnotism still remained a favorite study of\nFrench neurologists, other countries contributed extensively to its\nadvance. In Germany the main impetus to its study seems to have\nbeen given by the striking demonstrations of hypnotic phenomena\nby a Danish hypnotist, Hansen (1879 and 1880), which led to their\nstudy by various physiologists. The earliest American contribution\nof this period (and which was somewhat independent in origin) was\na study of trance-states by Dr. G. M. Beard, of New York, in 1881.\nBut accounts of contributors and contributions belong no longer\nto the historical aspect which we are considering, but to modern\nhypnotism. Suffice it to say that the literature of the subject of\nthe past two decades is almost alarmingly voluminous in its extent,\nand most cosmopolitan in its composition; that cognate departments\nof science--physiology, psychology, medicine--consider its bearings\nupon their special problems; that its therapeutic application to\nthe cure of disease by the efficacy of the power of suggestion is\nrecognized extensively by general practitioners, by neurologists,\nas well as in specific hypnotic clinics; that its utilization as a\nspecial method of psychology has been productive of interesting and\nvaluable contributions; and that it illuminates many a dark recess\nin the story of the historical and sociological development of\nhumanity. One phase of the matter, alone, seems destined to serve\nas an historical turning-point; the year of the new epoch is best\nmarked by the appearance in 1886 of Dr. Bernheim's classic volume on\n\"Suggestion and its Therapeutical Applications\"; and the key-note of\nthe newer doctrine lies in the term \"suggestion.\" Charcot and his\nfollowers had, in different degrees and ways, emphasized the physical\ncharacteristics of the hypnosis; they held that in typical subjects\nthere were objectively distinct hypnotic states, characterized and\ninduced by physical manifestations. They recognized the importance\nof suggestion, but in addition to it also recognized the existence\nof objectively differentiated hypnotic phenomena. These and related\ndoctrines are commonly referred to as those of the \"school of Paris.\"\nIn contrast with this is the \"school of Nancy,\" of which Dr. Bernheim\nis the acknowledged leader, and which may be characterized as the\n\"suggestionist\" school. This school recognizes different degrees of\nsuggestibility, and an endless variety of resulting phenomena, but\nregards suggestion, in its various forms, as furnishing a sufficient\nand comprehensive clue to the entire range of observations. It\nis compelled accordingly to regard the three distinctive states\nrecognized by Charcot as themselves the product of unconscious\nsuggestion and of a contagious _esprit de corps_ of the Salp\u00eatri\u00e8re\nsubjects. The school of Nancy to-day enjoys the most extensive\nfollowing, and may be said to represent the dominant trend of present\nstudy. One may fairly say that the present psychological study in\nthis domain is the study of suggestion, one form, though only one\nform, of which is hypnotic suggestion. With the complete realization\nof the psychological significance of the hypnotic state, the fierce\nand adventurous struggle for existence of hypnotism may be said to\nterminate in its undisturbed adaptation to a scientific environment.\n\n\nXI\n\nThe history of the antecedents of hypnotism is rich in\nsuggestiveness. For the historian of the inductive sciences it\nillustrates the influence of the circumstances accompanying\na discovery upon the status of the discovery itself; that\nthe acceptance of a discovery depends more upon its logical\nconcordance with current scientific conceptions, upon the manner\nof its demonstration, than upon the intrinsic content of what is\ndemonstrated. It is as difficult in science as in real life to escape\nthe influences of unfortunate associates; the interesting state\nwhich we now recognize as hypnosis was naturally discredited when it\nconsorted with animal magnetism and the marvels of somnambulism, but\nwas recognized when its credentials were expressed in intelligible\nphysiological and psychological terms. For the historian of human\nerror the story is equally significant. It illustrates again that the\nmental attitude essentially influences truth and error alike; that\nwith all due allowance for ignorance, for faulty observation, for\ndefective organization of knowledge, error was due, more than to any\nof these, to the lack of suitable concepts for the proper absorption\nand appreciation of the phenomena in their true significance. For\nlack of these there was misconception and oversight, and in their\nstead prepossession by notions of a wholly irrelevant character.\nSuch notions were fostered by what we retrospectively recognize as\npseudo-science; such was the fictitious animal magnetism, an entity\nnever demonstrated, but supported only by a superficial analogical\nplausibility. They were fostered also by the activity of the\nmarvel-loving impulse, which is unresponsive to the uniformities of\nnature, and favors mystic fable, while overlooking sensible fact.\n\"Wer unm\u00f6gliches geglaubt, k\u00f6nnt unm\u00f6gliches verrichten.\" The\nspecial form of belief, the name of the system, the nature of the\nexplanatory theory, seem almost accidental. Throughout all times, the\nsame intense craving to overthrow the limitations of the human mind\nhas been present, and has been satisfied by much the same beliefs and\ntheories. Mesmerism harks back to astrology; prophets and seers have\nalways existed; the mystery of the attractive force of the magnet\nfor long made magnetism a most popular explanation of any obscure\nphenomena; the same performances that convinced the mesmerist of the\nexistence of the magnetic fluid are evidence to the electro-biologist\nof the electro-vital force, of the \"od\" to the followers of\nReichenbach; and--more striking still--the outfit of the modern\nspiritualistic medium, the trance, the clairvoyant discovery of one's\nprivate affairs, the reading of messages in sealed envelopes, the\nconversation with absent or departed friends, are all to be found in\nthe annals of somnambulism. Truly, history repeats itself; and the\nendless forms of mysticism, error, and extravagance seem immortal;\nthey change in form and accommodate themselves to the advance in\nknowledge and civilization, and parody the forms of statement and the\nmethods of science in an age which has learned to be impressed with\nscientific demonstrations.\n\nFor the special student of hypnotism no lesson of the history of its\nantecedents is more practically significant than its illumination\nof the extent, variety, and subtlety of unconscious suggestion. If\nPuys\u00e9gur's subjects prescribe for their own ills and see without\ntheir eyes; if P\u00e9tetin's read what is placed on their stomachs; or\nthe interposition of poor electric-conductors prevent manifestations;\nif one of the subjects examined by the commission of 1784 could not\nbe deprived of speech unless the magnetizing band passed below his\nmouth; if one of the Salp\u00eatri\u00e8re subjects of 1829 could be cured only\nby immersion in the river; if Deleuze's subjects respond differently\nto the minute differences in manipulations, which he believed to be\nessential; if the subjects whom Braid examined could prove the truth\nof phrenology, and the mesmerist's subjects feel the magnetic fluid\nstreaming through their systems; if within recent times paralyses are\ntransferred from one arm to the other by the action of a magnet, or\nDr. Luys's subjects show the characteristic effects of a drug when\na sealed vial containing it is placed upon the subject's neck, or\nrespond to the puppets which he has manipulated,--surely it is as\nobvious that some spontaneous caprice of the subject or unconscious\nsuggestions of the operator have originated these notions, and that\nunconscious imitation has further contributed to their dissemination,\nas it is obvious that all these in part mutually contradictory\nphenomena cannot be true, objective facts. The significance of more\nrecent investigations in allied fields still turns upon the factor\nwhich unconscious suggestion plays in their production. The advocates\nof telepathy, whether occurring under hypnotic or more normal\nconditions, feel confident that unconscious suggestion as well as all\nother sources of error have been eliminated; the skeptical critics\npoint out overlooked and novel modes of unconscious suggestion, and\ndraw confidence from the history of the past, both of the unwarranted\nflight to improbable hypothesis on the basis of an alleged absence\nof a natural explanation, and of the solvent power which future\ninvestigation may hold in store.\n\nThe story of the conquest of a realm of fable by a campaign of\nenlightenment is always a tale of interest. The opening of a new\nvista directs one's gaze outward over unexplored areas. It may be,\nas our seventeenth-century chronicler tells us, that \"we are all\nIndians and Salvages in what we have not accustomed our senses,\" and\nthat, \"what was Conjuring in the last age is Mathematiques in this\";\nbut our more extensive acquaintance with the course of discovery\nand the demonstration of truth has given us a more logical sense\nof the probable and the improbable; and the evolution by which\nconjuring becomes mathematics is more intimately understood. The\nrecent establishment of hypnotism in its scientific aspects furnishes\nthe proper perspective for the comprehension of its antecedents;\nit gives confidence that its future development will incorporate\nthe spirit of present research, as it will avoid the aberrations of\nthe past; and it gives to the story of its vicissitudes a timely\npertinence as well as a psychological significance.\n\n\n\n\nTHE NATURAL HISTORY OF ANALOGY\n\n\nI\n\nThe origin of human endowment lies hidden in an obscure and\nunrecorded past; the fact of development, of the gradual unfoldment\nof capacity, stands out conspicuously throughout the historical\nrecord of human achievement, and is equally recognizable in the\nextensive remains of prehistoric humanity. The story of the mental\ndevelopment of man is constructed from travelers' accounts of\nprimitive peoples, from the records of early civilizations, from the\nsequences of thought and belief that are considered in the history\nof culture, from the study of the intellectual growth of childhood,\nfrom the observation of the less progressive elements of current\ncivilizations. The present essay attempts to portray the status\nof one form of intellectual process, or of mental attitude, which\ncharacterizes undeveloped stages of human thought, and has played\nan important and variable part in the drama of mental evolution. I\npropose to present the \"Natural History of Analogy,\"--meaning thereby\nthe treatment, according to the methods of natural science, of a type\nof mental action, interesting at once as a psychological process, and\nagain from its practical results as a factor in the anthropological\nhistory of the race.\n\nAn analogy is a type of reasoning, and as such is referred to the\nlogician for more precise definition. His briefest explanation of\nthe term may be stated as the inference of a further degree of\nresemblance from an observed degree of resemblance; the argument\nthat because the Earth and Mars agree in the common possession of a\nsolid crust, an atmosphere, presence of water, changes of season,\nthe possibilities of rain and snow, and other observed qualities,\nthey will also agree in the further respect of being inhabited.\nThis may serve as an exemplar of the analogical argument in its\npurest and most developed form; but in the survey of the varieties\nand distribution of this natural product of rationality, it will\nbe necessary to include many forms of thought diverging more or\nless from, though always retaining, a recognizable relation to this\ntype. The analogical inference, indeed, goes back to an inarticulate\nform, in which it merges into a feeling rather than an argument, a\nsusceptibility to an influence supported by undefined plausibility,\nrather than a conclusion from tangible evidence. But however lacking\nin definiteness or formulation, however unconsciously realized\nand barely expressible, the tendency or disposition to believe is\ncommunicated to others and becomes an influential factor in the\nultimate fixation of belief and in the guidance of conduct. Logically\nconsidered, analogy is always a weak argument; and becomes weaker,\nas the range of observed resemblance is more and more limited, as\nthe resemblances belong to accidental, unessential traits, and\nas the underlying basis of the inference is removed from direct\nverification. Psychologically, its power to influence belief may be\nvery strong, and when this is not the case, there still may exist\na disposition to be influenced by analogical considerations, even\nwhen these are successfully resisted or suppressed. The instinctive\nproclivity towards the use of analogies, whether it be logical or\nanti-logical in effect, forms an interesting psychological trait.\nLogic counsels how we may think most profitably and correctly;\npsychology describes how we actually do think or tend to think. The\nlogician is the gardener bent upon training certain selected flowers\naccording to an ideal standard, and eradicating all others as weeds;\nwhile the psychologist is the botanist to whom all plants, weeds, and\nflowers alike are worthy objects of study, and who, indeed, traces\nsignificant resemblances between the despised weed and the choice\nflower.\n\nThe natural history account of analogy will consider the status in\nless advanced stages of human development, and the evolution of\nthis form of thought, which scientists to-day use only with the\ngreatest caution, and to which they at best assign but a limited\nand corroborative value. It will appear that analogy is dominant\nin primitive types of thought; that it has an important cultural\nhistory; and has left an unmistakable impress upon many beliefs of\nour civilization, marked as obsolete, perhaps, in the dictionary\nof the cultured, but current still in the parlance of average and\nuntutored humanity.\n\n\nII\n\nThe great law of apperception, teaching that we observe according\nto our inherited capacities and our acquired experience, that we\nin a very real sense create the world in which we live, explains\nthe difficulty of realizing modes of thought strikingly different\nfrom our own, either as more primitive, or more complex, or as based\nupon other perspectives of the social, intellectual, and ethical\nrules that guide thought and conduct. To the supremely civilized\ncitizen of the nineteenth century, the mental life of one who has\nhardly a firm hold on the first round of the ladder of civilization\nis naturally somewhat incomprehensible. An illustration of the\nconspicuous contrast, though doubtless amidst an inherent community,\nof the thought-habits of untutored and of cultured man, may suggest\nthe direction and the nature of the evolutionary development that\nseparates, yet binds, the one and the other. Prominent among such\ncontrasts is the different standing assumed by the facts and\nreasonings of science in primitive and in highly civilized life; and\nan important part of this difference may be viewed as the shifting\nof the position occupied by the argument by analogy. Deeper than the\nlanguage of words, and underlying their use and formation, is the\nhabit of comparing object with object, of tracing resemblances and\nnoting contrasts. It would seem that in the primitive use of this\nprocess there is lacking the distinction between the resemblances\nmore strictly inherent in the objects and those originating in the\nmode of viewing them; subject and object are still merged in a\nvaguer realm of perception where myth and science, poetical fiction\nand evident fact, are as yet undifferentiated and mingle without\nlet or hindrance. The savage frames his world by the realization\nof simple fancies suggested by slight analogies, where the man\nof culture examines the objective causes of phenomena under the\nguidance of scientifically established principles and accurate logic.\nFortunately, however, for our power of realizing bygone mental\ntraits, these forms of belief still find currency as survivals, in\nMr. Tylor's apt words, \"of the lower culture which they are of to\nthe higher culture which they are in.\" We thus can understand the\nbelief we no longer share; we can appreciate as suggestive myth or\nfar-fetched analogy what to our ancestors may have been a plausible\nbelief or a satisfactory explanation.\n\nThe prominence of analogy among undeveloped peoples supplies\nunlimited illustrations of the r\u00f4le which it plays in primitive\ncircles, the essential influence which it exerts over thoughts\nand customs in the early history of mankind. Consider first that\nwidespread class of customs and observances by which the savage\nregards himself as influencing for good or ill the fate of friend or\nfoe. The Zulu chewing a bit of wood to soften the heart of the man\nhe wishes to buy oxen from, or of the woman he is wooing (Tylor);\nthe Illinois Indians making figures of those whose days they desire\nto shorten, and stabbing these images to the heart, or by performing\nincantations upon a stone trying to form a stone in the hearts of\ntheir enemies (Dorman); the Peruvian sorcerer, making rag dolls and\npiercing them with cactus-thorns, and hiding them about the beds\nto cripple people; or the native of Borneo, making a wax figure of\nhis enemy in the belief that as the image melts, the enemy's body\nwill waste away (Tylor); the Zulu sorcerer who secures a portion\nof a desired victim's dress and buries it secretly, so that, as it\nrots away, his life may decay (Clodd); the confession recorded in\na seventeenth-century trial for witchcraft, that the accused had\n\"buried a glove of the said Lord Henry in the ground, so that as\nthe glove did rot and waste, the liver of the said lord might rot\nand waste\" (Brand); the New Britain sorcerer of to-day who burns a\ncastaway banana skin, so that he who carelessly left it unburied\nmay die a tormenting death (Clodd); bewitching by operating upon a\nlock of hair or the parings of the finger-nails, and the consequent\nwidespread custom of religiously preventing such personal scraps from\nfalling into others' possession;--all these varied forms of primitive\nwitchcraft rest upon the notion that one kind of connection, one\nlink of resemblance, will bring with it others. The argument, if\nexplicitly stated, as can hardly be done without doing violence to\nits instinctive force, may be put thus: this bit of wood or stone\nor lock of hair or scrap of clothing resembles this man or woman in\nthat the one represents the other or that the one had a personal\nconnection with the other; therefore they will further resemble one\nanother in that whatever will make the one soft and yielding or the\nother hard and unfeeling will have the same effect on the other, or\nin that whatever is done to the one will happen to the other. Other\nconsiderations combine with this underlying analogical factor to\nimpart cogency and plausibility to a belief or custom; but the type\nof the logic, crooked though it be, is recognizable throughout.\n\nAnother significant group of primitive beliefs, involving a similarly\nindirect argument by analogy, relates to the partaking of an animal\nfor the sake of thus absorbing its typical qualities. The Malays eat\ntiger to acquire the sagacity as well as the cunning of that animal;\nthe Dyaks refuse to eat deer for fear of becoming faint-hearted; the\nCaribs eschew pigs and tortoises for fear of having their eyes grow\nsmall (Lubbock); even cannibalism may be indulged in, in the hopes\nof absorbing the courage of a brave man, as in the case of Captain\nWells, who was killed near Chicago in 1812, and whose body was cut\nup and distributed among the Indians, \"so that all might have the\nopportunity of getting a taste of the courageous soldier\" (Clodd);\nand in an ancient Mexican rite, called the eating of the god, there\noccurs an elaborated and symbolical form of the same belief.\n\nThe use of omens, the interpretation of signs and coincidences, forms\nanother rich field for illustration of arguments by analogy. \"Magical\narts,\" says Mr. Tylor, \"in which the connection is that of mere\nanalogy or symbolism, are endlessly numerous throughout the course of\ncivilization. Their common theory may be readily made out from a few\ntypical cases, and thence applied confidently to the general mass.\nThe Australian will observe the track of an insect near a grave to\nascertain the direction where the sorcerer is to be found by whose\ncraft the man died.... The Khondi sets up the iron arrow of the war\ngod in a basket of rice, and judges from its standing upright that\nwar must be kept up also, or from its falling that the quarrel may\nbe let fall too; and when he tortures human victims sacrificed to\nthe earth goddess he rejoices to see them shed plentiful tears,\nwhich betoken copious showers to fall upon his land.\" \"In the burial\nceremonies of the natives of Alaska, if too many tears were shed\nthey said that the road of the dead would be muddy, but a few tears\njust laid the dust\" (Dorman). \"The Zapotecs had a very curious\nmanner of selecting a manitou for a child at its birth. When a woman\nwas about to be delivered, the relatives assembled in the hut and\ncommenced to draw on the floor figures of different animals, rubbing\nout each one as fast as completed. The one that remained at the time\nof the birth was called the child's second self, and as soon as grown\nup he procured the animal, and believed his health and existence\nbound up with it\" (Dorman). The taking of omens by the flight of\nbirds or the tracks of animals, by the sky, by the inspection of\nsacrifices, by the trivial happenings of daily life, abound in savage\nceremonials, and in a fair proportion of cases carry with them the\nrationale of their origin, that saves them from being mere caprice.\nAnd in all those endless appeals to chance or lot for the detection\nof crime, the unfoldment of the future, the prediction of the issue\nof disease or of important tribal events, there is always some\nunderlying link of connection between the kind of omen or the nature\nof its interpretation and the issue it signifies; and this connection\nit is, however slight or fanciful, that maintains the belief in the\nfurther bond of omen and issue.\n\n\nIII\n\nThat such connections may travel still farther along the path of\nanalogy without losing force, is well illustrated in the observances\nregarding the use of names. The connection seems to pass from thing\nto image, to name, much as picture-writing passes into word-writing.\nThe use of idols is abundant evidence of the extent of this\nmental operation; what is done to or for the idol is analogically\ntransferred to the god, and the confusion may become so gross that\nwhen the oracles of two gods disagree, their idols are knocked\nagainst each other, and the one that breaks is declared in the wrong.\nA drawing or other rough resemblance may do service for the thing,\nespecially in sacrifices of objects of value. By similar steps the\nname becomes an essential portion of the object or person named,\nand analogies formed through the name are applied to the thing.\nAccordingly, a man may be bewitched through his name; hence there\narise the most elaborate and rigid observances prohibiting the use\nof the name, which are grouped together in the complex code of the\nTaboo,--that \"dread tyrant of savage life, ... the Inquisition of the\nlower culture, only more terrible and effective than the infamous\n'Holy Office'\" (Clodd). For uncomplicated illustrations of name\nanalogies, however, we must go to other customs than the Taboo. It\nis related that in the British war with Nepaul, Goree Sah had sent\norders to \"find out the name of the commander of the British army;\nwrite it upon a piece of paper; take it some rice and turmeric;\nsay the great incantation three times; having said it, send for\nsome plum-tree wood, and therewith burn it;\" thus was the life of\nthe commander to be destroyed. Similarly it was suspected that the\nKing of Dahomey refused to sign a letter, written in his name to\nthe President of the French Republic, for fear that M. Carnot might\nbewitch him through it (cited by Clodd). \"Barbaric man believes\nthat his name is a vital part of himself, and therefore that the\nnames of other men and of superhuman beings are also vital parts\nof themselves. He further believes that to know the name is to put\nits owner, whether he be deity, ghost, or mortal, in the power of\nanother, involving risk of harm or destruction to the named. He\ntherefore takes all kinds of precautions to conceal his name, often\nfrom his friend, and always from his foe\" (Clodd). In Borneo the\nname of a sickly child is changed to deceive the evil spirits that\ntorment it. \"When the life of a Kwapa Indian is supposed to be in\ndanger from illness, he at once seeks to get rid of his name, and\nsends to another member of the tribe, who goes to the chief and buys\na new name, which is given to the patient. With the abandonment of\nthe old name it is believed that the sickness is thrown off. 'On the\nreception of the new name the patient becomes related to the Kwapa\nwho purchased it. Any Kwapa can change or abandon his personal name\nfour times, but it is considered bad luck to attempt such a thing\nfor the fifth time'\" (Clodd). The Mohawk chief can confer no higher\nhonor on his visitor than by giving him his name, with which goes\nthe right of regarding the chief's fame and deeds of valor as his\nown. A Tahitian chief became so smitten with Stevenson's charms that\nhe assumed Stevenson's name; in exchange Stevenson took the name\nof the chief, and in one of his letters signs himself, \"Teritera,\nwhich he was previously known as Robert Louis Stevenson.\" When totem\nand tribal names are assumed to obtain the qualities of the animal\nnamesake, or the reverence due to the person is transferred to the\nname, and when incantations and the utterances of mystic formul\u00e6 are\ngranted like efficacy as the manipulation of the things themselves,\nwe see the operation of the mental law under discussion; though\nit is still more saliently illustrated in the more artificialized\npractices of the Chinese physician, who, for lack of a desired drug,\nwill \"write the prescription on a piece of paper and let the sick man\nswallow its ashes or an infusion of the writing in water;\" or of the\nMoslem who expects relief from a decoction in which a verse of the\nKoran written on paper has been washed (Tylor).\n\nWhat is true of names is also regarded as true of other\nrepresentatives or embodiments of personality--the footprint, the\ndrawing, the image, the shadow. \"Broken bottle ends or sharp stones\nare put, in Russia and in Austria, in the footprints of a foe, for\nthe purpose of laming him (Lang); or a nail may be driven into a\nhorse's footprint to make him go lame\" (Grimm). The Ojibways practice\nmagic \"by drawing the figure of any person in sand or clay, or by\nconsidering any object as the figure of a person, and then pricking\nit with a sharp stick or other weapon; ... the person thus represented\nwill suffer likewise\" (Dorman). The same idea appears in King James's\n\"Demonology,\" in which he speaks of \"the devil teaching how to make\npictures of wax or clay, that by roasting thereof the persons that\nthey bear the name of may be continually melted or dried away by\nsickness;\" and even now Highland crofters perforate the image of\nan enemy with pins. The same idea finds a tangible illustration in\nthe collection of objects in the Pitt Rivers Museum at Oxford (such\nas a pig's heart from Devonshire, with pins stuck into it), which\nwere used for a like purpose. And Catlin's story of the accusation\nbrought against him by the Yukons, that he had made buffaloes scarce\nby putting so many pictures of them in his book, may be paralleled\nby the stories gathered from Scotland to Somerset, of \"ill health or\nill luck which followed the camera, of folks who 'took bad and died'\nafter being 'a-tookt'\" (Clodd). \"The Basuto avoids the riverbank,\nlest, as his shadow falls on the water, a crocodile may seize it\nand harm the owner. In Wetar Island, near Celebes, the magicians\nprofess to make a man ill by spearing or stabbing his shadow; the\nArabs believe that if a hy\u00e6na treads on a shadow, it deprives the man\nof the power of speech; and in modern Roumania the ancient custom\nof burying a victim as sacrifice to the earth-spirit under any new\nstructure has a survival in the builder enticing some passer-by to\ndraw near, so that his shadow is thrown on the foundation-stone, the\nbelief being that he will die within the year\" (Clodd).\n\nTo the underlying notions thus variously embodied may be applied\nMr. Clodd's characterization: they form \"a part of that general\nconfusion between the objective and the subjective--in other words,\nbetween names and things, or between symbols and realities--which\nis a universal feature of barbaric modes of thought. This confusion\nattributes the qualities of living things to things not living; it\nlies at the root of all fetichism and idolatry; of all witchcraft,\nShamanism, and other instruments which are as keys to the invisible\nkingdom of the dreaded.\" It is in such an atmosphere that the\nphilosophy of analogy rules with undisputed sway.\n\n\"Ideas are universal, incidents are local,\" says Mr. Clodd, in\nspeaking of the diffusion of folk-lore tales. The same is true of\nthought tendencies. We may realize more intimately the analogical\npotency of names by recalling their survivals from the solemn uses of\ncurses and excommunications, to the charms carried about the person\nconsisting of magic or cabalistic writing, to the playful or the\nserious German usage of saying _unberufen_, and rapping three times\nunder the table if a word or thought \"tempting Providence\" has fallen\nfrom the lips. Clearly, if we follow analogy as a guide, there is\nmuch in a name.\n\n\nIV\n\nWe may next proceed to more general uses of the analogical\ntrait,--more general because the special analogical appropriateness\nof thought or custom is no longer so apparent, but requires to\nbe viewed more as a special and, it may be, a somewhat arbitrary\napplication of a principle, itself supported or believed in on\nanalogical grounds. Metaphor and simile and symbolism may be based\nupon the same types of resemblances that underlie analogy, but it is\ndesirable, so far as may be possible, to hold these distinct; yet\nwhat is metaphor to us may still be analogy to others.\n\nWhen we speak of a head of cabbage, the trunk of a tree, or the legs\nof a table, we understand that we have applied these names on the\nbasis of resemblances to objects to which the names more strictly\nbelong, and there is no thought that the name carries with it any\nfurther connection; but when the Chinese doctor administers the\nheads, middle parts, and roots of plants, for the heads, bodies,\nand legs of his patients respectively, he is clearly led to do so by\na vague sense of analogical fitness, by a feeling that the bodily\nsimilarities are indicative of further connection of a quasi-causal\ntype. This kind of reasoning abounds in primitive ceremonials, in\nwhich the appropriateness of the observances and of the elements of\nthe ritual depend upon resemblances or symbolical suggestiveness.\nIt is difficult to find instances of this trait in which a more or\nless conscious symbolism is excluded, for we know how readily the\nsavage mind, in its somewhat more developed stages, uses this mode of\nthought, as is evidenced by the ingenuity of their picture-writing,\ngesture-language, and tribal systems. But apart from symbolical\nprocedures, in which the unreality of the underlying resemblances\nis half acknowledged, we may note the application of such general\nprinciples as that unusual phenomena have unusual significance,\nand that to accomplish important objects drastic means and rare\nsubstances must be employed; that operations and remedies will be\neffective according to their divergence from the usual and the common\nexperience of mankind. The influence of this principle is traceable\nin the bizarre fancies and grotesque performances of savages, as also\nin the reverence shown to the belongings of the white man and the\ncurious uses to which they are put. In their ritual observances, as\nwell as in medical practice, the same principle is involved; a single\nillustration will suffice to recall this well-known form of thought.\nDorman cites the fate of an Indian warrior brought to camp after a\nmost disastrous encounter with a grizzly bear. To repair his very\nserious injuries \"the doctor compounded a medicine that really ought\nto have worked wonders. It was made by boiling together a collection\nof miscellaneous weeds, a handful of chewing tobacco, the heads of\nfour rattlesnakes, and a select assortment of worn-out moccasins. The\ndecoction thus obtained was seasoned with a little crude petroleum\nand a large quantity of red pepper, and the patient was directed\nto take a pint of the mixture every half hour. He was a brave man,\nconspicuous for his fortitude under suffering, but after taking his\nfirst dose he turned over and died with the utmost expedition.\"\n\nAnother one of these general principles may have been suggested\nby the failure of the ordinary omens; and thus the conclusion was\nreached that the analogy proceeds not according to resemblance but\nby contrast. For example, the Zulus, when dreaming \"of a sick man\nthat he is dead, ... say, 'because we have dreamt of his death he\nwill not die.' But if they dream of a wedding dance it is the sign\nof a funeral. So the Maoris hold that a kinsman dreamt of as dying\nwill recover, but to see him well is a sign of death. Both races thus\nworked out, by the same crooked logic that guided our own ancestors,\nthe axiom that dreams go by contraries\" (Tylor). It will be seen\nin later portions of our exposition that these and other general\nprinciples of an analogical type have lost none of their potency in\ntheir more modern or more erudite phases.\n\n\nV\n\nThe parallelism between the mental development of the individual\nand of the race, though necessarily incomplete, is yet deeply\nsuggestive and significant. In a very true sense the unfoldment of\nmental faculty from childhood to maturity reflects the allied course\nof evolution from savagery to civilization; yet the reflection is\ndistorted and is traceable only in general outlines. Undeveloped\nforms of thought and instinctive tendencies, of a related though by\nno means of an identical character, should be traceable in each; and\namong them the natural proclivity for dependence upon analogies.\nThat children are fond of reasoning by analogy there can be no\ndoubt; their confusion of fact with fancy, their lack of extensive\nknowledge and the ability to refer effects to proper causes, their\ngreat love for sound effects and play of words, the earnestness of\ntheir play convictions--all these furnish a rich soil for the growth\nof such habits of thought as we are now considering. On the other\nhand, the influence of their adult companions, of their conventional\nsurroundings, of the growth of the make-believe sentiment by\nwhich the laws of the real world are differentiated from those of\nfairy-land, make it difficult to pronounce as an argument by analogy\nwhat may really be a half-conscious play of fancy or jugglery\nof words and ideas. There is, further, considerable difficulty\nin collecting characteristic and unimpeachable illustrations of\narguments by analogy in children, owing to the general lack of\nsuitable collections of children's spontaneous and original mental\nreactions. What fond parents are apt to observe and newspaper\nparagraphers to record are sayings that amuse by a quaintness or\nthe assumption of a worldly wisdom beyond their years, while the\ntruly suggestive traits pass unrecorded for lack of psychologically\ninformed observers. There is thus a gap to be supplied by valuable\nand suggestive study of analogy in childhood. However, not to pass by\nthe topic without illustration, I may cite the reply of the little\nboy who, when asked his age, said he was nine when he stood on his\nfeet but six when he stood on his head, because an inverted 9 makes\na 6; he was certainly reasoning by a far-fetched analogy, however\nlittle faith he may have had in the correctness of his reasoning. The\nchildren who believed that butter comes from butterflies, and grass\nfrom grasshoppers, beans from bees, and kittens from pussy-willows\n(Stanley Hall), may have been simply misled by sound analogies;\nbut when Sir John Lubbock tells us of a little girl saying to her\nbrother, \"If you eat so much goose you will be quite silly,\" and adds\nthat, \"there are perhaps few children to whom the induction would not\nseem perfectly legitimate,\" we appreciate that such arguments, so\nclosely paralleling the superstitions of savages, may be more real to\nchildren than we suspect.\n\n\nVI\n\nWe may now enter in the search for reasonings by analogy into\na field of greatest interest to the student of the history of\nculture; namely, the household traditions, the superstitions, and\nthe pseudo-scientific systems, that originated among our ancestors,\nremote or immediate, and are still far from obsolete in all but the\nupper strata of our civilization. This portion of the theme indeed\npresents an _embarras de richesses_, and the illustrations to be\ncited form but an insignificant share of those that could readily be\ncollected. Certainly more than one chapter of the history of human\nerror could be profitably devoted to those due to an unwarranted use\nof the argument by analogy.\n\nWe may begin by taking a flying excursion into that body of\nsuperstitions and folk-lore customs which no nation, however high or\nlow in the scale of civilization, is without. The widespread custom\nof carrying baby upstairs before being taken to the lower floors of\nthe house, so that he may be successful in life and participate in\nits ups rather than its downs, rests upon baby-logic indeed. The\nbelief that if baby keeps his fists tightly closed he will be stingy,\nbut if he holds an open palm he will be generous, likewise requires\nno interpretation. It is forbidden, too, to measure a child, for\nmeasuring it is measuring it for its coffin. To the German peasant,\nif a dog howls looking downward it means death, if upward recovery\nfrom sickness. \"The Hessian lad thinks that he may escape the\nconscription by carrying a baby-girl's cap in his pocket--a symbolic\nway of repudiating manhood.\" \"Fish,\" says the Cornishman, \"should be\neaten from the tail to the head, to bring other fishes' heads towards\nthe shore, for eating them the wrong way turns them from the coast.\"\n\"It is still plain,\" says Mr. Tylor, from whom I have cited some of\nthese examples, \"why the omen of the crow should be different on the\nright or left hand, why a vulture should mean rapacity; a stork,\nconcord; a pelican, piety; an ass, labor; why the fierce, conquering\nwolf should be a good omen, and the timid hare a bad one; why bees,\ntypes of an obedient nation, should be lucky to a king, while flies\nreturning, however often they are driven off, should be signs of\nimportunity and impudence.\" And as parallels to these signs, in the\nvegetable world, one may cite the amaranth as signifying immortality;\nivy, strength; cypress, woe; heliotrope, attachment; aspen, fear;\naloes, bitterness; while through more artificial associations the\nlaurel becomes the sign of renown; the rose, of love; the olive, of\npeace; and the palm, of victory.\n\nLess directly analogical are the customs of a semi-symbolic\ncharacter, depending upon a mysterious or potent sympathy. Thus, in\n\"Bavaria, flax will not thrive unless it is sown by women, and this\nhas to be done with strange ceremonies, including the scattering over\nthe field of the ashes of a fire made of wood consecrated during\nmatins. As high as the maids jump over the fires on the hilltops\non Midsummer Night, so high will the flax grow; but we find also\nthat as high as the bride springs from the table on her marriage\nnight, so high will the flax grow in that year.\" This is paralleled\nby the custom, recorded by Mr. Frazer, current in the interior of\nSumatra. There \"the rice is sown by women who, in sowing, let the\nhair hang loose down their backs, in order that the rice may grow\nluxuriantly and have long stalks.\" It is hardly necessary to continue\nthese illustrations, which will at once suggest others, with which\nthe wealth of superstitious lore overflows; nor do they require\nelaborate interpretation. The resemblances involved may be fanciful\nor symbolic, obvious or obscure, superficial or intrinsic, natural\nor artificial, but the subtle and protean bases of analogy become\nrecognizable as soon as the mind is directed towards their detection.\n\nIt will be more profitable to limit the inquiry to a few groups of\nbeliefs, which have been more or less fully elaborated into systems.\nOf these the interpretation of dreams offers a promising harvest of\nanalogies. This practice has a venerable history, the study of which\nwould constitute an interesting task for the patient student of the\nby-paths of human culture. I shall draw only from the contemporaneous\nsurvivals of this ancient lore, the dream-books purchasable in every\ncity and village.\n\nMy selections from this literature have been made with a view of\npresenting the typical kinds of analogy through which modern dream\nomens are believed in and through which this kind of reading finds\na sale. \"To dream of using glue,\" an authority tells us, \"foretells\nimprisonment for yourself or friend;\" and this because a prison\nand glue are alike in that it is difficult to be released from the\nhold of either. Similarly, because the pineapple has a rough and\nforbidding appearance it becomes in dreams the omen of \"crosses and\ntroubles.\" This seems hardly more than a play of words; indeed, we\nhave here touched one of the many points where metaphor and analogy\nmeet. For instance, we commonly speak of the ladder of success and\nthe ups and downs of fortune; the dream-book tells us that \"to dream\nof going up a ladder foretells the possession of wealth; coming down,\nof poverty.\" The common phrase of \"mud-slinging\" is thus interpreted\nby the dream-books, \"to dream of dirty dirt or mud signifies that\nsome one will speak ill of you. If some one throws dirt on you it\nforetells that you will be abused.\" To the same category belong the\ndream-book maxims, that \"to dream of being mounted on stilts denotes\nthat you are puffed up with vain pride;\" \"to dream that you gather\nfruit from a very old tree is generally supposed to prognosticate\nthat you will succeed to the wealth of some ancient person; if you\ndream of a clock and the hands stop it means death; if the hands keep\nmoving, recovery;\" \"to dream of a concert means a life of harmony\nwith one you love.\" So, too, various objects become significant of\ntheir striking characteristics: the earthworm, from its habits of\nunderground and secret destruction, denotes \"secret enemies that\nendeavor to ruin and destroy us;\" and all strongly redolent food,\nsuch as onions, garlic, and leek, easily betraying the one who has\npartaken of them, becomes indicative of the betrayal of secrets and\nthe like. Mr. Dyer cites some apt lines in which the logic is about\nas meritorious as the verse:--\n\n      \"To dream of eating onions means\n      Much strife in thy domestic scenes;\n      Secrets found out or else betrayed,\n      And many falsehoods made and said.\"\n\nFrom Mr. Tylor's collection of dream omens of similar character\nI cull the following: \"to wash the hands denotes release from\nanxieties;\" \"to have one's feet cut off prevents a journey;\" \"he who\ndreams he has lost a tooth shall lose a friend;\" \"he that dreams that\na rib is taken out of his side shall ere long see the death of his\nwife;\" to dream of swimming and wading in the water is good, so that\nthe head be kept above water. A good share of the omens depend upon\ncontrasts and not upon resemblances: \"to be married denotes some of\nyour kinsfolk are dead;\" \"to dream of death denotes happiness and\nlong life;\" and so on. Others of these dream-book analogies depend\nrather upon verbal resemblance, and still others involve resemblances\ntoo subtle and peculiar to be readily explained. There is perhaps\nnothing more underlying the dictum that \"dreaming about Quakers means\nthat you will meet a friend soon\" than the fact that the Quakers are\na \"Society of Friends;\" a little more elaborate punning underlies the\nprediction that \"to dream of a dairy showeth the dreamer to be of\na milksop nature;\" and finally what a curious mixture of perverted\nanalogy is reflected in the notion that to dream of \"a zebra\nindicates a checkered life\"!\n\nThe great parts that names and numbers play in superstitions of all\nkinds is so familiar that a few instances will be sufficient. It is\nwell to bear in mind that these number and name predictions, in the\ncourse of their venerable and eventful lives, have been systematized,\nand the gaps in the system supplied by arbitrary associations. Thus\nthe modern fortune-telling books have an omen for each one of a\npack of cards, or a set of dominoes, in which we find, among what\nseems little more than an arbitrary assignment of the ordinary\nevents of life, good and bad, pleasant and unpleasant, important\nand trivial,--among the several cards or dominoes, here and there\nsome underlying basis of analogy; hearts relate to love affairs,\ndiamonds to wealth; kings and queens play important r\u00f4les; the jack\nis about as often a lover as a knave; threes and sevens have special\nsignificance; and double throws in dice, especially the two sixes,\nhave important consequences. So in folk-lore, operations, to be\neffective, must be done just three times, or thrice three, or seven.\nThe seventh child of a seventh child has special powers, as we all\nknow. The twelfth hour that divides night from day is a momentous\ninstant, as is also the time of the cock's crow. \"Against a warty\neruption the leeches advised the patient to take seven wafers and\nwrite on each wafer, Maximianus, Malchus, Johannes, Martinianus,\nDionysius, Constantinus, Serafion; then a charm was to be sung to the\nman, and a maiden was afterwards to hang it about his neck\" (Black).\nIn a similar strain the dream-book informs us that if a number of\nyoung women, not less than three nor more than seven, assemble on a\ncertain night, and if, as the hour strikes eleven, they each take\na sprig of myrtle and throw it, together with nine hairs from the\nhead, upon a live coal, and if they go to bed at exactly twelve\no'clock, they will dream of their future husbands as a reward of\ntheir pains and their mathematical accuracy. Not a few of number\nand name ceremonials are invested with their power by religious\nassociations; the ill luck of thirteen and of Friday is commonly\nregarded as due to this source. In the northern English countries,\nwitches are said to dislike the bracken fern, because it bears on\nits roots the initial C (indicating Christ), which may be seen on\ncutting the root horizontally (Dyer). The clover, on account of its\ntrefoil form, suggesting trinity, is likewise good against witches\n(Dyer). A like explanation seems applicable to the efficacy of the\ncross and the cross-roads, both of which enter, in a variety of\nways, into folk-lore beliefs and customs. While numbers and names\nand definite associations seldom form the whole basis of analogy by\nwhich the belief becomes plausible, they very frequently enter to\nemphasize and give point to practices suggested on other grounds.\nThe argument involved in the number analogy is extremely simple;\nit is nothing more than because two phenomena have in common the\nassociation with the same number, therefore they will be connected\nin further respects. This slender line of connection affects the\nminute code of superstitious action, and forms the thread whereon are\nstrung momentous omens, powerful recipes, dire predictions, and wise\nprecautions against various imaginary dangers.\n\nThe logic by which the treatments current in folk-medicine acquire\ntheir efficacy is passing strange; at first acquaintance with\nthis wonderland we are apt to imagine ourselves in some weird\ntopsy-turvydom, where everything uncanny and incongruous is greedily\ncollected, and the most bizarre and trivial doings become endowed\nwith marvelous efficacy. Upon closer acquaintance we discover some\nlittle order in the medley, and, in spite of much that remains\narbitrary and capricious, we begin to trace the analogies according\nto which the various treatments are composed and the potions\nconcocted. The common connection of toads with warts, both as giving\nand curing them, is due to nothing more than the warty appearance\nof the toad's skin; similarly, in Gloucestershire, against ear-ache\na snail is pricked and the froth that exudes dropped into the\npatient's ear (Black); and this by reason of the snail-like passages\nin the ear. Fevers being connected with heat and blood, and both\nthese closely associated with red, red things become efficacious in\ndiseases characterized by fever. That this should be especially\nin vogue against scarlet fever is no more than natural; and it is\nrelated that when the son of Edward II. was sick of the small-pox,\nthe physician directed that the bed-furniture should be red (Black).\nOther forms of such associations will be met with in the discussion\nof the doctrines of signatures and sympathies.\n\nFolk-medicine forms a particularly apt field for the application\nof the two general forms of analogy indicated as prevalent among\nsavages: analogies by contrast and the assignment of unusual effects\nto uncommon causes. If something is done with the right hand, doing\nit with the left reverses the action; one set of directions applies\nto men and contrary ones to women; saying a thing backwards is\nparticularly efficacious. The prescription against hiccough, that you\nshould \"cross the front of the left shoe with the forefinger of the\nright hand while you repeat the Lord's prayer backwards\" (Black) may\nserve to illustrate the one crooked type of argument, while for the\nother we have only to recall the Shakespearean witches, with their--\n\n      \"Round about the cauldron go;\n      In the poison'd entrails throw.\n      Toad, that under coldest stone,\n      Days and nights has thirty-one\n      Swelter'd venom sleeping got,\n      Boil thou first i' the charmed pot!\n      Fillet of a fenny snake,\n      In the cauldron boil and bake;\n      Eye of newt and toe of frog,\n      Wool of bat and tongue of dog,\n      Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,\n      Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,\n      For a charm of powerful trouble,\n      Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.\n      Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf;\n      Witches' mummy; maw and gulf,\n      Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark;\n      Root of hemlock digg'd i' the dark;\n      Liver of blaspheming Jew;\n      Gall of goat, and slips of yew,\n      Silvered in the moon's eclipse;\n      Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips;\n      Finger of birth-strangled babe,\n      Ditch deliver'd by a drab,--\n      Make the gruel thick and slab;\n      Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,\n      For the ingredients of our cauldron.\n      Cool it with the baboon's blood,\n      Then the charm is firm and good.\"\n\n\nVII\n\nFrom folk-medicine to false and absurd forms of remedial systems,\nthe transition is slight. For present purposes the most instructive\nof such systematized beliefs is the doctrine of sympathy, of which\nthe most familiar survival is the phrase, \"to take a hair of the dog\nthat bit you.\" The system appeared in various phases and at various\ntimes. We find Paracelsus a believer in it in the form of a \"weapon\nsalve,\" which is to be applied to the weapon that caused the wound\nand thereby to heal the wound; weapon and wound having once been\nrelated as cause and effect, this relation is supposed to insure\nfurther connection. The system found wide circulation through the\nefforts of Sir Kenelm Digby. While Sir Kenelm's practices involved\nbad observation and ignorance of medicine, what gave the method its\nplausibility and induced the faulty observation was an underlying\nbelief in the argument by analogy. His treatment may be gathered from\na story he tells of a Mr. Howell, whose hand was cut in an attempt\nto stop a duel between friends. Sir Kenelm arrives on the scene and\nasks for anything that had the blood upon it; he is given the garter\nwherewith the hand was first bound; this he places in a basin of\nwater, when suddenly Mr. Howell, who is unaware of what is going on,\nexperiences a cooling effect and a relief from pain. When the garter\nis placed before a great fire, Mr. Howell experiences an intense\nburning in the wound. Still another form of this idea appears in the\n\"sympathetic alphabet,\" in which each of two friends cuts out a piece\nof his skin and has it transferred to the other; on this grafted skin\nan alphabet is tattooed, and when a letter is pricked on the skin of\nthe one friend, the other feels the pain at the corresponding point;\nand thus intercourse is established. A still more curious form of\nthe doctrine appears in an out-of-the-way pamphlet; its title (a\nGerman translation from the French) is \"The Thought Telegraph: or the\ninstantaneous communication of thought at any distance, even from one\nend of the world to the other, by means of a portable machine. The\nmost wonderful invention of our age.\" The true basis of the method,\nwe are told, depends upon a \"sympathetic-galvano, magnetic, mineral,\nanimal, adamitic fluid;\" the practice depends upon the alleged\ndiscovery of a species of snails, placed in a sympathetic relation,\nso that ever after their movements are in harmony. Accordingly each\noperator takes one of the snails and places it upon the alphabet\nchart; the snail crawls over the chart resting upon certain letters,\nand the other snail, however far removed, will do just the same, and\nthus the thought-telegraph will be established. Like Charles the\nSecond's famous fish, that would not add to the weight of a dish\nof water in which it was placed, it lacks nothing but truth to be\na great invention. Practices of the same general nature are still\ncurrent; in the Netherlands, the knife that cut one is rubbed with\nfat in the belief that as the fat dries the wound will heal. The\nrelation may become more remotely analogical and more arbitrary, as\nwhen, to cure ague, as many notches are cut in a stick as there have\nbeen fits; as the stick dries the ague is to disappear; ruptured\nchildren are passed through a split tree, and thus a sympathy is\nproduced between child and tree, so that as the tree heals the child\nwill be cured. A like sympathy is supposed to exist between celestial\nobjects and human events; this is particularly applied to the moon,\nthe moon's growth and wane indicating the fortunate times for growth\nand decay of earthly things. One must sow grain, cut the hair, and\nperform sundry other operations with the increase of the moon, to\ninsure increase of growth. The tides are similarly significant, as\nthe ever-pathetic Barkis \"going out with the tide\" sufficiently\nillustrates.\n\nWhile in the doctrine of sympathy, the resemblance basal to the\nanalogy is one of relation,--such as the relation of cause and\neffect, of owner and the object owned, of implement and the action\nperformed by its use,--in the doctrine of seals or signatures, the\nresemblance is an outward, usually a visible one, of form, color,\nor the possession of marked peculiarities. Underlying this doctrine\nseems to be the belief that no object or event is without profound\nsignificance for man's welfare. The key to this significance is to\nbe found in a resemblance obvious or remote, actual or ideal. Hence\nthe uses of things are suggested by their appearance. The euphrasia\nor eyebright is useful in case of sore eyes on account of the bright\neye-like spot in its corolla; special virtues are ascribed to the\nginseng on account of the resemblance of its roots to a human shape.\nThe granulated roots of the white meadow saxifrage were regarded\nas efficacious against calculous complaints. The Solomon's-seal\nis so called on account of the marks in the cross-section of its\nroots, and is used to seal wounds. Water-soldier, on account of its\nsword-shaped leaves, was regarded as useful for gunshot wounds. The\nred rose suggests its use in blood diseases; and yellow flowers were\nused in jaundice and liver complaints. The walnut was clearly defined\nfor use in mental diseases: for its shape was that of the head,\nthe outer green covering being the pericranium, the hard shell the\nskull, and the kernel the brain. Old ladies' thistle was for stitches\nin the side, nettle tea for nettle-rash, hearts'-ease for heart\ntroubles. Plants whose parts resembled teeth were prescribed for\ntoothache, quaking grass against shakes, and so on with consistent\nillogicality (Dyer). The resemblances here involved are obvious\nenough; they are just such as underlie popular names of plants and\nthe metaphorical use of terms. They form another illustration of\nhow metaphor and analogy overlap; what we accept as a sufficient\nsuggestion for an appropriate name was by pseudo-science, by\nfolk-lore, or by superstition regarded as sufficiently significant to\nsupport a cause-and-effect-like or a teleological relation. This,\nfurthermore, is a line of practice in which modern superstition and\nsavage belief stand on an equal footing; the prescriptions just\ncited are matched by the operations of the Cherokee, who make \"a\ndecoction of the cone-flower for weak eyes because of the fancied\nresemblance of that plant to the strong-sighted eye of the deer\"\n(Clodd); who carry out the notion more elaborately when they \"drink\nan infusion of the tenacious burrs of the common beggars'-lice, an\nAmerican species of the genus Desmodium, to strengthen the memory,\"\nor to \"insure a fine voice, boil crickets and drink the liquor\"\n(Clodd). The \"Zulu medicine-man, who takes the bones of the oldest\nbull or dog of the tribe, giving scrapings of these to the sick,\nso that their lives may be prolonged to old age,\" in turn finds a\nparallel in the seventeenth-century doctors, \"who, with less logic,\nbut perchance unconscious humor, gave their patients pulverized mummy\nto prolong their years\" (cited by Clodd). Analogy in savagery, in\npseudo-science, and in undeveloped science, in superstition and in\nsurvival, are of a nature all compact.\n\nThe transition from magic to science was made possible by, and\nitself illustrates the supplanting of, loose and false reasoning by\nclose and logical thought; the pseudo-sciences represent weak and\nerroneous inference even more than they embody defective observation\nor mere ignorance. An over-dependence upon analogy characterizes some\nportions of them all, and finds its fullest development in astrology,\nas also in the various forms of alchemy and magic with which it is\nhistorically connected. Although this body of thought engaged the\nenergies of many able and famous scholars, we can look upon it only\nas a system of resemblances and coincidences, elaborate and complex\nindeed, but requiring little more than a vivid imagination and a\nsomewhat keen sense for far-fetched analogies. \"This investigation,\"\nsays the astrologer in Rydberg's \"Magic of the Middle Ages,\" \"relies\non the resemblances of things, for this similarity is derived from\na correspondence, and causality is interwoven with correspondence.\nThus, for instance, we judge from the resemblance between the\nsplendor of gold and that of the sun, that gold has its celestial\ncorrespondence in that luminary and sustains to it a causal\nrelation.\" Again, \"the two-horned beetle bears a causal relation to\nthe moon, which at its increase and wane is also two-horned; and if\nthere were any doubt of this intimate relation between them, it must\nvanish when we learn that the beetle hides its eggs in the earth for\nthe space of twenty-eight days, or just so long a time as is required\nfor the moon to pass through the zodiac, but digs them up again on\nthe twenty-ninth, when the moon is in conjunction with the sun.\"\n(Agrippa, \"De Occulta Philosophi\u00e6,\" i. 24.)\n\nIt will readily be seen how limitless are the results obtainable\nwith such a system. Each planet becomes associated with a definite\npart of the body, and an argument such as the following becomes\npossible: \"Since Capricornus, which presided over the knees in the\nhouse of Saturn, and all crawling animals are connected with the\nplanet, the fat of snakes is an effective remedy against gout in the\nknees, especially on Saturday, the day of Saturn\" (Rydberg). Tables\nof correspondences were freely devised showing the representatives\nof the sun, moon, and five planets among the elements, the microcosm,\nanimals, plants, metals, and stones. Thus Mars was represented in\nthese spheres respectively, by fire, acid juices, beasts of prey,\nburning, poisonous and stinging plants, iron or sulphuric metals,\ndiamond, jasper, amethyst, and magnet; the vein of analogy lying in\nthe fierce character of the god, whose name the planet bears. This\nidea of correspondence dominates the queer collection of odds and\nends by which the old-time magician worked his charms. \"Here,\" for\ninstance, he would say, \"is a plate of lead on which is engraved\nthe symbol of a planet; and beside it a leaden flask containing\ngall. If I now take a piece of fine onyx marked with the same planet\nsymbol and this dried cypress branch, and add to them the skin of a\nsnake and the feather of an owl, you will need but to look into one\nof the tables given you to find that I have only collected various\nthings in the elementary world which bear a relation of mutual\nactivity to Saturn, and if rightly combined can attract both the\npowers of that planet and of the angels with which it is connected\"\n(Rydberg). Mr. Tylor thus ably characterizes the analogies on which\nsuch systems are built and the uses to which they are put. \"But\nmost of his pseudo-science seems to rest on even weaker and more\narbitrary analogies, not of things but of names. Names of stars and\nconstellations, of signs denoting regions of the sky and periods\nof days and years, no matter how arbitrarily given, are materials\nwhich the astrologer can work upon and bring into ideal connection\nwith mundane events. That astronomers should have divided the sun's\ncourse into imaginary signs of the zodiac, was enough to originate\nastrological rules, that these celestial signs have an actual effect\non real earthly rams, bulls, crabs, lions, virgins. A child born\nunder the sign of the lion will be courageous, but one under the\ncrab will not go forward in life; one born under the waterman will\nbe drowned, and so forth.... Again, simply because astronomers chose\nto distribute among the planets the names of certain deities, the\nplanets thereby acquired the characters of their divine namesakes.\nThus it was that the planet Venus became connected with love,\nMars with war, Jupiter (whose \u2643 in altered shape still heads our\nphysicians' prescriptions) with power and joviality.\" The various\npositions of the heavenly bodies at one's birth, interpreted by such\nwild analogies, readily yield material for the prediction of future\ncareers, vague enough to defy close denial, and bold enough to claim\nreadily foreseeable consequences as striking verifications. Astrology\nrepresents the climax of the argument by analogy, fully systematized\nand calling into play many of the resources of modern learning. What\nis so clearly represented in astrology appears to a less extent in\nother pseudo-scientific systems; notably in palmistry and phrenology.\nIt captivates the well-informed as well as the ignorant, it appeals\nto minds that are strong as well as those that are weak, and\nemphasizes the pricelessness of our scientific inheritance and the\nnecessity of guarding it by the cultivation of sound logical habits\nof thought.\n\nIt would be pleasant, but unwarranted, to think of these forms of\nthought as obsolete; human nature is more deep-seated than learning.\n\"In every department of human thought,\" says Mr. Clodd, \"evidence\nof the non-persistence of primitive ideas is the exception rather\nthan the rule. Scratch the epiderm of the civilized man, and the\nbarbarian is found in the derm. In proof of which, there are more\npeople who believe in Zadkiel's 'Vox Stellarum' than in the\nNautical Almanac; and rare are the households where the 'Book of\nDreams' and 'Fortune-Teller' are not to be found in the kitchen.\nThe Singhalese caster of nativities has many representatives in\nthe West, and there may lie profit in the reminder of the shallow\ndepth to which knowledge of the orderly sequence of things has yet\npenetrated in the many. Societies and serials for the promulgation of\nastrology exist and flourish among us; Zadkiel boasts his circulation\nof a hundred thousand, and vaunts the fulfillment of his Delphic\nprophecies; while the late Astronomer Royal, Sir George Airy, was\npestered, as his successor probably is, with requests to work the\nplanets, accompanied by silver wherewith to cross his expert palm.\"\nThe old astrology finds its descendants in modern fatuous volumes on\nHeliocentric Astrology, or Kabalistic Astrology, abounding in absurd\npseudo-philosophic jargon and science-aping demonstrations, but in\nreality only the \"vulgarest travesty of the old.\"\n\n\nVIII\n\nBy way of conclusion it may be helpful to consider certain general\ntruths in the field of anthropology and mental evolution, upon\nwhich the illustrations we have been considering have a bearing.\nWe have seen what a widely extended genus the analogical argument\ncompasses; and yet, if we were to include under this head certain\nclosely allied and yet distinguishable forms of thought, it would\nbe much wider still. I refer particularly to the use of metaphor\nand symbolism, which, like the children's make-believe with their\ndolls or fairies, is none the less on the boundary line between\nthe real and the fictitious. Myth equally readily passes from the\nunconscious to the conscious stage, and much of what is plausibly\ninterpreted as an argument by analogy, seems equally well an\nintentional use of symbolism and myth. That savages, at least in\nall but the lower stages, appreciate the use of myth is beyond all\ndoubt. Primitive ceremonials, as also primitive explanations of the\nchanges of nature, are full of symbolisms, which involve the same\nmental habit, whose products in the domain of analogy have been\nportrayed. This mythological instinct, Mr. Tylor well says, \"belongs\nto that great doctrine of analogy from which we have gained so much\nof our apprehension of the world around us. Distrusted as it now\nis by severer science for its misleading results, analogy is to us\nstill a chief means of discovery and illustration, while in earlier\ngrades of education its influence was all but paramount. Analogies\nwhich are but fancies to us were to men of past ages reality. They\ncould see the flame licking its yet undevoured prey with tongues of\nfire, or the serpent gliding along the sword from hilt to point; they\ncould see a live creature gnawing within their bodies in the pangs\nof hunger; they heard the voices of the hill-dwarfs answering in the\necho, and the chariot of the heaven god rattling in thunder over the\nsolid firmament. Men to whom these were living thoughts had no need\nof the schoolmaster and his rules of composition, his injunctions\nto use metaphor cautiously and to take care to make all similes\nconsistent.\"\n\nThe principle that what was once the serious occupation of men\nbecomes in more advanced stages of culture the play of children, or\nis reduced from seriousness to mere amusement, finds illustrations\nin the mental as in the material world. The drum, once the serious\nterrifying instrument of the savage warrior, and the rattle, once the\npowerful emblem of the medicine man, have become the common toys of\nchildren. The bow and arrow are used for skill and sport only. In a\nsimilar way the formidable and trusted argument by analogy finds its\nproper field in riddles and puns. When we put the question, \"Why is\nthis object like the other?\" we understand that some out-of-the-way\nand accidental resemblance is asked for, some not very close analogy,\nthat provokes amusement but not belief; in many cases the resemblance\nis in the name only and degenerates into a pun. In such exercises of\nfancy we are employing the same faculties that our ancestors used in\narriving at the customs and beliefs that we have been considering.\nThe laws governing the progress of industrial arts, of mechanical\ninventions and social institutions seem thus to find equally ready\napplication to the evolution of habits and customs in the mental\nworld.\n\nFrom another, and that also a comparative anthropological point of\nview, the natural history of analogy illustrates, though imperfectly,\nthe evolutionary bond that unites the development of the race from\nprimitive culture to civilization, from infantile helplessness to\nadult power, and again the dissolution of these processes in disease\nor their atavistic retention in less progressive strata of society.\nSignificant, even though sporadic, parallelisms have been pointed\nout in the use of analogy by savages and by children; and far more\ncompletely can it be shown that superstitions and pseudo-sciences,\nfolk-lore traditions and popular beliefs show the survival of these\nsame analogical habits of mind, which may be viewed in part as\nreversions to outgrown conditions of thought, in part as the cropping\nout, in pathological form, of retarding tendencies which the course\nof evolution may have repressed but not wholly destroyed. For there\nis hardly a form of modern superstition, there is hardly a custom\nsanctioned by the unwritten tradition of the people, but what can be\nclosely duplicated among the customs and beliefs of the untutored\nsavage.\n\nAll this impresses us with the enduring qualities of man's barbaric\npast, the permanent though latent effect of his complete adaptation\nfor thousands of years to a low intellectual environment. \"The\nintrusion of the scientific method,\" Mr. Clodd aptly comments, \"in\nits application to man's whole nature, disturbed that equilibrium.\nBut this, as yet, only within the narrow area of the highest\nculture.\" The earlier and more fundamental psychological factor\nof humanity is feeling and not thought, or more accurately an\nincipient rationality, thoroughly suffused with emotional motives;\nand primitive analogies proceed by a feeling of analogical fitness,\nand not by an intellectual justification. \"The exercise of feeling\nhas been active from the beginning of his history, while thought,\nspeaking comparatively, has but recently had free play.... Man\nwondered long chiliads before he reasoned, because feeling travels\nalong the line of least resistance, while thought, or the challenge\nby inquiry, with its assumption that there may be two sides to a\nquestion, must pursue a path obstructed by the dominance of taboo and\ncustom, by the force of imitation, and by the strength of prejudice,\npassion, and fear.\"\n\nThe survey of the argument by analogy brings home the conviction\nthat there are forms of mental action, psychological tendencies\nor thought-habits, characteristic of undeveloped stages of human\nmentality; that these appear in versatile and instructive variety;\nand, more important still, that they furnish glimpses of the workings\nof a great progressive law, visible in the shifting of importance\nattached to the argument by analogy, and in its gradual subordination\nto, and ultimate retirement in favor of the sturdy principles of\ninductive logic. We are thus led to appreciate the means by which\nerror is converted into truth, the slow and painful steps by which\nthe logic of the sciences is unfolded and mastered. When Lord\nChesterfield relates that the people expected a fatal issue of the\nking's illness, because the oldest lion in the tower, of about the\nsame age as the king, had just died, he cannot help commenting\nupon the wildness and caprice of the human mind; but Mr. Tylor\nmore judiciously remarks, \"Indeed the thought was neither wild nor\ncapricious; it was simply such an argument by analogy as the educated\nworld has at length painfully learned to be worthless, but which\nit is not too much to declare would to this day carry considerable\nweight to the minds of four-fifths of the human race.\" Analogy\nhas doubtless lost the prestige of olden time; but the remains of\neffete and misleading forms of thought, upheld by a feeling of their\nanalogical plausibility, continue to survive, and may at any time,\nwhen cloaked in a modern garb, regain their former efficiency,\nand feed the contagion of some new fad or pseudo-science; while\nsuperstition, like poverty, we shall always have with us, so long\nas there are social and intellectual distinctions amongst men. In\nthe light of the natural history survey of analogy, these phenomena\nappear in their true significance, testifying at once to the inherent\nprogress, despite reversions, and to the underlying unity of\nconstitution and purpose, through which these phenomena acquire their\ndeeper and more human interest.\n\n\n\n\nTHE MIND'S EYE\n\n      _Hamlet._ My father,--methinks, I see my father.\n\n      _Horatio._ O, where, my lord?\n\n      _Hamlet._ In my mind's eye, Horatio.\n\n\nI\n\nIt is a commonplace taught from nursery to university that we see\nwith our eyes, hear with our ears, and feel with our fingers. This is\nthe truth, but not the whole truth. Indispensable as are the sense\norgans in gaining an acquaintance with the world in which we live,\nyet they alone do not determine how extensive or how accurate that\nacquaintance shall be. There is a mind behind the eye and the ear and\nthe finger-tips which guides them in gathering information, and gives\nvalue and order to the exercise of the senses. This is particularly\ntrue of vision,--the most intellectual of all the senses, the one in\nwhich mere acuteness of the sense organ counts least and the training\nin observation counts most. The eagle's eye sees farther, but our\neyes tell us vastly more of what is seen.\n\nThe eye may be compared to a photographic camera, with its eyelid\ncap, its iris shutter, its lens, and its sensitive plate,--the\nretina; when properly adjusted for distance and light, the image\nis formed on the retina as on the glass plate, and the picture is\ntaken. So far the comparison is helpful; but while the camera takes a\npicture whenever and wherever the plate happens to be exposed, the\ncomplete act of seeing requires some co\u00f6peration on the part of the\nmind. The retina may be exposed a thousand times and take but few\npictures; or perhaps it is better to say that the pictures may be\ntaken, but remain undeveloped and evanescent. The pictures that are\ndeveloped are stacked up, like the negatives in the photographer's\nshop, in the pigeon-holes of our mental storerooms,--some faded and\nblurred, some poorly arranged or mislaid, some often referred to and\nfresh prints made therefrom, and some quite neglected.\n\nIn order to see, it is at once necessary that the retina be suitably\nexposed toward the object to be seen, and that the mind be favorably\ndisposed to the assimilation of the impression. True seeing,\nobserving, is a double process, partly objective or outward--the\nthing seen and the retina,--and partly subjective or inward--the\npicture mysteriously transferred to the mind's representative,\nthe brain, and there received and affiliated with other images.\nIllustrations of such seeing with the \"mind's eye\" are not far to\nseek. Wherever the beauties and conformations of natural scenery\ninvite the eye of man, does he discover familiar forms and faces;\nthe forces of nature have rough-hewn the rocks, but the human eye\ndetects and often creates the resemblances. The stranger to whom such\ncuriosities of form are first pointed out often finds it difficult to\ndiscover the resemblance, but once seen, the face or form obtrudes\nitself in every view, and seems the most conspicuous feature in\nthe outlook. The flickering fire furnishes a fine background for\nthe activity of the mind's eye, and against this it projects the\nforms and fancies which the leaping flames and the burning embers\nfrom time to time suggest. Not all see these fire-pictures readily,\nfor our mental eyes differ more from one another than the physical\nones, and perhaps no two persons see the same picture in quite the\nsame way. It is not quite true, however, as many have held, that in\nwaking hours we all have a world in common, but in dreams each has\na world of his own; for our waking worlds are made different by the\ndifferences in what engages our interest and our attention. It is\ntrue that our eyes when open are opened very largely to the same\nviews, but by no one observer are all these views, though visible,\nreally seen.\n\nThis characteristic of vision often serves as a source of amusement.\nThe puzzle picture with its tantalizing face, or animal, or what\nnot, hidden in the trees, or fantastically constructed out of\nheterogeneous elements that make up the composition, is to many quite\nirresistible. We turn it about in all directions, wondering where\nthe hidden form can be, scanning every detail of the picture, until\nsuddenly a chance glimpse reveals it, plainly staring us in the face.\nWhen several persons are engaged in this occupation, it is amusing to\nobserve how blind each is to what the others see; their physical eyes\nsee alike, but their mental eyes reflect their own individualities.\n\nOf the many thousands of persons who handle our silver dollar,\nbut few happen to observe the lion's head which lies concealed in\nthe representation of the familiar head of Liberty; frequently\neven a careful examination fails to detect this hidden emblem of\nBritish rule; but, as before, when once found, it is quite obvious\n(Fig. 1).[10] For similar reasons it is a great aid in looking\nfor an object to know what to look for; to be readily found, the\nobject, though lost to sight, should be to memory clear. Searching\nis a mental process similar to the matching of a piece of fabric\nin texture or color, when one has forgotten the sample and must\nrely upon the remembrance of its appearance. If the recollection\nis clear and distinct, recognition takes place when the judgment\ndecides that what the physical eye sees corresponds to the image\nin the mind's eye; with an indistinct mental image the recognition\nbecomes doubtful or faulty. The novice in the use of the microscope\nexperiences considerable difficulty in observing the appearance which\nhis instructor sees and describes, and this because his conception\nof the object to be seen is lacking in precision. Hence his training\nin the use of the microscope is distinctly aided by consulting the\nillustrations in the textbook, for they enable his mental eye to\nrealize the pictures which it should entertain. He may be altogether\ntoo much influenced by the pictures thus suggested to his mental\nvision, and draw what is really not under his microscope at all; much\nas the young arithmetician will manage to obtain the answer which the\nbook requires even at the cost of a resort to very unmathematical\nprocesses. For training in correct and accurate vision it is\nnecessary to acquire an alert mental eye, that observes all that is\nobjectively visible, but does not permit the subjective to add to or\nmodify what is really present.\n\n\nII\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 1.--In order to see the lion's\n    head, look at the above cut upside down, and the\n    head will be discovered facing the left, as above\n    outlined. It is clearer on the coin itself than in this\n    representation.]\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 2.--These letters should not be\n    seen at all until they have been observed at a distance\n    of eight to twelve feet. An interesting method of\n    testing the activity of the mind's eye with these\n    letters is described in the text.]\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 2_a_.]\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 2_b_.]\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 3.--For description, see text, page\n    282.]\n\nThe importance of the mind's eye in ordinary vision is also well\nillustrated in cases in which we see or seem to see what is not\nreally present, but what for one cause or another it is natural to\nsuppose is present. A very familiar instance of this process is the\nconstant overlooking of misprints--false letters, transposed letters,\nand missing letters--unless these happen to be particularly striking.\nWe see only the general physiognomy of the word, and the detailed\nfeatures are supplied from within; in this case it is the expected\nthat happens. In a series of experiments by Professor M\u00fcnsterberg a\nword was briefly shown, while just before a certain idea or train of\nthought was suggested. Under these circumstances the word shown was\noften misread in accordance with the suggested idea; if the idea of\nfuture is suggested, part may be read as past; if vegetable is the\nsuggested line of thought, fright may be read as fruit, and so on.\nReading is thus done largely by the mental eye; and entire words,\nobviously suggested by the context, are sometimes read in, when they\nhave been accidentally omitted. This is more apt to occur with the\nirregular characters used in manuscript than in the more distinct\nforms of the printed alphabet, and is particularly frequent in\nreading over what one has himself written. In reading proof, however,\nwe are eager to detect misprints, and this change in attitude helps\nto make them visible. It is very difficult to illustrate this process\nintentionally, because the knowledge that one's powers of observation\nare about to be tested places one on one's guard, and thus suppresses\nthe natural activity of the mind's eye and draws unusual attention\nto objective details. Let the reader at this point hold the page\nat some distance off--say, eight or twelve feet--and draw an exact\nreproduction of the letters shown in Fig. 2. He should not look at\nFig. 2 at close range nor read further in the text until this has\nbeen done; and _perhaps_ he may find that he has introduced strokes\nwhich were not present in the original. If this is not the case, let\nhim try the test upon those who are ignorant of its nature, and he\nwill find that most persons will supply light lines to complete the\ncontours of the letters, which in the original are suggested but not\nreally present; the original outline, Fig. 2_a_, becomes something\nlike Fig. 2_b_, and so on for the rest of the letters. The physical\neye sees the former, but the mental eye sees the latter. I tried\nthis experiment with a class of some thirty University students of\nPsychology, and, although they were disposed to be quite critical\nand suspected some kind of an illusion, only three or four drew\nthe letters correctly; all the rest filled in the imaginary light\ncontours; some even drew them as heavily as the real strokes. I\nfollowed this by an experiment of a similar character. I placed\nupon a table a figure (Fig. 3) made of light cardboard, fastened to\nblocks of wood at the base, so that the pieces would easily stand\nupright. The middle piece, which is rectangular and higher than the\nrest, was placed a little in front of the rest of the figure. The\nstudents were asked to describe precisely what they saw; and with\none exception they all described, in different words, a semicircular\npiece of cardboard with a rectangular piece in front of it. In\nreality there was no half-circle of cardboard, but only portions\nof two quarter-circles with the portion back of the middle piece\nomitted. The students, of course, were well aware that their physical\neyes could not see what was behind the middle cardboard, but they\ninferred, quite naturally, that the two side pieces were parts of one\ncontinuous semicircle. This they saw, so far as they saw it at all,\nwith their mind's eye.\n\n\nIII\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 4.--The black and white portions\n    of this design are precisely alike; but the effect of\n    looking at the figure as a pattern in black upon a\n    white background, or as a pattern in white upon a black\n    background is quite different, although the difference\n    is not easily described.]\n\nThere is a further interesting class of illustrations in which a\nsingle outward impression changes its character according as it is\nviewed as representing one thing or another. In a general way we see\nthe same thing all the time, and the image on the retina does not\nchange. But as we shift the attention from one portion of the view\nto another, or as we view it with a different mental conception of\nwhat the figure represents, it assumes a different aspect, and to our\nmental eye becomes quite a different thing. A slight but interesting\nchange takes place if we view Fig. 4 first with the conception that\nthe black is the pattern to be seen and the white the background, and\nagain try to see the white as the pattern against a black background.\nI give a further illustration of such a change in Fig. 5. In our\nfirst and natural view of this we focus the attention upon the black\nlines and observe the familiar illusion, that the four vertical black\nbands seem far from parallel. That they are parallel can be verified\nby measurement, or by covering up all of the diagram except the\nfour main bands. But if the white part of the diagram be conceived\nas the design against a black background, then the design is no\nlonger the same, and with this change the illusion disappears, and\nthe four bands seem parallel, as they really are. It may require a\nlittle effort to bring about this change, but it is marked when once\nrealized.\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 5.--When this figure is viewed as\n    a black pattern on a white background, the four main\n    vertical black bands seem far from parallel; when it\n    is viewed as a white pattern on a black background the\n    pattern is different and the illusion disappears (or\n    nearly so), and the four black bands as well as the\n    five white ones seem more nearly parallel.]\n\nA curious optical effect, which in part illustrates the change in\nappearance under different aspects, is reproduced in Fig. 6. In\nthis case the enchantment of distance is necessary to produce the\ntransformation. Viewed at the usual reading distance, we see nothing\nbut an irregular and meaningless assemblage of black and white\nblotches. At a distance of not less than fifteen to eighteen feet,\nhowever, a man's head appears quite clearly. Also observe that\nafter the head has once been realized it becomes possible to obtain\nsuggestions of it at nearer distances.\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 6.--This is a highly enlarged\n    reproduction taken from a half-tone process print of\n    Lord Kelvin. It appeared in the _Photographic Times_.]\n\nA much larger class of ambiguous diagrams consists of those which\nrepresent by simple outlines familiar geometrical forms or objects.\nWe cultivate such a use of our eyes, as indeed of all our faculties,\nas will on the whole lead to the most profitable results. As a rule,\nthe particular impression is not so important as what it represents.\nSense-impressions are simply the symbols or signs of things or\nideas, and the thing or the idea is more important than the sign.\nAccordingly, we are accustomed to interpret lines, whenever we\ncan, as the representations of objects. We are well aware that the\ncanvas or the etching or the photograph before us is a flat surface\nin two dimensions, but we see the picture as the representation of\nsolid objects in three dimensions. This is the illusion of pictorial\nart. So strong is this tendency to view lines as the symbols of\nthings, that if there is the slightest chance of so viewing them, we\ninvariably do so; for we have a great deal of experience with things\nthat present their contours as lines, and very little with mere lines\nor surfaces. If we view outlines only, without shading or perspective\nor anything to definitely suggest what is foreground and what\nbackground, it becomes possible for the mind to supply these details\nand see foreground as background, and _vice versa_.\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 7.--This drawing may be viewed\n    as the representation of a book standing on its\n    half-opened covers as seen from the back of the book;\n    or as the inside view of an open book showing the\n    pages.]\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 8.--When this figure is viewed\n    as an arrow, the upper or feathered end is apt to\n    seem flat; when the rest of the arrow is covered, the\n    feathered end may be made to project or recede like the\n    book-cover in Fig. 7.]\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 9.--The smaller square may be\n    regarded as either the nearer face of a projecting\n    figure or as the more distant face of a hollow figure.]\n\nA good example to begin with is Fig. 7. These outlines will probably\nsuggest at first view a book, or better a book-cover, seen with its\nback toward you and its sides sloping away from you; but it may also\nbe viewed as a book opened out towards you and presenting to you an\ninside view of its contents. Should the change not come readily,\nit may be facilitated by thinking persistently of the appearance\nof an open book in this position. The upper portion of Fig. 8 is\npractically the same as Fig. 7, and if the rest of the figure be\ncovered up, it will change as did the book cover; when, however, the\nwhole figure is viewed as an arrow, a new conception enters, and the\napparently solid book cover becomes the _flat_ feathered part of the\narrow. Look at the next figure (Fig. 9), which represents in outline\na truncated pyramid with a square base. Is the smaller square nearer\nto you, and are the sides of the pyramid sloping away from you toward\nthe larger square in the rear? Or are you looking into the hollow\nof a truncated pyramid with the smaller square in the background?\nOr is it now one and now the other, according as you decide to see\nit? Here (Fig. 12) is a skeleton box which you may conceive as made\nof wires outlining the sides. Now the front, or side nearest to me,\nseems directed downward and to the left; again, it has shifted its\nposition and is no longer the front, and the side which appears to be\nthe front seems directed upward and to the right. The presence of the\ndiagonal line makes the change more striking: in one position it runs\nfrom the left-hand _rear_ upper corner to the right-hand _front_\nlower corner; while in the other it connects the left-hand _front_\nupper corner with the right-hand _rear_ lower corner.\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 10.--This represents an ordinary\n    table-glass,--the bottom of the glass and the entire\n    rear side, except the upper portion, being seen through\n    the transparent nearer side, and the rear apparently\n    projecting above the front. But it fluctuates in\n    appearance between this and a view of the glass\n    in which the bottom is seen directly, partly from\n    underneath, the _whole_ of the rear side is seen\n    through the transparent front, and the front projects\n    above the back.]\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 11.--In this scroll the left half\n    may at first seem concave and the right convex; it\n    then seems to roll or advance like a wave, and the\n    left seems convex and the right concave, as though the\n    trough of the wave had become the crest, and _vice\n    versa_.]\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 12.\n\n    FIG. 12_a_.\n\n    FIG. 12_b_.\n\n    FIGS. 12, 12_a_, 12_b_.--The two methods of viewing Fig.\n    12 are described in the text. Figs. 12_a_ and 12_b_\n    are added to make clearer the two methods of viewing\n    Fig. 12. The heavier lines seem to represent the nearer\n    surface. Fig. 12_a_ more naturally suggests the nearer\n    surface of the box in a position downward and to the\n    left, and Fig. 12_b_ makes the nearer side seem to be\n    upward and to the right. But in spite of the heavier\n    outlines of the one surface, it may be made to shift\n    positions from foreground to background, although not\n    so readily as in Fig. 12.]\n\nFig. 14 will probably seem at first glimpse to be the view of a\nflight of steps which one is about to ascend from right to left.\nImagine it, however, to be a view of the under side of a series\nof steps; the view representing the structure of overhanging solid\nmasonwork seen from underneath. At first it may be difficult to see\nit thus, because the view of steps which we are about to mount is a\nmore natural and frequent experience than the other; but by staring\nat it with the intention of seeing it differently the transition will\ncome, and often quite unexpectedly.\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 13.--Each member of this frieze\n    represents a relief ornament, applied upon the\n    background, which in cross-section would be an\n    isosceles triangle with a large obtuse angle, or a\n    space of similar shape hollowed out of the solid wood\n    or stone. In running the eye along the pattern, it\n    is interesting to observe how variously the patterns\n    fluctuate from one of these aspects to the other.]\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 14.\n\n    FIG. 14_a_.\n\n    FIG. 14_b_.\n\n    FIGS. 14, 14_a_, and 14_b_.--The two views of Fig. 14\n    described in the text are brought out more clearly in\n    Figs. 14_a_ and 14_b_. The shaded portion tends to\n    be regarded as the nearer face. Fig. 14_a_ is more\n    apt to suggest the steps seen as we ascend them. Fig.\n    14_b_ seems to represent the hollowed-out structure\n    underneath the steps. But even with the shading the\n    dual interpretation is possible, though less obvious.]\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 15.--This interesting figure (which\n    is reproduced with modifications from _Scripture:\n    The New Psychology_) is subject in a striking way\n    to interchanges between foreground and background.\n    Most persons find it difficult to maintain for any\n    considerable time either aspect of the blocks (these\n    aspects are described in the text); some can change\n    them at will, others must accept the changes as they\n    happen to come.]\n\nThe blocks in Fig. 15 are subject to a marked fluctuation. Now the\nblack surfaces represent the bottoms of the blocks, all pointing\ndownward and to the left, and now the black surfaces have changed\nand have become the tops, pointing upward and to the right. For some\nthe changes come at will; for others they seem to come unexpectedly,\nbut all are aided by anticipating mentally the nature of the\ntransformation. The effect here is quite striking, the blocks seeming\nalmost animated and moving through space. In Fig. 16 a similar\narrangement serves to create an illusion as to the real number of\nblocks present. If viewed in one way--the black surface forming the\ntops of the blocks--there seem to be six, arranged as in Fig. 17;\nbut when the transformation has taken place and the black surfaces\nhave become the overhanging bottoms of the boxes, there are seven,\narranged as in Fig. 18. Somewhat different, but still belonging to\nthe group of ambiguous figures, is the ingenious conceit of the\nduck-rabbit shown in Fig. 19. When it is a rabbit, the face looks\nto the right and a pair of ears are conspicuous behind; when it is\na duck, the face looks to the left and the ears have been changed\ninto the bill. Most observers find it difficult to hold either\ninterpretation steadily, the fluctuations being frequent, and coming\nas a surprise.\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 16.\n\n    FIG. 16_a_.\n\n    FIG. 16_b_.\n\n    FIGS. 16, 16_a_, and 16_b_.--How many blocks are\n    there in this pile? Six or seven? Note the change in\n    arrangement of the blocks as they change in number\n    from six to seven. This change is described in the\n    text. Figs. 16_a_ and 16_b_ show the two phases of a\n    group of any three of the blocks. The arrangement of\n    a pyramid of six blocks seems the more stable and is\n    usually first suggested; but hold the page inverted,\n    and you will probably see the alternate arrangement\n    (with, however, the black surfaces still forming the\n    tops). And once knowing what to look for, you will very\n    likely be able to see either arrangement, whether the\n    diagram be held inverted or not. This method of viewing\n    the figures upside down and in other positions is also\n    suggested to bring out the changes indicated in Figs.\n    12, 12_a_, 12_b_, and in Figs. 14, 14_a_, 14_b_.]\n\n\nIV\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 17.\n\n    FIG. 18.\n\n    T indicates that the shaded portion of Fig. 16 in this\n    view represents the top of a block; B that in the other\n    view it represents the bottom.]\n\nThis collection of diagrams serves to illustrate the principle\nthat when the objective features are ambiguous, we see one thing\nor another according to the impression that is in the mind's eye;\nwhat the objective factors lack in definiteness the subjective\nones supply, while familiarity, prepossession, as well as other\ncircumstances influence the result. These illustrations show\nconclusively that seeing is not wholly an objective matter depending\nupon what there is to be seen, but is very considerably a subjective\nmatter, depending upon the eye that sees. To the same observer a\ngiven arrangement of lines now appears as the representation of one\nobject and now of another; and from the same objective experience,\nespecially in instances that demand a somewhat complicated exercise\nof the senses, different observers derive very different impressions.\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 19.--Do you see a duck or a rabbit,\n    or either? (From _Harper's Weekly_, originally in\n    _Fliegende Bl\u00e4tter_.)]\n\nNot only when the sense-impressions are ambiguous or defective, but\nwhen they are vague--when the light is dim or the forms obscure--does\nthe mind's eye eke out the imperfections of physical vision. The\nvague conformations of drapery and make-up that are identified and\nrecognized in spiritualistic _s\u00e9ances_ illustrate extreme instances\nof this process. The whitewashed tree or post that momentarily\nstartles us in a dark country lane takes on the guise that expectancy\ngives it. The mental predisposition here becomes the dominant factor,\nand the timid see as ghosts what their more sturdy companions\nrecognize as whitewashed posts. Such experiences we ascribe to the\naction of suggestion and imagination--the cloud \"that's almost in\nshape like a camel,\" or \"like a weasel,\" or \"like a whale.\" But\nthroughout our visual experiences there runs this double strain, now\nmainly outward and now mainly inward, from the simplest excitements\nof the retina up to the realms where fancy soars free from the\nconfines of sense, and the objective finds its occupation gone.\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[10] In order to obtain the effects described in the various\nillustrations it is necessary in several cases to regard the figures\nfor a considerable time and with close attention. The reader is\nrequested not to give up in case the first attempt to secure the\neffect is not successful, but to continue the effort for a reasonable\nperiod. Individuals differ considerably in the readiness with which\nthey obtain such effects; in some cases, such devices as holding the\ndiagrams inverted, or at an angle, or viewing them with the eyes half\nclosed, are helpful.\n\n\n\n\nMENTAL PREPOSSESSION AND INERTIA\n\n\nI\n\nThose who are actively engaged in educational pursuits are called\nupon from time to time to consider the nature of the difficulties in\nthe imparting of knowledge, the psychological impediments that stand\nin the way of successful instruction. These are many and various; and\npertain as well to the givers as to the receivers of learning. This\nlarge and well threshed field I have no intention of gleaning once\nmore; I desire simply to draw attention to one form of difficulty\non the part of the learner, which has been brought home to me so\nfrequently and at times so forcibly, that I should be inclined to\nselect it as the most salient stumbling-block in the successful\nacquisition of those branches of study which it falls to my lot to\nexpound.\n\nThis characteristic, which may be called mental prepossession, is\nwell illustrated in the following narrative, the truth of which,\nhowever, is not guaranteed. The story dates from the exciting days\nwhen the American public was completely fascinated by the mental\ngymnastics of the \"spelling bee;\" and relates that towards the close\nof a very fierce contest with the alphabet, when only a few stalwart\nchampions remained to encounter the erratic eccentricities of English\northography, the conductor of the \"bee\" announced with an air of\ngrave importance a word that he felt quite certain would retire\nnot a few of the spelling virtuosi. He then asked their closest\nattention to his precise pronunciation, and solemnly gave utterance\nto what for all the world sounded like _cat_. Each hearer attempted\nto spell this extraordinarily difficult word with a suitably unusual\nrearrangement of the letters suggested by the sound, and when each\neffort had in turn been pronounced a failure, the information was\ngiven that the correct spelling was _c-a-t_. _H\u00e6c fabula docet_ that\nwhen one expects a difficulty he is apt to find it or to make it.\nBelieving the problem to be unusual, he applies unusual methods to\nits solution; believing it to be complex, he overlooks the simple\nmeans by which its mysteries may be unlocked. It matters little how\nthis reputation has come about, whether as the result of personal\nprejudice or of inherited tradition, whether suggested by the\ntechnicality of the subject or the awkwardness of the treatment,\nwhether by the use of a few unusual terms or operations, or by any\none of the countless methods, conscious and unconscious, by which\nsuch impressions are formed,--the result will be much the same.\n\nMany a student approaches a study such as psychology or logic with\nan unshakable conviction that he is about to consider matters\nabstruse and difficult; things totally unrelated to what he has\nstudied elsewhere or experienced before, and accordingly requiring\nan exercise of the mental faculties as different as possible from\nthat to which he has been accustomed. It is not altogether strange\nthat such notions should be current, because the tradition to that\neffect is ancient and strong, and originated in times when scholars\ngenerally, and philosophers perhaps more than others, took pride in\nexclusive erudition, in the possession of a more or less esoteric\nwisdom quite unrelated to the knowing and the thinking of \u03bf\u1f31 \u03c0\u03bf\u03bb\u03bb\u03bf\u03af\n[Greek: hoi polloi]. It requires the combined operation of long\nperiods of time and of persistent effort to weaken such beliefs; and\nit is only within recent times that the notion has been successfully\ndisseminated that the processes considered in psychology and logic\nderive their validity from our daily experience, and require for\ntheir comprehension no mental gymnastics or intellectual contortions;\nthat in brief these sciences simply aim to systematize and improve,\nto interpret and explain the every-day processes by which knowledge\nis gained. This, at all events, is one of their functions, and one\nprofitably emphasized in the introductory study of their scope and\ncontent.\n\nWhen one has once formed the impression, or has had it produced or\nsuggested for him, that the study or the task he is about to attack\nis a difficult one, his mental powers are at once sufficiently\nreduced to make it really difficult; the signal is given of an\napproaching intricate turn in the road, the brakes are turned on,\nand the train of thought creeps along slowly. Mental prepossession\nleads to mental inertia. The same question which the student would\nanswer readily and fully when asked by a friend as an item of general\ninformation, becomes utterly beyond his comprehension when it appears\nin the text-book, the title-page of which bears the ominous name\nof one or other of the studies reputed as difficult. The mind is\nnot properly set; there is little receptiveness, little alertness.\nWhen we are asked in a conundrum-like tone, why one thing is\nlike another, we ignore obvious and simple resemblances, and look\nabout for obscure ones. The student who labors under the illusion\nthat psychology is a maze of conundrums, employs mental processes\nappropriate to such a pursuit. The schoolboy finds it impossible to\nanswer a question in arithmetic during the geography lesson, and the\nsame lack of adaptability is shown by his older counterpart when\nhe greets the answer to a very simple question (which, however, he\nhimself failed to answer) with the all too familiar, \"Oh, of course\nI knew _that_.\" Perhaps the most extreme instance of the many that\nI could cite is that of a student so irresponsive and apparently at\nsea regarding the topic under discussion--the senses--as to force me\nto ask him, \"With what do you hear?\" and who answered with perfect\nsincerity, \"I don't know.\" This was a psychological question, and as\nsuch became as difficult as the spelling of _cat_ at the end of a\n\"spelling bee.\"\n\nWhen the student has been made to feel that the questions he is\nasked can be answered from his everyday experience, and that common\nsense is often quite as serviceable a guide as special knowledge,\na progress ensues in every way satisfactory. Such a conviction,\nhowever, is not a matter of verbal acknowledgment; it yields slowly\nto explanation and proceeds somewhat unconsciously and inwardly.\nMoreover, it is a trait very sensitive to the power of contagion, so\nthat a comparatively small proportion of the class may successfully\nspread this mental attitude to the whole number. A question which\ntwo or three have failed to answer becomes invested with a spurious\ndifficulty which makes it a deep mystery to all the others.\n\nThis mental prepossession may at times have quite different and\ncurious results. When, for instance, the goal to be reached is\ngiven, when the answer may be looked up in the back of the book, it\nis surprising what peculiar and irrational steps will be taken to\nsecure and justify the answer so given. This is all the more striking\nwhen the answer happens to be wrong; however simply such error may\nbe discovered, the prepossessed mind will work away until by a more\nor less roundabout procedure the desired answer is reached. A noted\nprofessor of chemistry has an apt illustration of such a case. In\na chemical test his assistant by mistake referred the class to the\nwrong bottle, so that the substance which the correct liquid would\nhave dissolved could not be at all dissolved in the liquid actually\nused. However, on the professor's next round in his laboratory nearly\nevery student assured him that the substance had dissolved, and a few\nwent so far as to describe the precise manner of its dissolution.\n\nIt is quite clear that illustrations of mental prepossession, as also\nof inertia, may be found in many of the industries and occupations\nof life. The bicycle has added a very characteristic one. At a\ncertain stage in the acquisition of the art of cycling, there comes\na time when every obstacle and irregularity in the road absorbs the\nattention of the rider with a fascination that is quite irresistible.\nThe rider is so possessed with the idea that he or she is going to\nrun into the post or the curb or a rut or another vehicle, that\nthe dreaded calamity may actually ensue. When the attention can be\ndirected to the clear pathway, and the obstacles driven out from the\nfocus of attention, the difficulty is surmounted. So in jumping\nor running and in other athletic trials, the entertainment of the\nnotion of a possible failure to reach the mark lessens the intensity\nof one's effort, and prevents the accomplishment of one's best. He\nwho hesitates is lost, because the hesitation makes possible the\nsuggestion of a failure, the prepossession by a sense of difficulty.\n\n\nII\n\nSome of the illustrations of prepossession are somewhat trivial;\nothers more important, but perhaps not so definite as might be\ndesired. It is seldom that an instance of this propensity can be\npointed out in which an accurate and quantitative comparison may\nbe made between the possessed and the unpossessed mind. One such\nillustration, which seems to me comprehensive and significant, is\nworthy of more detailed record.[11] It is derived from the experience\nof the United States Census office in 1890, in tabulating the returns\nof the enumeration by means of machines specially devised for this\npurpose. I give an account of the manipulation of these machines in\nthe words of one who had an intimate acquaintance with their use,\nand add italics to emphasize the points of special psychological\nsignificance.\n\n\"The adoption of Mr. Hollerith's tabulating machine for counting\nthe population of the country according, at one and the same time,\nto sex, color, age, marital condition, nationality, occupation or\nprofession, language and school attendance presented an entirely\nnovel problem to the office. The machines having never been used\nfor any purpose, there was no previous experience by which to act\nor on which to predicate results. The necessity was upon the office\nof employing for a very limited time (ninety days) at least five\nhundred people for this work alone, in addition to the one thousand\nwho could be taken from other branches of the work and placed on this\none. Every one, including Mr. Hollerith himself, felt that the rapid\nand accurate use of the punching machines called for a degree of\ncultivated intelligence not possessed by every clerk. So much for the\nmental attitude.\n\n\"The clerks (an instructor for every twenty) were taught to edit\nthe family schedules from which the count was to be made, thus\nlearning thoroughly how to read and classify the returns. In order\nto accommodate the returns to the capacity of a punching machine,\na great variety of symbols were adopted for occupations and\nprofessions: thus Ad was used for farmer: Ac for farm hands: Kd for\nmerchants: Gd for agents, etc., through twenty-four two-columned\noctavo pages of ordinary type. Some one symbol must be used for each\noccupation recorded, and the use of the symbols must be learned, and,\nfor rapid work, they must be committed to memory.[12] _After five\nweeks of editing_, one by one, the most reliable and intelligent\nworkers were set to use the punching machines. The task is much like\nthat of using a typewriter, substituting for keys a movable punch\nwhich passes through lettered holes, and in place of the forty keys\nof an ordinary typewriter, about two hundred and fifty holes are to\nbe learned.\n\n\"Mr. Hollerith set the number of cards for a day's work at 550.\n(Each finished card contained, on the average, 10 holes.) _It was\ntwo weeks before that number of cards was reached by any clerk_, and\nthat only in exceptional cases. Then the entire force of the division\nwas set to work. In two weeks most of them had reached five hundred,\nand the average was daily increasing. These clerks worked at first\nfrom edited schedules; that is, those on which had been written\nthe symbols to be punched on the machine. A roll of honor was made\nout daily showing the highest records, and _in a week_ the clerks\nwere doing from _six hundred to fifteen hundred a day_, but at a\ngreat cost of nervous force. So severe was the nervous strain that\ncomplaints were made to the Secretary of the Interior, who forbade\nany further posting of daily reports, and instead an order was posted\nthat no clerk was required to do more than such a day's work as he or\nshe could readily perform, and that no arbitrary number was required\nof any one.\n\n\"_After the work was well under way about two hundred new clerks were\nput into one room and scattered through the force already at work.\nThey had no experience with schedules, knew nothing of the symbols,\nhad never seen the machines. They saw those around them working\neasily and rapidly, and in_ THREE DAYS SEVERAL OF THEM HAD DONE FIVE\nHUNDRED, IN A WEEK NEARLY EVERY ONE, _while the general average was\nrising_. There was no longer any question of nervous strain, and one\nof these temporary clerks the day before she left beat the record by\ndoing 2,230. I think the influence of the mental attitude quite as\nremarkable in the matter of their doing the work easily as in that of\ndoing it rapidly. During the first month many were actually sick from\noverwork when doing seven hundred, while after that time the idea\nthat the work was unusually trying was never referred to. Another\nsignificant fact is that after the posting of the daily record was\nabolished there was no falling off in the daily average, as had been\nanticipated, while complaints of overwork necessarily ceased.\"\n\nIt is thus demonstrated that an unskilled clerk, with an environment\nproving the possibility of a task and suggesting its easy\naccomplishment, can in _three days_ succeed in doing what a skilled\nclerk, with a preliminary acquaintance of five weeks with the symbols\nto be used, could do only after _two weeks'_ practice; and this\nbecause the latter, doubtless not a whit inferior in ability, had\nbeen led to regard his task as difficult.\n\n\nIII\n\nIf we consider the psychological relations of the processes involved\nin the above illustrations, we are led to the conviction that we\nseldom exert our powers to their full capacity. Instances in which,\nunder the influence of some stirring, perhaps dangerous circumstance,\npersons exert physical energies ordinarily beyond their resources,\nare quite familiar; and the same is true though less readily\ndemonstrated of mental effort. The success of the various methods of\n\"mind cure,\" in which the conviction of the possibility of a cure so\nmarkedly aids its realization, adds another class of illustrations;\nand among the experiments with hypnotized persons occur countless\ninstances of the performance of actions, both physical and mental,\nquite surpassing what is regarded as normal. The powers which are\nhere called upon through somewhat extreme and drastic means, can\ndoubtless be drawn upon to a less extent by the use of more moderate\nagencies; and this at once suggests the educational utilization of\nthe mental attitude in question. Perhaps the ideal aim is to impress\nthe student indirectly rather than directly, by manner rather than\nby instruction, with the conviction that what is required of him is\nwell within his powers; and to do this without in the least impugning\nthe necessity of honest, hard work for the accomplishment of serious\nresults. The complaint is often made that the American boy takes\nlonger by several years to reach a given grade of scholarship than\nhis foreign brother; and the reason of this difference is usually\nassigned to the extremely slow progress made in the elementary public\nschools. The machinery is started at too slow a rate, and seems to\nleave the impress of its inertia upon all succeeding periods.\n\nIt is not possible to devise any readily formulated and easily\napplied cure for this mental prepossession; our aim must be to\nsterilize the mental atmosphere, so that the germs of the disease may\nnot gain a foothold; to set a healthy normal step and take it for\ngranted that it can be followed by all but the laggards. But in spite\nof all effort, the failing is quite certain to crop out, and will\nalways continue to demand for its treatment much educational tact and\ninsight.\n\nWhen we come to a slippery place in the road, we involuntarily take\nshort steps and become extremely conscious of our locomotion. It is\nimportant to prevent the growth of the habit of imagining slippery\nplaces in the paths about to be trodden; and even when they are\nactually to be encountered, it is well to meet them with the bracing\neffort that comes from the use of a reserve energy, to proceed\nwithout too much consciousness of the path, and with as nearly a\nnormal gait as possible. There are sufficient difficulties in the\nvarious walks of life without adding to them those that arise from\nmental prepossession, and that lead to mental inertia.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[11] This account I owe to Mrs. May Cole Baker, of Washington, D.C.\n\n[12] It should be noted that it is only the classification of\noccupations that requires so extremely elaborate and artificial a\nsystem; the returns for nationality, age, sex, marital condition,\netc., are far simpler to record. The editing consists in writing the\nsymbols on the returns, so that they need not be memorized.\n\n\n\n\nA STUDY OF INVOLUNTARY MOVEMENTS\n\n\nI\n\nQuite a number of delusions find a common point of origin in the\nnatural tendency to view our mental life--the aggregate of our\nthoughts and doings--as coextensive with the experiences of which\nour consciousness gives information and which our will directs.\nThe significance of the unconscious and the involuntary is apt to\nbe underestimated or disregarded. We are more ready to acknowledge\nthat in certain unusual and semi-morbid conditions persons will\nexhibit these peculiar expressions of the subterranean strata\nof our mental structure--that some have the habit of walking or\ntalking in their sleep, that others occasionally fall into an\nautomatic, trance-like condition, that hypnotism and hysteria and\nobscure lapses of consciousness and alterations of personality\nbring to the surface curious specimens of the mysteries of this\nunderworld,--but we are slow to appreciate that the subconscious and\nthe involuntary find a common and a natural place amidst the soundly\nreasoned and aptly directed activities of our own intelligence.\nWhile it is reasonable and proper to have faith in the testimony\nof consciousness, it is desirable that this confidence should be\naccompanied by an understanding of the conditions under which such\ntestimony is presumably valid, and when presumably defective or\nmisleading. Sense-deceptions, faulty observation, distraction,\nexaggeration, illusion, fallacy, and error are not idle abstract\nfancies of the psychologist, but stern realities; and their existence\nemphasizes the need in the determination of truth and the maintenance\nof a sound rationality, of a calm, unprejudiced judgment, of an\nexperienced and balanced intelligence, of a discerning sense for nice\ndistinctions, of an appreciation of the circumstances under which it\nis peculiarly human to err. A demonstration of the readiness with\nwhich perfectly normal individuals may be induced to yield visible\nevidence of unconscious and involuntary processes, thus possesses a\nspecial interest; for when the naturalness of a few definite types\nof involuntary movements is made clear, the application of the\nexperience to more complex and more indefinite circumstances will\neasily and logically follow. While the circumstances under which\ninvoluntary indications of mental activity are ordinarily given,\nare too various to enable one to say _ab uno disce omnes_, yet the\nprinciple demonstrated in one case is capable of a considerable\ngeneralization, which will go far to prevent misconception of\napparently mysterious and exceptional phenomena.\n\n\nII\n\nWhen some years ago, the American public was confronted with the\nstriking exhibitions of muscle-reading, the wildest speculations were\nindulged in regarding its true _modus operandi_; and the suggestion\nthat all that was done was explicable by the skillful interpretation\nof the unconscious indications given by the subjects, was scouted\nor even ridiculed. It was not supposed that such indications were\nsufficiently definite for the purposes of the \"mind-reader,\" or were\nobtainable under the conditions of his tests. Again, it was urged\nthat this explanation was hardly applicable to certain striking\nperformances, which in reality involved other and subtler modes\nof thought-interpretation, and the accounts of which were also\nexaggerated and distorted. And furthermore, it was argued, too many\nworthy and learned persons were absolutely certain that they had\ngiven no indications whatever. For a time the view that mind-reading\nwas muscle-reading rested upon rather indirect evidence, and upon\na form of argument that carries more weight with those familiar\nwith the nature of scientific problems than with the public at\nlarge. But the development of experimental research in the domain\nof psychology has made possible a variety of demonstrations of the\ntruth and adequacy of this explanation. It was with the purpose of\nsecuring a visible record of certain types of involuntary movements,\nthat the investigation, the results of which are here presented, was\nundertaken.\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 1.--THE AUTOMATOGRAPH. When in use\n    a screen (not shown in the illustration) cuts off the\n    view of the apparatus from the subject. The recording\n    device, which may also be used separately, is shown in\n    outline in half its full size. R is a glass rod which\n    moves freely up and down in the glass tube T, which is\n    set into the cork C. A rubber band B is provided to\n    prevent the rod from falling through the tube, when not\n    resting upon the recording-plate.]\n\nInasmuch as the movements in question are often very slight, somewhat\ndelicate apparatus is required to secure their record; the apparatus\nmust in a measure exaggerate the tendency to motion though without\naltering its nature. The form of apparatus which I devised for this\nstudy, and which may be appropriately called an automatograph, is\nillustrated in the accompanying figure (p. 310). It consists of a\nwooden frame, enclosing a heavy piece of plate glass (fifteen inches\nsquare), and mounted upon three legs which are provided with screw\nadjustments for bringing the plate into a perfect level. Upon the\nplate of glass are placed in the form of a triangle three well turned\nand polished steel or brass balls; and upon the balls rests a thin\ncrystal-plate glass set in a light wooden frame. The finger-tips of\none hand rest upon the upper plate in the position indicated. When\nall is properly adjusted and glass and balls are rubbed smooth with\noil, it is quite impossible to hold the apparatus perfectly still for\nmore than a few seconds; the slightest unsteadiness or movement of\nthe hand at once sets the plate rolling with an irregular motion. If\none closes the eyes and fixes the attention upon a definite mental\nimage or train of thought, it is easy to form the conviction that\nthe plate remains quiet, but the record proves that this is not the\ncase. The other parts of the apparatus are designed to give a record\nof the movements of the plate. Fastened to the light frame containing\nthe upper glass plate is a slender rod some ten inches long, bearing\nat its end a cork; and piercing the cork is a small glass tube within\nwhich a snugly fitting glass rod has room to move. The rod is drawn\nto a smooth, round point; and when in position rests upon a piece of\nglazed paper that has been blackened over a flame and then smoothly\nstretched over a small glass plate. The point of the rod thus records\neasily and accurately every movement of the hand that is imparted to\nthe upper plate, and by the manner of its adjustment accommodates\nitself to all irregularities of movement or recording surface. This\nrecording device is shown in greater detail in the illustration, and\nwas used to good advantage as a simple automatograph in independence\nof the balls and plates. In that case the recording part is held in\nthe hand as though it were a pencil, but in a vertical position, and\nthe record plate may be placed upon a table; or for special purposes\nthe plate may be held in the other hand or fastened to the top of\none's head. When not otherwise stated, the records here reproduced\nwere obtained by use of the automatograph. Some of the records are\nnoted as having been secured with the simpler device just described.\n\nThe process of securing a record is as follows: the subject,\nstanding, places his hand upon the automatograph, with the arm nearly\nhorizontal and not quite fully extended, and the elbow bent in a\nfairly comfortable posture; his attention is engaged by asking him\nto listen to and count the strokes of a metronome; to look at and\ncount the oscillations of a pendulum; to read from a book; to call\nout the names of colors; to think of a given direction or locality,\nor the position of an object; and so on. He is instructed to think as\nlittle as possible of his hand, making a reasonable effort to keep\nit from moving. To cut off the apparatus from the subject's field of\nvision and attention, a large screen is interposed between him and\nthe record, a curtain with a suitable opening for the arm forming\npart of the screen. The operator holds the glass pencil in his hand,\nand when all is in readiness allows it to slip through the glass tube\nand begin to write, removing it again after a definite interval or\nwhen the record seems completed.\n\n\nIII\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 2.--READING COLORS. Time of record,\n    95 seconds. Position of colors \u2192. Subject facing \u2192.\n    In all the figures A represents the beginning of\n    the record, and Z the end. The arrows are used to\n    indicate the direction in which the object attended\n    to was situated, and also the direction in which the\n    subject was facing. The tracings are permanently fixed\n    by coating them with a weak solution of shellac in\n    alcohol.]\n\nWe may now consider a few typical results. Fig. 2, an ordinary\naverage result, was obtained while the subject was calling out the\nnames of a series of small patches of color, displayed on the wall\nfacing him, about eight feet distant. It will be observed that the\nmovement (which in all the illustrations has its beginning marked\nby an A and its end by a Z) proceeds irregularly but decidedly\n_towards_ the object upon which the attention was fixed. As a rule\nthe subject is unaware of the movement which his hand has made, and\nexercises no essential control over the results; indeed it is likely\nthat he is considerably surprised when the results are first shown\nto him. At times he becomes conscious of the loss of equilibrium of\nthe apparatus, but the indication is rarely sufficiently definite\nto inform him of the direction of the movement. Not infrequently,\nthe movement is performed with complete unconsciousness, and is\naccompanied by a strong conviction that the apparatus has been\nstationary. In several cases an intentional simulation of the\nmovements was produced for comparison with the involuntary records;\nthe result was quite generally a very different and coarser type of\nmovement, readily distinguishable from the involuntary writings. A\nprominent characteristic of practically all of the movements is their\nirregular and jerky character; the hand for a time oscillates about\nuncertainly, and then moves rather suddenly and quickly in a given\ndirection; then another period of hesitation, again a more or less\nsharp advance, and so on. It is probable that it is these repeated\nbrief movements of more vigorous indication of the direction of the\nsubject's attention, that the muscle-reader waits for and utilizes.\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 3.--READING COLORS ARRANGED IN\n    THREE ROWS. Time of record, 90 seconds. The first\n    line was read in the direction \u2193; the second in the\n    direction \u2191; and the third again \u2193. At the turn from\n    the second to the third line the record is interrupted.\n    Shows movement of the hand parallel with the movement\n    of the attention.]\n\nIt is obvious enough that the results of a test of this kind cannot\nbe anticipated, not alone because there are marked differences\nbetween individuals in the readiness with which they will manifest\ninvoluntary movements, but also because the intensity of the\nattention and the momentary condition of the subject are important\nand variable factors in the result. With very good subjects it\nbecomes quite safe to predict the general nature of the tracing;\nand the different tracings of the same subject often bear a family\nresemblance. We must now learn what we can of the various factors\nwhich influence these subconscious handwritings. That indefinitely\ncomplex combination of natural and nurtural circumstances, to which\nwe give the name of character, or individuality, or personality,\ndoubtless presents the most striking factor in this, as it does in\nnormal handwriting; and in both cases analyses are inevitably vague\nand confined to prominent points of difference. Extreme types are\nalways interesting and at times instructive. The tracing of Fig.\n3 was obtained under the same circumstances as Fig. 2, but with a\nsubject whose tendency towards involuntary movements is far more\nmarked, is indeed unusual. The total extent of the movement is\nmore than three times as great as in the former case, and it twice\nchanges its direction. This latter characteristic is the noteworthy\none, for it is due to the fact that the colors which the subject\nwas reading were arranged in three rows; the first row was read\nfrom left to right (corresponding to a downward direction in the\nfigure); the second row was read in the reversed direction; and\nthe third row in the original direction again. The completeness of\ncorrespondence between the movements of the hand and of the attention\nleaves nothing to be desired. This subject yielded the most extensive\nand predictable involuntary movements of any whom I tested. A\nsatisfactory impression of the variety and range of the individual\ndifferences which subjects, chosen somewhat at random, are likely\nto present, may be gathered from the series of records which will be\nreproduced as illustrative also of other influences. In Fig. 4 is\nrepresented another average record quite similar to that of Fig. 2\nbut produced by another subject, while reading from a printed page\nfor three-quarters of a minute; as before the hand moves towards the\nfocus of attention. It would be easy to present both more decided\nand extensive, and more uncertain involuntary records of still other\nsubjects; while negative or quite indeterminate tracings are by no\nmeans uncommon.\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 4.--READING FROM PRINTED PAGE. Time\n    of record, 45 seconds. Direction of the attention \u2192.\n    Subject facing \u2192.]\n\nWhen, to vary the nature of the impression to which the attention\nis directed, a metronome is used, and to insure attention on the\npart of the subject he is required to count the strokes, it may be\nthat another form of involuntary movement appears. The tendency\nto beat time to enlivening music by tapping with the hands, or\nstamping with the feet, or nodding with the head, is most familiar;\nand Dr. Lombard has shown that music is capable of effecting such\nthoroughly involuntary movements as the sudden rise of the leg that\nfollows reflexly upon a blow on the patella of the knee. It is not\nsurprising, therefore, to find evidences of periodic movements in\nthese automatograms; and in some instances, such as Fig. 5, this\npervades the whole record. Here the hand moves to and fro, keeping\ntime--not accurately at all, but in a general way--with the strokes\nof the metronome.\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 5.--COUNTING THE STROKES OF A\n    METRONOME. Shows the oscillations of the movements with\n    the strokes of the metronome.]\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 6.--COUNTING THE OSCILLATIONS OF\n    A PENDULUM. Time of record, 45 seconds. Direction of\n    the attention \u2192. Subject facing \u2192. The points 1, 2, 3,\n    show the positions of the writing-point, 15, 30, and 45\n    seconds after the record was started.]\n\nTo obtain similar results for a visual impression a silently swinging\npendulum is used, the subject following the oscillations with his\neyes and counting them. The result is more frequently simply a\nmovement towards the pendulum, Fig. 6; but occasionally there appear\nperiodic movements induced by those of the pendulum. A very excellent\ninstance of the latter appears in Fig. 7 (p. 318).\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 7.--COUNTING PENDULUM OSCILLATIONS.\n    Time of record, 80 seconds. Shows movement at first\n    toward the pendulum, and then synchronous with its\n    oscillations.]\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 8.--THINKING OF A HIDDEN OBJECT.\n    Time of record, 30 seconds. Direction of the attention\n    \u2192.]\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 9.--READING FROM PRINTED PAGE. The\n    page was moved about the subject in the direction of\n    the arrows.\n\n              \u2192\n              3\n          \u2191 2   4 \u2191\n              1\n              \u2190      ]\n\n\nWe may more closely approximate the ordinary experiment of the\nmuscle-reader by giving the subject some object to hide, say a knife,\nand then asking him to place his hand upon the automatograph, and\nto think intently of the place of concealment. As before there is a\nmovement of the hand; and on the basis of the general direction of\nthis movement one may venture a prediction of the direction in which\nthe knife lies. The results will show all grades of success, from\ncomplete failure to an accurate localizing of the object; but as good\na record as Fig. 8 is not infrequent. As indicated by the letters and\nthe arrow, the hand moved irregularly toward the hidden knife. In\nthis case the eyes are closed, and the concentration of the attention\nis maintained by a mental effort without the aid of the senses. The\npeculiar line of Fig. 9 was obtained in an experiment in which a book\nwas slowly carried about the room, the subject being required to read\ncontinuously from the page. It is evident that the hand followed\nthe movement of the attention, not in a circle but in an irregular\noutline closing in upon itself; the change in posture which this\nprocess involved has an undoubted influence upon the result.\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 10.--COUNTING PENDULUM\n    OSCILLATIONS. Time of record, 120 seconds. Direction\n    of the attention \u2192. Subject facing \u2192. Illustrates slow\n    and indirect movement. The points, 1, 2, 3, 4, indicate\n    the position of the writing-point, 30, 60, 90, and 120\n    seconds after the record was started.]\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 11.--COUNTING THE STROKES OF A\n    METRONOME. Time of record, 70 seconds. The points, 1,\n    2, 3, 4, indicate the positions of the writing point\n    at 15, 30, 45, and 60 seconds after the record was\n    begun. Direction of the attention \u2192. Subject facing \u2192.\n    Illustrates slight hesitation at first and then a rapid\n    movement toward the object of attention. Reduced to \u00be\n    size.]\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 12.--COUNTING THE STROKES OF A\n    METRONOME. Time of record, 90 seconds. Direction of\n    attention \u2192. Subject facing \u2192. Illustrates initial\n    directness of movement followed by hesitancy.]\n\nBefore passing to a more specific interpretation of the data, it\nmay be interesting to illustrate more fully the scope of individual\nvariations; for the great difference in availability of subjects\nto the muscle-reader is equally prominent in tests with the\nautomatograph. Some movements are direct and extensive, others are\ncircuitous and brief. Fig. 10 is a good type of a small movement, but\nof one quite constantly toward the object of the attention. This may\nbe contrasted with an extreme record, not here reproduced, in which\nthere is a movement of six and a half inches in forty-five seconds;\nor with a fairly extensive movement as in Fig. 11. In some cases the\nfirst impulse carries the hand toward the object of thought, and\nis followed by considerable hesitation and uncertainty; a marked\nexample of this tendency may be seen in Fig. 12. There is, too, an\nopposite type, in which the initial movements are variable, and the\nsignificant movement toward the object of thought comes later, when\nperhaps there is some fatigue. This tendency appears somewhat in\nFigs. 11 and 13.\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 13.--THINKING OF A LOCALITY. Time\n    of record, 120 seconds. Direction of the attention\n    \u2190. Subject facing \u2190. Illustrates initial hesitancy\n    followed by a steady movement toward the object thought\n    of.]\n\n\nIV\n\nWhat is the origin of the movements involved in these records? To\nwhat extent are they movements of the hand, of the arm, or of the\nentire body? Casual observation is sufficient to show that with a\ngiven position of the arm, certain movements are much more readily\nmade than others; and the involuntary tendencies will naturally\nfollow the lines of least resistance. If, for instance, you hold your\narm nearly on a level with the shoulders and in line with them, you\nperceive at once that movements of the hand to the front are much\nmore readily made than to the rear, and movements toward the body\nmore readily than those away from the body; the tendency of the hand\nis to move forward in a circle of which the shoulder is the centre.\nWhat we require is a position in which movements in any one direction\nare as readily made as in any other; and this may be approximated,\nthough only approximated, by holding the hand at an angle of about\n45\u00b0 with the line joining the shoulders, and with the elbow bent at\nan angle of about 120\u00b0. This was the position in most of the tests,\nand the usual result was a movement toward the object of attention;\nbut when the object attended to lies in back of the subject, this\ntendency is sometimes outweighed by the natural tendency for the arm\nto move forward, and the result may be a movement _forward_, but a\nless direct movement forward than when the object of attention is\nto the front. In a good subject, however, the involuntary tendency\nis strong enough to prevail, and a movement _backward_ results. An\ninstance of this, obtained under other but comparable circumstances,\nappears in Fig. 14. It is to be noted that in this figure the tracing\nmarked I. was obtained with the subject seated, and the metronome\nbeating behind him; the hand after some hesitation moves backward\nslowly towards the metronome to a moderate extent. In tracing II.,\nwith the subject also seated, the metronome is to the front, and\nthe hand moves directly and quickly towards it. We conclude that\nthe position of the body is an important factor in the resultant\nmovements, but that it does not interfere with their accepted\npsychological interpretation.\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 14.--COUNTING THE STROKES OF A\n    METRONOME. Subject seated. In tracing I. the metronome\n    is at the rear. Time of record, 105 seconds. Direction\n    of the attention \u2190. Subject facing \u2192. In tracing II.\n    the metronome was to the front. Time of record 45\n    seconds. Direction of the attention \u2192. Subject facing\n    \u2192. \u2158 size.]\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 15.--COUNTING THE STROKES OF A\n    METRONOME. Time of record, 45 seconds. The upper\n    tracing shows the movements of the head recorded upon\n    a plate resting on the head. The lower tracing shows\n    the usual record of the hand upon the automatograph.\n    Direction of the attention \u2192. Subject facing \u2192.]\n\nWhen observing the subject during a test, we may note the movements\nof the body as a whole, and of the arm or hand. The movement of\nthe body is an irregular swaying with the feet as the centre of\nthe movement; this swaying is most readily recorded by fixing the\nrecording-plate upon the subject's head, and having the recording-rod\nheld in a suitable position above it. It was found that in connection\nwith the swaying movements there were general movements towards the\nobject of attention; and such movements were as readily made when\nthe object was to the front, to the rear, or to either side. To\ndetermine how far this movement is the same in head and hand, it is\nnecessary to record both simultaneously. Fig. 15 illustrates the\ncorrespondence of the two movements. It thus becomes clear that the\nswaying of the body as a whole constitutes an important factor of\nthese automatograph records; that the movements of the head (being\nfarther away from the centre of motion) are more extensive than those\nof the hand; and that both head and hand are sensitive organs for the\nexpression of involuntary movements. That the muscle-reader is aware\nof this fact is obvious from the usual positions which he maintains\ntowards his subject in reading the direction of the hidden object.\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 16.--COUNTING THE STROKES OF A\n    METRONOME. Right hand holds the pencil, and left hand\n    holds the record plate. Direction of metronome \u2192.\n    Subject facing \u2192. In the upper tracing the subject was\n    standing; time of record, 90 seconds. In the lower\n    tracing the subject was sitting; time of record, 90\n    seconds.]\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 17.--THINKING OF A BUILDING.\n    Right hand holds pencil, and left hand holds record\n    plate. Subject facing \u2191. In tracing I., direction of\n    the attention \u2191; in tracing II., direction of the\n    attention \u2193. Time of each record, 60 seconds. II. shows\n    respiration records.]\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 18.--COUNTING THE STROKES OF A\n    METRONOME. Right hand holds pencil, left hand holds\n    record plate. Direction of the attention from A to B \u2191,\n    from B to C \u2192, from C to D \u2193, from D to E \u2190. Time of\n    each portion, 45 seconds.]\n\nTo eliminate the record of the swaying of the body, we may experiment\nwith the subject seated; we obtain a distinctive record in which\ncertain phases of the fluctuations have almost disappeared, and\nin which the record approximates to a straight line (tracing II.\nof Fig. 14). One may also eliminate the record of the swaying by\ndispensing with the automatograph, and simply holding the recording\nplate in one hand and the recording device or pencil in the other;\nfor then the plate and pencil sway together, and naturally no record\nof it is made. The relatively fine movements thus obtained are shown\nin Fig. 16; the contrast between this record and such records as\nFigs. 4, 5, 6, is mainly the contrast between a record in which\nthe general swaying of the body is registered, and one from which\nit has been eliminated. It is interesting to note that in records\nthus taken, there is but a slight difference in the result when the\nsubject is standing and when he is sitting; which is a further proof\nthat the swaying of the body has been eliminated. (Compare these with\nFig. 14.) Traces of periodic oscillations are noticeable in Fig. 16;\nthese are due to movements of respiration, and in tracing II. of\nFig. 17, they are unusually distinct and regular, about twenty to\nthe minute. In this case the forearm of the hand holding the record\nplate was braced against the body, while the recording hand was held\nfree from it; and thus the abdominal movements were registered. The\nmovements toward the object of attention appear throughout. Fig.\n17 shows a movement towards the rear of the subject, as well as\ntowards the front; which again shows that under suitable conditions,\ninvoluntary movements may be recorded in one direction as readily\nas in another. Fig. 18 presents a most beautifully regular movement\nin all four directions. As the metronome, the strokes of which the\nsubject was counting, was carried from one corner of the room to\nanother and so on around the room, the hand involuntarily followed\nit and recorded an almost perfect square. So striking and regular and\nso varied an involuntary movement, in conformity with changes in the\ndirection of attention, one can expect to secure but seldom, and then\nonly with a good subject.\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 19.--THINKING OF A BUILDING. Both\n    hands hold record plates, the pencils being held fixed\n    above them. Time of record 35 seconds. Direction of\n    the attention \u2193. Subject facing \u2193. I., left hand: II.,\n    right hand.]\n\nThe outline presented in Fig. 19 was obtained in a test in which\nthe movements of the hands were separately recorded, in order to\ndetermine the degree of correspondence between them. The result\nshows a marked general resemblance, indicating in part a common\norigin of the two movements. The next figure, Fig. 20, shows that\nthis correspondence is dependent in part upon the similarity of the\npositions of the two hands. The hand that is held away from the body\nmoves more extensively; but the form of the movements remain similar.\nThe records reproduced in Figs. 14-22 and 26 were obtained upon the\nsame subject, though with slightly varying conditions, and are fairly\ncomparable with one another, and thus illustrate the analysis of the\nresultant movements into their component factors.\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 20.--THINKING OF A BUILDING. Each\n    hand holds record plate. Time of record, 35 seconds.\n    Direction of the attention \u2193. Subject facing \u2193. I.,\n    left hand held extended far out. II., right hand held\n    close to body.]\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 21.--THINKING OF ONE'S FEET. Record\n    plate vertical. Time of record, 45 seconds. Direction\n    of the attention \u2193. II., thinking of a point overhead.\n    Time of record, 45 seconds. Recording plate vertical.\n    Direction of the attention \u2191.]\n\nInvoluntary movements are not limited to the horizontal plane;\nvertical movements may be recorded by holding the recording device\nin a slanting position, and fixing the record plate upon the wall.\nThe main characteristic of such a record is the sinking of the arm\nthrough fatigue; the movement is rapid and coarse (tracing I. of\nFig. 20). If the attention be directed to the front, we obtain a\nresultant of the tendency to move towards the object of attention,\nand of the sinking of the arm, as appears in the diagonal line of\nFig. 22. Fig. 21 illustrates an interesting point similar to that\nillustrated in Fig. 14. When the attention is directed downward, the\nhand falls rapidly (tracing I.); but when the attention is directed\nupward, very little movement at all takes place,--the tendency to\nmove towards the object of attention constantly counteracting the\ntendency for the arm to fall (tracing II.).\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 22.--COUNTING THE STROKES OF A\n    METRONOME. Record plate vertical. Pencil held in\n    extended right hand. Time of record, 20 seconds.\n    Direction of the attention \u2190. Subject facing \u2190.]\n\n\nV\n\nWhile I have not been altogether successful in determining by this\nmethod the relative efficiency of different sense-impressions\nin holding the attention, the successful results are especially\ninteresting. In Fig. 23 the tracing marked I. shows the movement of\nthe hand during the thirty-five seconds that the subject was counting\nthe strokes of a metronome; tracing II. shows the movement while\ncounting for twenty-five seconds the oscillations of a pendulum. The\nlatter movement is in this case much more extensive than the former,\nthus indicating that the visual impression held the attention much\nbetter than the auditory. The subject of this record is a well-known\nwriter and novelist; and his description of his own mental processes\nentirely accords with this result; he is a good visualizer, and\nvisual impressions and memory-images dominate his mental habits.\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 23.--I. COUNTING THE STROKES OF A\n    METRONOME. Automatograph record. Time of record, 35\n    seconds. Direction of the attention \u2192. Subject facing\n    \u2192. II. COUNTING PENDULUM OSCILLATIONS. Automatograph\n    record. Time of record, 25 seconds. Direction of the\n    attention \u2192. Subject facing \u2192.]\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 24.--FROM A TO A\u00b4, READING\n    COLORS; FROM A\u00b4 ON, COUNTING PENDULUM OSCILLATIONS.\n    Automatograph record. Time of record, from A to A\u00b4,\n    35 seconds; from A\u00b4 on, 25 seconds. Direction of the\n    attention\u2192. Subject facing \u2192.]\n\nWe may next turn to Fig. 24. The subject was asked to call the names\nof a series of small patches of color hanging upon the wall in front\nof him. He did this with some uncertainty for thirty-five seconds,\nand during this time his hand on the automatograph moved from A to\nA\u00b4. At the latter point he was asked to count the oscillations of a\npendulum; this entirely changed the movement, the hand at once moving\nrapidly toward the pendulum. The pendulum was a more attractive\nsense-impression than the colors. The special point of interest in\nthis record is, that upon examination the subject's color-vision\nproved to be defective, and thus accounted for the failure of the\ncolors to hold his attention.\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 25.--COUNTING PENDULUM\n    OSCILLATIONS. Time of record, 35 seconds. The record\n    from B to C is continuous with that of A to B.\n    Direction of the attention \u2192. Subject facing \u2192. The\n    subject, a child of eleven years. Record reduced to \u2158\n    of original size.]\n\nAn important problem relates to the possible correlation of types\nof involuntary movements with age, sex, temperament, disease, and\nthe like. A few observations upon children are interesting in this\nrespect. They reveal the limited control that children have over\ntheir muscles, and their difficulty to fix the attention when and\nwhere desired. Their involuntary movements are large, with great\nfluctuations, and irregularly towards the object of attention. Fig.\n25 illustrates some of these points; in thirty-five seconds the\nchild's hand moved by large steps seven inches toward the pendulum,\nand the entire appearance of the outline is different from those\nobtained upon adults.\n\n    [Illustration: FIG. 26.--THINKING OF LETTER O. Pencil\n    held in hand; record on table. I., subject standing;\n    II., subject seated.]\n\nMuch attention has recently been paid to automatic writing, or the\nunconscious indication of the _nature_, not merely the _direction_\nof one's thoughts, while the attention is elsewhere engaged. I\nattempted this upon the automatograph by asking the subject to view\nor think of some letter or geometric figure, and then searching the\nrecord for some trace of the letter or figure; but always with a\nnegative result. While unsuccessful in this sense, the records prove\nof value in furnishing a salient contrast to the experiments in\nwhich the attention was fixed in a definite direction. For example,\nthe subject is thinking of the letter O; he does not think of it as\nin any special place, and the record (Fig. 26) likewise reveals no\nmovement in any one direction. Two records are shown quite similar\nin significance, and illustrating as well the difference between the\nmovements while standing and while sitting.\n\n\nVI\n\nThere have thus been passed in review a variety of involuntary\nmovements obtained in different ways, and with bearings upon many\npoints of importance to the psychologist. They by no means exhaust\nthe possibilities of research, or the deduction of conclusions in\nthis field of study; but they may serve to illustrate how subtle\nand intricate are the expressions of the thoughts that lie within.\nThat involuntary movements are by no means limited to the type here\nillustrated is easily shown. In the exhibitions of muscle-reading,\nthe changes in breathing, the flushing, the tremor of the subject\nwhen the reader approaches the hiding-place, and the relative\nrelaxation when he is on the wrong scent, serve as valuable clues;\nto borrow the apt expression of \"hide and seek,\" the performer\ngrows \"hot\" and \"cold\" with his subject. Then, too, the tentative\nexcursions in one direction and another, to determine in which the\nsubject follows with least resistance, present another variation\nof the same process. The hushed calm of the audience when success\nis near, the restlessness and whispering during a false scent, are\nequally welcome suggestions which a clever performer freely utilizes,\nthereby adding to the \u00e9clat of his exhibition. When a combination\nof numbers or of letters in a word is to be guessed, the operator\npasses over with the subject the several digits or the alphabet, and\nnotes at which the tell-tale tremor or mark of excitement occurs,\nand so again performs the feat on the basis of the involuntary\ncontractions that express the slight changes of attention or interest\nwhen the correct number or letter is indicated. In much the same\nway we unwittingly betray our feelings and emotions, our interest or\ndistraction or ennui; the correct interpretation of these in others\nand their suppression in one's self form part of the artificial\ncomplexity of social intercourse. But in the line of experimental\ndemonstration also, another form of involuntary movement has been\nbrought forward in recent years by the investigation of Hansen and\nLehmann upon \"involuntary whispering.\" This investigation brings\nout the fact that many of us, when we think intently of a number,\ntend to innervate the mechanism appropriate to its utterance. We do\nnot actually speak or whisper the word or sound, but we initiate\nthe process. If one person thinks of a number,--say from one to\nten, or from one to one hundred,--and the other records any number\nwhich at the same moment suggests itself to him, it may result that\nthe proportion of correct or partially correct guesses exceeds that\nwhich chance would produce; and arguments for telepathy have been\nbased on such results. In the series of experiments in question these\n\"involuntary whisperings\" were not severely suppressed,--much as in\nthe automatograph tests one might determine to let the glass move if\nit would. It must be understood that there was no true whispering\nnor any movement of the speaking mechanism which a bystander could\ndetect; and yet it seems likely that the one participant was\ninfluenced in his guessing by the vague but yet real, subconscious,\nembryonic articulation of the other. The proof of this lies mainly\nin the analysis of the successes and errors; for the confusions are\nstrikingly between numerals of somewhat similar sound,--as between\nfourteen and forty, or sixty and thirty, or six and seven. If the\ntwo persons are seated in the respective foci of two concave surfaces\nwhich collect the sound (thus in a measure paralleling the exalted\nsensibility of specially gifted or hypnotized subjects), the chances\nof success seem to be increased. While the investigation is both\ncomplex and incomplete, yet the general trend of it is sufficiently\nclear to make it probable that \"involuntary whispering\" serves more\nor less frequently as a subconscious and involuntary indication\nof thought. It shows again that below the threshold of conscious\nacquisition and intentional expression lie a considerable range of\nactivities, which though they blossom unseen do not quite waste their\nfragrance, but come wafted over in vague and subtle essence. The\nfalling of a drop of water is unheard, but the sound of the roaring\ntorrent is but the sound of myriads of drops. The boundary between\nthe conscious and the unconscious is broad and indefinite; and vague\ninfluences, if not direct messages, pass from one side to the other.\n\nThe general bearing of the study of involuntary movements I\nhave indicated at the outset; and no elaborate comment on the\npractical significance of the results described seems necessary.\nThey certainly facilitate the appreciation of the reality of the\nsubconscious and the involuntary; and in connection with explanations\nof muscle-reading or telepathy, they illustrate how naturally a\nneglect of this realm of psychological activity may lead to false\nconclusions. They bring a striking corroboration of the view that\nthought is but more or less successfully suppressed action, and as a\nwell-known muscle-reader expresses it, all willing is either pushing\nor pulling.\n\n\n\n\nTHE DREAMS OF THE BLIND\n\n\nI\n\nMan is predominantly a visual animal. To him seeing is believing,--a\nsaying which in canine parlance might readily become smelling is\nbelieving. We teach by illustrations, models, and object-lessons,\nand reduce complex relations to the curves of the graphic method,\nto bring home and impress our statements. Our every-day language,\nas well as the imagery of poetry, abounds in metaphors and similes\nappealing to images which the eye has taught us to appreciate.\nThe eye is also the medium of impressions of \u00e6sthetic as well as\nof intellectual value; and one grand division of art is lost to\nthose who cannot see. The eye, too, forms the centre of emotional\nexpression, and reveals to our fellow-men the subtile variations in\nmood and passion, as it is to the physician a delicate index of our\nwell-being. There are reasons for believing that it was the function\nof sight as a distance-sense that led to its supremacy in the lives\nof our primitive ancestors. Whatever its origin, the growth of\ncivilization has served to develop this eye-mindedness of the race,\nand to increase and diversify the modes of its cultivation.\n\nThe eye, thus constantly stimulated in waking life, and attracting to\nits sensations the focus of attention, possessing, as it does, in the\nretinal fovea a special and unique aid to concentrative attention,\ndoes not yield up its supremacy in the world of dreams. The visual\ncentres subside but slowly from their day's stimulation; and the rich\nstock of images which these centres have stored up is completely at\nthe service of the fancy that guides our dreams. Indeed, the dream\nitself is spoken of as a vision.\n\nThough, as a race, we are eye-minded, individually we differ much\nwith regard to the r\u00f4le that sight plays in our psychic life. In\none direction a good index of its importance is to be found in the\nperfection of the visualizing faculty, of which Mr. Galton has given\nan interesting account. He asked various persons to describe, amongst\nother things, the vividness of their mental picture when calling to\nmind the morning's breakfast-table. To some the mental scene was\nas clear and as natural as reality, lacking none of the details of\nform or color; to others the resulting mental image was tolerably\ndistinct, with the conspicuous features well brought out, but the\nrest dim and ill-defined; while a third group could only piece\ntogether a very vague, fragmentary, and unreliable series of images,\nwith no distinct or constant picture.\n\nSimilar differences are observable with regard to memories. Some\npersons firmly retain what they read, while the memory forte of\nothers is in what they hear; and pathology supports this subdivision\nof the sense-memories by showing, for example, that all remembrance\nfor seen objects may be lost while that for sounds remains intact. A\ncase, remarkable in several aspects, is recorded by M. Charcot. The\nsubject in question could accurately call up, in full detail, all\nthe scenes of his many travels, could repeat pages of his favorite\nauthors from the mental picture of the printed page, and by the same\nmeans could mentally add long columns of numbers. The mere mention of\na scene in a play, or of a conversation with a friend, immediately\nbrought up a vivid picture of the entire circumstance. Through\nnervous prostration he lost this visual memory. An attempt to sketch\na familiar scene now resulted in a childish scrawl; he remembered\nlittle of his correspondence, forgot the appearance of his wife and\nfriends, and even failed to recognize his own image in a mirror. Yet\nhis eyesight was intact and his intellect unimpaired. In order to\nremember things he had now to have them read aloud to him, and thus\nbring into play his undisturbed auditory centre--to him an almost new\nexperience.\n\nThe function of vision in dreams is doubtless subject to similar\nindividual variations, though probably to a less extent. Seeing,\nwith rare exceptions, constitutes the typical operation in dreams;\nit is this sense, too, that, under the influence of drugs or of\nother excitement, is most readily stimulated into morbid action, and\nmost easily furnishes the basis of delusions and hallucinations to a\ndisordered mind. The dependence of the nature and content of dreams\nupon the waking experiences is so clearly proven that it would be\nsurprising not to find in them the individual characteristics of our\nmental processes; and if Aristotle is right in saying that in waking\nlife we all have a world in common but in dreams each has a world of\nhis own, we may look to the evidence of dream-life for indications of\nunrestrained and distinctive psychological traits.\n\n\nII\n\nWith regard to the blind, much of what has been said above is\nentirely irrelevant. However intimately we appreciate the function\nof sight in our own mental development, it is almost impossible to\nimagine how different our life would have been had we never seen.\nBut here, at the outset, a fundamental distinction must be drawn\nbetween those blind from birth or early infancy, and those who lose\ntheir sight in youth or adult life.[13] \"It is better to have seen\nand lost one's sight than never to have seen at all,\" is quite\nas true as the sentiment which this form of statement parodies.\nExpressed physiologically, this means, that to have begun the general\nbrain-building process with the aid of the eye insures some further\nself-development of the visual centre, and thus makes possible a\nkind of mental possession of which those born blind are inevitably\ndeprived.[14]\n\nA fact of prime importance regarding the development of the\nsight-centre is the age at which its education is sufficiently\ncompleted to enable it to continue its function without further\nobject-lessons on the part of the retina. If we accept as the test\nof the independent existence of the sight-centre its automatic\nexcitation in dreams, the question can be answered by determining the\nage of the onset of blindness, which divides those who do not from\nthose who still retain in their dream-life the images derived from\nthe world of sight. The data that enable me to answer this question\nwere gathered at the Institutions for the Blind in Philadelphia and\nBaltimore. Nearly 200 persons of both sexes were personally examined,\nand their answers to quite a long series of questions recorded. All\ndates and ages were verified by the register of the institution, and\nthe degree of sight was tested.\n\nBeginning with cases of _total_ blindness (including under this head\nthose upon whom light has simply a general subjective \"heat-effect,\"\nenabling them to distinguish between night and day, between shade and\nsunshine, but inducing little or no tendency to project the cause of\nthe sensation into the external world), I find on my list fifty-eight\nsuch cases. Of these, thirty-two became blind before the completion\nof their fifth year, and _not one_ of this group of thirty-two sees\nin dreams. Six became blind between the fifth and the seventh year:\nof these, four have dreams of seeing, but two of them do so seldom\nand with some vagueness; while two never dream of seeing at all. Of\ntwenty persons who became blind after their seventh year _all_ have\n\"dream-vision\"--as I shall term the faculty of seeing in dreams. _The\nperiod from the fifth to the seventh year is thus indicated as the\ncritical one._ Before this age the visual centre is undergoing its\nelementary education; its life is closely dependent upon the constant\nfood-supply of sensations; and when these are cut off by blindness,\nit degenerates and decays. If blindness occurs between the fifth and\nthe seventh years, the preservation of the visualizing power depends\non the degree of development of the individual. If the faculty is\nretained, it is neither stable nor pronounced. If sight is lost\nafter the seventh year, the sight-centre can, in spite of the loss,\nmaintain its function; and the dreams of such an individual may be\nhardly distinguishable from those of a seeing person.\n\nIt was a very unexpected discovery, to find, after I had planned and\npartly completed this investigation, that I had a predecessor. So\nlong ago as 1838, Dr. G. Heermann studied the dreams of the blind\nwith the view of determining this same question, the physiological\nsignificance of which, however, was not then clearly understood.\nHe records the answers of fourteen totally blind persons who lost\ntheir sight previous to their fifth year, and _none_ of these has\ndream-vision. Of four who lost their sight between the fifth and\nthe seventh year, one has dream-vision; one has it dimly and\noccasionally; and two do not definitely know. Of thirty-five who\nbecame blind after their seventh year _all_ have dream-vision. The\ntwo independent researches thus yield the very same conclusion. Dr.\nHeermann includes in his list many aged persons, and from their\nanswers is able to conclude that, generally speaking, those who\nbecome blind in mature life retain the power of dream-vision longer\nthan those who become blind nearer the critical age of five to seven\nyears. He records twelve cases where dream-vision still continues\nafter a blindness of from ten to fifteen years, four of from fifteen\nto twenty years, four of from twenty to twenty-five years, and one\nof thirty-five years. In one case dream-vision was maintained for\nfifty-two, and in another for fifty-four years, but then faded\nout.[15]\n\nWith regard to the _partially_ blind, the question most analogous to\nthe persistence of dream-vision after total blindness, is whether\nor not the dream-vision is brighter and clearer than that of waking\nlife; whether the sight-centre maintains the full normal power\nto which it was educated, or whether the partial loss of sight\nhas essentially altered and replaced it. To this rather difficult\nquestion I have fewer and less satisfactory answers than to the\nformer inquiry; but the evidence is perfectly in accord with the\nprevious conclusions. Of twenty-three who describe their dream-vision\nas _only as clear_ as waking sight, _all_ became blind _not\nlater_ than the close of their _fifth year_; while of twenty-four\nwhose dream-vision is more or less markedly _clearer_ than their\npartial sight, _all_ lost their full sight _not earlier_ than\ntheir _sixth year_.[16] The age that marks off those to whom total\nblindness carries with it the loss of dream-vision from those whose\ndream-vision continues, is thus the age at which the sight-centre has\nreached a sufficient stage of development to enable it to maintain\nits full function, when partially or totally deprived of retinal\nstimulation. The same age is also assigned by some authorities as the\nlimiting age at which deafness will cause muteness (unless special\npains be taken to prevent it); while later the vocal organs, though\ntrained to action by the ear, can perform their duties without\nthe teacher's aid. This, too, is assigned as the earliest age at\nwhich we have a remembrance of ourselves. This last statement I am\nable to test by one hundred answers, collected among these blind\npersons, to the question, \"What is your earliest remembrance of\nyourself?\" The average age to which these memories go back is 5.2\nyears; seventy-nine instances being included between the third and\nthe sixth years. At this period of child development--the centre of\nwhich is at about the close of the fifth year--there seems to be a\ngeneral declaration of independence of the sense-centres from their\nfood-supply of sensations. Mr. Sully finds sense, imagination, and\nabstraction to be the order in which the precocity of great men\nreveals itself; and the critical period which we are now considering\nseems to mark the point at which imagination and abstraction as\npermanent mental powers ordinarily come into play. M. Perez likewise\nrecognizes the distinctive character of this era of childhood by\nmaking the second part of his \"Child Psychology\" embrace the period\nfrom the third to the seventh year.\n\n\nIII\n\nThe general fact thus brought to light--that the mode in which a\nbrain-centre will function depends so largely upon its initial\neducation, but that, this education once completed, the centre can\nmaintain its function, though deprived of sense-stimulation--is\nsufficiently important to merit further illustration.[17] This\nfact, though very clear and evident when stated from a modern point\nof view, has not always been recognized. So ingenious a thinker as\nErasmus Darwin inferred from two cases (the one of a blind man, the\nother of a deaf-mute) in which the wanting senses were also absent\nin dreams, that the peripheral sense-organ was necessary for all\nperception, subjective as well as objective; and entirely neglected\nthe age at which the sense was lost. Such noted physiologists as\nReil, Rudolphi, Hartman, Wardrop (who says, \"when an organ of sense\nis totally destroyed, the ideas which were received by that organ\nseem to perish along with it as well as the power of perception\"),\nmore or less distinctly favored this view; while some teachers of\nthe blind and the physiologists Nasse and Autentreith rightly drew\nthe distinction between those born, and those who became, blind.\nAn experimental demonstration of the original dependence of the\nperceptive and emotional powers upon sense-impressions was furnished\nby Boffi and Schiff, who found that young dogs whose olfactory bulbs\nhad been removed failed to develop any affection for man.\n\nWhat is true of the visual, is doubtless equally true of the other\nperceptive centres. The dreams of the deaf-mute offer an attractive\nand untouched field for such study.[18] The few accounts of such\ndreams that I have met with, fail to give the age at which deafness\nset in; in one case, however, in which deafness occurred at thirty\nyears, the pantomimic had replaced the spoken language in the dreams\nof thirty years later. Similarly, cripples dream of their lost limbs\nfor many years after their loss; in such cases, however, stimulation\nof the cut nerves may be the suggestive cause of such dreams. A man\nof forty, who lost his right arm seventeen years before, still dreams\nof having the arm. The earliest age of losing and dreaming about a\nlost limb, of which I find a record, is of a boy of thirteen years\nwho lost a leg at the age of ten; this boy still dreams of walking\non his feet. Those who are born cripples must necessarily have their\ndefects represented in their dream consciousness. Heermann cites the\ncase of a man born without hands, forearms, feet, or lower legs. He\nalways dreamt of walking on his knees; and all the peculiarities of\nhis movements were present in his dream-life.\n\nThe dreams of those both blind and deaf are especially instructive.\nMany of Laura Bridgman's dreams have been recorded; and an\nunpublished manuscript by Dr. G. Stanley Hall places at my service\na valuable account of her sleep and dreams. Sight and hearing were\nas absent from her dreams as they were from the dark and silent\nworld which alone she knew. The tactual-motor sensations, by which\nshe communicated with her fellow-beings, and through which almost\nall her intellectual food reached her, also formed her mainstay in\ndreams. This accounts for the suddenness and fright with which she\noften waked from her dreams; she is perchance dreaming of an animal,\nwhich to us would first make itself seen or heard, but to her is\npresent only when it touches and startles her--for she lacks any\nanticipatory sense. Language has become so all-important a factor\nin civilized life, that it naturally is frequently represented in\ndreams. We not only dream of speaking and being spoken to, but we\nactually innervate the appropriate muscles and talk in our sleep;\nthis Laura Bridgman also did. \"Her sleep seemed almost never\nundisturbed by dreams. Again and again she would suddenly talk a few\nwords or letters with her fingers, too rapidly and too imperfectly\nto be intelligible (just as other people utter incoherent words\nand inarticulate sounds in sleep), but apparently never making a\nsentence.\"[19] So, too, all the people who enter into her dreams\ntalk with their fingers. This habit had already presented itself at\nthe age of twelve, four years after her first lesson in the alphabet.\n\"I do not dream to talk with mouth; I dream to talk with fingers.\" No\nprettier illustration could be given of the way in which her fancy\nbuilt upon her real experiences, than the fact recorded by Charles\nDickens, that on picking up her doll he found across its eyes a green\nband such as she herself wore. The organic sensations originating\nin the viscera, though often prominently represented in dreams of\nnormal persons, seemed especially prominent in her dreams. She tells\nof feeling her blood rush about, and of her heart beating fast when\nsuddenly waking, much frightened, from a distressing dream. One\nsuch dream she describes as \"hard, heavy, and thick;\" terms which,\nthough to us glaringly inappropriate in reference to so fairy-like a\nstructure as a dream, form an accurate description in the language of\nher own realistic senses. In short, her dreams are accurately modeled\nupon the experiences of her waking life, reproducing in detail\nall the peculiarities of thought and action which a very special\neducation had impressed upon her curious mind.\n\nI have had the opportunity of questioning a blind and deaf young\nman whose life-history offers a striking contrast to that of Laura\nBridgman, and illustrates with all the force of an experimental\ndemonstration the critical educational importance of the early years\nof life. He was, at the time of my questioning him, twenty-three\nyears of age, and was earning a comfortable living as a broom-maker.\nHe had an active interest in the affairs of the world, and disliked\nto be considered in any way peculiar. His eyesight began to fail him\nin early childhood; and in his fifth year the sight of one eye was\nentirely lost, while that of the other was very poor. After a less\ngradual loss of hearing, he became completely deaf in his ninth\nyear. At the age of twelve he was (practically) totally blind, deaf,\nand nearly mute. The small remnant of articulating power has been\ncultivated; and those who are accustomed to it can understand his\nspoken language. He also communicates as Laura Bridgman did, and has\na further advantage over her in possessing a very acute sense of\nsmell. He remembers the world of sight and hearing perfectly, and in\na little sketch of his life which he wrote for me vividly describes\nthe sights and sounds of his play-days. He usually dreams of seeing\nand hearing, though the experiences of his present existence also\nenter into his dreams. Some of his dreams relate to flowers which he\nsmelled and saw; he dreamt of being upset in a boat; shortly after\nhis confirmation he dreamt of seeing God. When he dreams of making\nbrooms, his dream is entirely in terms of motion and feeling, not\nof sight. His history thus strongly emphasizes the importance which\na variety of evidence attributes to the period of childhood, and\nperhaps especially to that from the third to the seventh year.\n\nThe remarkable powers which Helen Keller has exhibited throughout her\nphenomenal education give to an account of her dream life an especial\ninterest. I am fortunate in being able to present her own account\nas she prepared it at my solicitation. The wealth and brilliancy of\nher imagination frequently lead to modes of expression which seem to\nbrusquely contradict her sightless and soundless condition. But a\ncareful observation of her mental activities brings out the verbal or\nliterary character of such allusions, in certain cases essentially\naided by associations with impressions of the senses that remain to\nher. In such cases her familiarity, through literature and through\nintercourse, with the experiences of the hearing and seeing and with\nthe emotional and intellectual associations that ordinary persons\nmight have with definite scenes or occasions, enables her to realize,\nand her vivid imagination to construct, a somewhat idealized account\nof her vicarious experiences, though perhaps real emotions. Her dream\nlife seems in complete concordance with her waking condition; but\nthis imaginative factor must be constantly borne in mind in reading\nher report of her dream life. The intrinsic interest of this human\ndocument, and the charm of the narrative, present so lifelike and\nalmost confidential a portrayal of her world of dreams, that any\nelaborate comment would be unnecessary. It should be remembered that\nHelen Keller became totally blind and deaf at nineteen months; that\nher instruction began at the age of seven years; that she learned\nto speak orally from her eleventh year; that at present she speaks\norally almost exclusively, although very proficient in the use of\nthe finger alphabet; that she is able to understand what is said to\nher by placing her fingers upon the lips and throat of the speaker,\nbut that the more expeditious and certain mode of communicating with\nher is by making the letters of the finger-alphabet in the palm of\nher hand. This latter method she uses entirely with her teacher and\nwith all who are conversant with it. This account of her dreams was\nprepared in August, 1900, when she was twenty years of age; it was\nwritten off-hand by her on a type-writer, and is presented in its\noriginal form.\n\n\nMY DREAMS\n\n\"It is no exaggeration to say that I live two distinct lives,--one in\nthe everyday world and the other in the Land of Nod! Like most people\nI generally forget my dreams as soon as I wake up in the morning; but\nI know that when I dream I am just as active and as much interested\nin everything--trees, books and events--as when I am awake.\n\n\"My dreams have strangely changed during the past twelve years.\nBefore and after my teacher first came to me, they were devoid of\nsound, or thought or emotion of any kind, except fear, and only came\nin the form of sensations. I would often dream that I ran into a\nstill, dark room, and that, while I stood there, I felt something\nfall heavily without any noise, causing the floor to shake up and\ndown violently; and each time I woke up with a jump. As I learned\nmore and more about the objects around me, this strange dream ceased\nto haunt me; but I was in a high state of excitement and received\nimpressions very easily. It is not strange then that I dreamed at\nthat time of a wolf, which seemed to rush towards me and put his\ncruel teeth deep into my body! I could not speak (the fact was, I\ncould only spell with my fingers), and I tried to scream; but no\nsound escaped from my lips. It is very likely that I had heard the\nstory of Red Riding Hood, and was deeply impressed by it. This dream,\nhowever, passed away in time, and I began to dream of objects outside\nof myself.\n\n\"I never spelled with my fingers in my sleep; but I have often\nspoken, and one night I actually laughed. I was dreaming of a great\nfrolic with my schoolmates at the Perkins Institution. But, if I\ndo not use the manual alphabet in my dreams, my friends sometimes\nspell to me. Their sentences are always brief and vague. I obtain\ninformation in a very curious manner, which it is difficult to\ndescribe. My mind acts as a sort of mirror, in which faces and\nlandscapes are reflected, and thoughts, which throng unbidden in my\nbrain, describe the conversation and the events going on around me.\n\n\"I remember a beautiful and striking illustration of the peculiar\nmode of communication I have just mentioned. One night I dreamed\nthat I was in a lovely mansion, all built of leaves and flowers. My\nthoughts declared the floor was of green twigs, and the ceiling of\npink and white roses. The walls were of roses, pinks, hyacinths,\nand many other flowers, loosely arranged so as to make the whole\nstructure wavy and graceful. Here and there I saw an opening between\nthe leaves, which admitted the purest air. I learned that the flowers\nwere imperishable, and with such a wonderful discovery thrilling my\nspirit I awoke.\n\n\"I do not think I have seen or heard more than once in my sleep.\nThen the sunlight flashed suddenly on my eyes, and I was so dazzled\nI could not think or distinguish anything. When I looked up, some\none spelled hastily to me, 'Why, you are looking back upon your\nbabyhood!' As to the sound I heard, it was like the rushing of a\nmighty cataract, and reminded me forcibly of my visit to Niagara\nFalls. I remembered as if it were yesterday how I had come very close\nto the water and felt the great roar by placing my hand on a soft\npillow. Now, however, I knew I was far away from the place whence\nthe sound came, and the vibration fell clear, though not loud, upon\nmy eardrums; so I concluded in my sleep that I really heard. What\nhappened next I have entirely forgotten; but in the morning I was\ndeeply impressed by the only instance in which I had dreamed of\nhearing, and I wished I could go back to Dreamland, just to hear that\nfar-off, inspiring sound.\n\n\"Occasionally I think I am reading with my fingers, either Braille or\nline print, and even translating a little Latin, but always with an\nodd feeling that I am touching forbidden fruit. Somehow I feel that\nthe spirits of sleep are displeased if any thoughts of literature\ncross my mind. Still I am free to enjoy everything else--I can wander\namong flowers and trees and be with my friends, especially those who\nlive at a distance from where I happen to be. Sometimes I am with\nmy mother, and at other times with my sister Mildred. My teacher\nscarcely ever appears in my dreams; but I know she would very often\nif a cruel fate should tear her away from me. I shall never forget\nthe morning seven or eight years ago, when I dreamed that my dear\nfriend, Bishop Brooks, was dying. A few hours later I found that my\ndream was a terrible reality. It is probable that I thought of him\nat the very moment when he was passing away, and I certainly wept in\nthe same manner and in the same place while I dreamed, that I did\nafterwards!\n\n\"I hardly ever dream of anything that has happened the day before,\nalthough I sometimes have several different dreams on the same night;\nnor do I dream of the same things often. However, I dream oftenest\nof the unpleasant and horrible, no matter how happy and successful\nthe day may have been. Indeed, I have found it unadvisable to read\nterrible stories or tragedies often, or in the evening. They impress\nme so painfully, and retain so firm a hold of my imagination that\nthey sooner or later force themselves into my dreams. About two years\nago I read 'Sixty Years a Queen' the story of the awful massacre\nat Cawnpore, which took place during the Indian Mutiny. It filled\nme with a horror that haunted me persistently for several days. At\nlast I managed to banish these disagreeable feelings; but one night\na frightful distortion of the selfsame story appeared before my\nmind. I thought I was in a small prison. At first I only noticed a\nskeleton hanging up on one of the walls; then I felt a strange, awful\nsound, like heavy iron being cast down, and the most heartrending\ncries ensued. I was informed that twenty men were being put to death\nwith the utmost cruelty. I rushed madly from one room to another,\nand, as each ruffian came out, I locked the door behind him, in the\nhope that some of the victims might thereby be saved. All my efforts\nwere futile, and I awoke with a sickening horror weighing down on\nmy heart. I have also fancied that I saw cities on fire, and brave,\ninnocent men dragged to a fiery martyrdom. One instant I would\nstand in speechless bewilderment, as the flames leaped up, dark and\nglaring, into a black sky. The next moment I would be in the midst of\nthe conflagration, trying to save some of the sufferers, and seeing\nin dismay how they slipped away beyond my power. At such times I have\nthought myself the most wretched person in the world; but in the\nmorning the bright sunshine and fresh air of our own dear, beautiful\nworld would chase away those horrible phantoms.\n\n\"On the whole, my dreams are consistent with my feelings and\nsympathies; but once I thought I was engaged in a great boat-race\nbetween Yale and Harvard. Now, in reality I am always on Harvard's\nside in the great games; but at that time I dreamed that I was a\nthorough Yale man! Perhaps this inconsistency arose from the fact\nthat a long time ago I had declared how glad I was of Harvard's\nfailure to win a certain boat-race, because the Yale men rowed with\nthe American stroke and the Harvard men had learned the English\nstroke. At any rate, sleeping or waking, I love my friends, and never\nthink they change or grow unkind. From time to time I make friends\nin my dreams; but usually I am too busy running around and watching\nother people to have any long conversations or 'reveries.'\n\n\"I am often led into pretty fantasies, of which I will give an\nillustration. Consternation was spread everywhere because the news\nhad been received of King Winter's determination to establish his\nrule permanently in the temperate zones. The stern monarch fulfilled\nhis threat all too soon; for, although it was mid-summer, yet the\nwhole ocean was suddenly frozen, and all the boats and steamers\nwere stuck fast in the ice. Commerce was ruined, and starvation was\nunavoidable. The flowers and trees shared in the universal sorrow,\nand bravely strove to keep alive through the summer. Finally,\novercome by the intense cold, they dropped their leaves and\nblossoms, which they had kept fresh and spotless to the last. Slowly\nthe flowers fluttered down and lay at King Winter's feet, silently\nsupplicating him to show mercy, but all in vain. They froze unheeded,\nand were changed into pearls, diamonds, and turquoises.\n\n\"Another time I took it into my head to climb to the stars. I sprang\nup into the air, and was borne upward by a strong impulse. I could\nnot see or hear; but my mind was my guide as well as my interpreter.\nHigher and higher I rose, until I was very close to the stars. Their\nintense light prevented me from coming any nearer; so I hung on\ninvisible wings, fascinated by the rolling spheres and the constant\nplay of light and shadow, which my thoughts reflected. All at once\nI lost my balance, I knew not how, and down, down I rushed through\nempty space, till I struck violently against a tree, and my body sank\nto the ground. The shock waked me up, and for a moment I thought all\nmy bones were broken to atoms.\n\n\"I have said all that I can remember concerning my dreams; but what\nreally surprises me is this; sometimes, in the midst of a nightmare,\nI am conscious of a desire to wake up, and I make a vigorous effort\nto break the spell. Something seems to hold my senses tightly, and it\nis only with a spasmodic movement that I can open my eyes. Even then\nI feel, or I think I feel, a rapid motion shaking my bed and a sound\nof light, swift footsteps. It seems strange to me that I should make\nsuch an effort to wake up, instead of doing it automatically.\"\n\nThis faithful and dramatic sketch is replete with specific as\nwell as with generic corroborations of the distinctive results of\nthe present inquiry. The differences between the dream experiences\nof Helen Keller before and after education are quite consistent\nwith comparable results in the cases of other defectives--although\ndreams of her uneducated period seem to occur rarely if at all, and\nit is not possible to determine how soon after she began to speak,\nsuch speech-communication made its appearance in her dreams. It is\ninteresting to note that oral speech, when once acquired, speedily\nsuperseded manual talking, and that automatic talking aloud in her\nsleep appeared; the finger alphabet became almost obsolete in her\nwaking life, and likewise in her dreams. Yet the persistence of early\nacquired habits is strikingly shown in her occasional unconscious\ntendency to talk to herself by forming the letters with one hand\nagainst the palm of the other. These processes she seems to utilize\nquite automatically and unconsciously as aids to composition or to\n\"thinking aloud.\"\n\nIn regard to the source and content of her dreams, the more realistic\nepisodes reflect their perceptional origin in tactile and motor\nexperiences; such are the attack of the wolf, the fall from a\nheight, the reception of information through the palm, reading the\nraised print,--while dreams of flying naturally present the same\nelaboration of sensory elements as in normally equipped individuals.\nThe dreams of seeing and hearing probably reflect far more of\nconceptual interpretation and imaginative inference than of true\nsensation; yet they are in part built up upon a sensory basis,--in\nthe former case, that of the heat sensations radiating from a\nbrilliant illumination (witness the flames of the conflagration,\nthe \"intense light\" of the stars), in the latter of vibrational or\njarring sensations communicated to the body (as in the torrent of\nNiagara). But, on the whole, the direct sensory tone of her dream\nlife is weak; while for this very reason, possibly, the imaginative\nand \"transferred\" components are unusually dominant. The associative\nelaboration of fancies in dream life is rarely capable of simple\nanalysis, and commonly reveals results, and not the processes or\nstages by which the results were reached. Dependent, as Helen Keller\nis so largely, upon the communication of others for her knowledge\nof what is going on about her, it is natural that this transferred\ncommunication should be important in her dream knowledge. That her\nconsciousness of the process of such acquisition should be vague\nand difficult to express is natural; and the phrases \"my thoughts\ndeclared,\" \"my mind acts as a sort of mirror,\" \"I was informed,\"\nare as satisfactory psychologically as could be expected. It is,\nhowever, in dreams not of external incidents involving vaguely\ntransferred or directly communicated information, but in the free\nroamings of creative imagination, that the dream life of Helen Keller\nfinds its most suitable _m\u00e9tier_; it is in this direction that this\ndream narrative, reflecting, as it does, her rich emotional nature\nand enthusiastically sympathetic temperament, presents its most\ndistinctive and attractive aspect.\n\n\nIV\n\nReturning to the general data regarding the dreams of the blind, the\nquestion that next suggests itself is whether and how, in cases\nwhere blindness ensued after a remembered period of vision, the\npre-blindness period is distinguished from the post-blindness period\nin dream-imagery. It was noticed, for instance, that the blind and\ndeaf young man mentioned above, though seeing in his dreams, never\nthus saw the shop in which he worked. It is easy to imagine that the\nmore or less sudden loss of sight, the immersion into a strange and\ndark world, would for a time leave the individual living entirely\nupon the past. His remembered experiences are richer and more vivid\n(we are supposing his blindness to occur after childhood) than those\nhe now has; he is learning a new language and translates everything\nback into the old. His dreams will naturally continue to be those of\nhis seeing life. As his experiences in his new surroundings increase,\nand the memory of the old begins to fade, the tendency of recent\nimpressions to arise in the automatism of dreaming will bring the\nevents of the post-blindness period as factors into his dreams. I\nfind in my list only seven who do not have such dreams; and in these\nthe blindness has been on the average of only 2.8 years standing.\nThe average age of \"blinding\" of the seven is fifteen years, making\nit probable that the adaptation to the new environment has here been\na slow one, and that such dreams will occur later on. On the other\nhand, cases occur in which, after three, two, or even one year's\nblindness, when the persons so afflicted were young, events happening\nwithin that period have been dreamed of. Heermann cites a case of a\nman of seventy who never dreamed of the hospital in which he had been\nliving for eighteen years, and to which he was brought shortly after\nhis blindness. This and other cases suggest that the more mature and\nsettled the brain-tissue, the more difficult is it to impress upon\nit new conditions sufficiently deeply to have them appear in the\nautomatic life of dreams.\n\nWhether there is a difference in the vividness, or any other\ncharacteristic which sight would lend, in the dreams of events before\nand after blindness, is a question to which I could obtain few\nintelligent and satisfactory answers; but, as far as they go, the\ntendency of these replies is to show that when blindness ensues close\nupon the critical period of five to seven years of age, the power\nof vivid dream-vision is more exclusively limited to the events of\nthe years of full sight; and, as Heermann pointed out, this power is\noften subject to a comparatively early decay. Similarly, I find that\nthose who lose their sight near the critical age are not nearly so\napt to retain color in their dream-vision as those who become blind\nlater on. The average age of \"blinding\" of twenty-four persons who\nhave colored dream-vision, is 16.6 years, including one case in which\nblindness set in as early as the seventh year. All who see enough to\nsee color, have colored dream-vision.\n\nI also asked those who became blind in youth, or later, whether they\nwere in the habit of giving imaginary faces to the persons they\nmet after their blindness, and whether they ever saw such in their\ndreams. Some answered in very vague terms, but several undoubtedly\nmake good use of this power, probably somewhat on the same basis as\nwe imagine the appearance of eminent men of whom we have read or\nheard, but whose features we have never seen. When we remember how\nerroneous such impressions often are, we can understand how easily\nit may mislead the blind. Such imaginary faces and scenes also\nenter into their dreams, but to a less extent than into those of\nthe sighted. Dr. Kitto[20] quotes a letter from a musician who lost\nhis sight when eighteen years old, but who retains a very strong\nvisualizing power both in waking life and in dreams. The mention of\na famous man, of a friend, or of a scene, always carries with it a\nvisual picture, complete and vivid. Moreover, these images of his\nfriends are reported to change as the friends grow old; and he feels\nhimself intellectually in no way different from the seeing.\n\nThis leads naturally to the consideration of the power of the\nimagination in the blind. It is not difficult to understand that\nthey are deprived of one powerful means of cultivating this faculty,\nthat the eye is in one sense the organ of the ideal. Their knowledge\nis more realistic and tangible, and so their dreams often, though\nby no means always, lack all poetical characteristics, and are very\ncommonplace. Ghosts, elves, fairies, monsters, and all the host of\nstrange romance that commonly people dreams, are not nearly so well\nrepresented as in the dreams of the sighted. What is almost typical\nin the dreams of the latter is unusual in the dreams of the blind,\nespecially of those early blind. Many observe that such dreams grow\nrare as they outgrow their youth,[21] which is probably true of the\nsighted. When the blind dream of ghosts they either hear them, and\nthat usually not until they are close at hand, or they are actually\ntouched by them. A blind man, describing a dream in which his friend\nappeared to him, said: \"Then I dreamt that he tried to frighten me,\nand make believe he was a ghost, by _pushing me down sideways_,\" etc.\nBy some the ghost is heard only; it has a rough voice, and its bones\nrattle; or it pursues the victim, humming and groaning as it runs.\n\nContrary to the opinions of some writers, I find hearing, and not the\ngroup of tactual-motor sensations, to be the chief sense with the\nblind, both in waking and in dreams. That hearing owes very much of\nthis supremacy to its being the vehicle of conversation, goes without\nsaying. Many of the blind dream almost exclusively in this sense, and\nit is quite generally spoken of as the most important. Even those\nwho see a little, often regard hearing as their most useful sense;\nthose who see well enough to see color, almost invariably claim for\ntheir partial sight an importance exceeding that of hearing. Next in\nimportance to hearing is the group of sensations accompanying motion.\nAn important item in the dreams of the sighted is furnished by this\ncomplex of sensations, and the same is true of the blind; almost\nall remember such dreams, and some make this their most important\navenue of sensation. Yet such a purely artificial movement as reading\nthe raised type with the finger almost never occurs in dreams. The\nboys dream of playing, running, jumping, and so on; the men of\nbroom-making, piano-tuning, teaching, and similar work; the girls of\nsewing, fancy work, household work, and the like.\n\nThere is often ascribed to the blind a somewhat mystical sense, by\nwhich they can tell the presence and even the nature of objects,\nand can feel their way. As far as such a power exists, it depends\nupon a complex group of sensations, and includes the cultivation\nof the irradiation sense, which we all possess. It is not at all\ndifficult to tell whether a large object is within a few inches of\nthe hand, by the fact that it modifies the air currents and heat\nradiations reaching the hand. This is especially the case if the\ntemperature of the object be somewhat different from that of the\nroom, or if it be an object like metal, which rapidly exchanges\nits heat. In sunlight the shadows of stones and posts can be thus\ndetected; and the illumination of a room, both as to its source and\nextent, can be judged. This sense the blind carefully, though often\nunconsciously, cultivate, and I have heard it spoken of by them as\n\"facial perception,\" because the face seems to be most sensitive to\nthis kind of change. Many mention that the power fails them under the\ninfluence of a headache or similar nervousness. The question whether\nthe position of a door, whether opened or closed, could be told at a\ndistance was variously answered; about half testified that they could\ndo so mainly by the aid of this facial perception. This enters in a\nvague way into their dreams, but seldom plays an important r\u00f4le.\n\nThe stories attributing to the blind rather wonderful notions of\ncolor have, on careful examination, been readily explained by natural\nmeans; the use of words referring to color is often merely verbal\n(of this both Laura Bridgman and Helen Keller furnish many excellent\nexamples), while the knowledge of the colors of special objects is\nobtained by inference, based upon texture, appropriateness, and\nsimilar characteristics. The analogies between color and sound\nhave been frequently described within recent years. Mr. Galton has\nrecorded many cases in which the sounds of the vowels, of words, of\nmusical notes, and the like, immediately summon to the mental eye an\nappropriate color, often with a peculiar outline and shading. One\nperson could actually read sounds out of a wall-paper pattern, or\nwrite the sounds in the name _Francis Galton_ in colors. It seemed\npossible that the blind might obtain or receive some dim notions of\ncolor by a similar process; and Dr. Kitto and the blind teacher,\nFriedrich Scherer, mention that such is the case, though to a very\nslight extent. The latter calls musical instruments the bridge across\nwhich color comes to him. (He became blind when two years old.) The\nflute is his symbol of green, the swelling organ tones of blue. The\ntrumpet is red, the hunter's horn dark green and violet, a general\nconfusion of tones is gray, while pink and crimson are associated\nwith the feeling of velvet. In my list occurs the record of a young\nman twenty years old, and blind for three years. He saw colors on\nhearing certain sounds soon after his blindness, and claims that he\nis thus able to keep alive his notions of color. To him an alto voice\nis gray; a soprano, white; a tenor, yellow; a bass, black. My own\nvoice suggested a dark background. A few words are also colored to\nhim; the sound of _Smith_ seems yellow. These analogies, however, are\nfanciful and rare. They belong to a region of mental phenomena, of\ngreat complexity, in which associations and idiosyncracies have free\nplay, and seem as little capable of definite explanation as much of\nthe stuff that dreams are made of.\n\nA brief selection of instances from the collection of dreams and\nparts of dreams which these blind people have put at my command,\nmay serve to reinforce the several factors of the dream-life of the\nblind which have been commented upon. Many of the dreams present\nno special differentiation from those of the seeing, but the most\ncarefully recorded ones usually reveal some traces of a defective or\npeculiar apperception. A blind boy with more than usual imagination\ndreamed that he was in a battle in which Alexander the Great put\nthe Gauls to flight; he heard the thunder of the cannon, but saw no\nflash. A young man dreamed that his mother was dead; this he knew\nby the cold touch of her body. He next heard the chanting of the\nMass at her funeral. This young man at times improvises airs in his\ndreams. A partially-sighted girl dreams repeatedly of a wide river,\nand is afraid of being dashed across it, while anxious to secure the\nflowers on the opposite bank, which she dimly sees. A boy dreamed of\nbeing picked up by some mysterious agency, and then suddenly allowed\nto fall from a tremendous height. Here he awoke, and found his head\nat the foot of the bed. Another dreamed of the Judgment Day, mainly\nin terms of hearing. He was drawn to heaven by a rope, clinging to\na pole used for exercising; he heard the trumpets sounding, and the\nvoices singing, and so on. One dreamed that he was on a steamboat\nwhich suddenly sank, whereupon he quietly walked ashore. Another,\nthat his father saw some wild people in the water, and swam out and\nrescued them; another, of a large conflagration, of which he saw\nnothing, but was constantly receiving reports from the bystanders.\nA girl dreamed that she was sent by her aunt to get a loaf of bread\nfrom the cellar, and was cautioned not to step too far down in the\ncellar, because there was water there; upon arriving at the dangerous\nplace she stood still, and called for her aunt. Another dreamed of\nchivalry, as the result of reading \"Ivanhoe;\" another of visiting\nLincoln and being much impressed with the strangeness of the place;\nanother of her examination in physics--she placed a piece of glass\non her finger, and showed its centre of gravity, when the glass fell\nand broke with a crash; on another occasion she dreamed that she was\nsick, went to the doctor, and recovered her full sight, and things\nlooked strange and unfamiliar when compared with the knowledge she\nhad derived from touch.\n\n\nV\n\nThe study of the dreams of the blind thus emphasizes many points\nof interest in the nature and development of the cortical centres\nof the human brain; it graphically illustrates the explanatory\npower of the modern view of their functions; and it presents in a\nnew aspect certain characteristics of their constitution. It shows\nbeyond a question that the power of apperceiving sight-images is\nin no true sense innate, but is the product of slow development\nand long training. That the same holds true of other centres is\nproved by a mass of evidence gathered from many quarters; with\nregard to the motor centres, it is even experimentally determined\nby the observation that stimulation of the central convolutions of\nthe brains of puppies fails to excite the appropriate movements\nof the legs, unless the puppies are already nine or ten days old.\nThese facts will be utilized in the formulation of an important\ndevelopmental law applicable alike to physiological and to\npsychological processes.\n\nThe \"critical period,\" revealed by the above research, must not be\nunderstood as marking the point at which the visual centre begins its\nlife; this indeed occurs at a much earlier age, and this centre from\nthe outset and continuously increases in complexity and stability.\nNor was the statement made that there was no difference here\nrelevant, between the loss of vision at different ages before the\ncritical period. That a child who has seen up to the fourth, or the\nthird, or even the second year of life, probably retains some traces\nof visualizing not attainable by those who attended the school of\nvision for a shorter time or not at all, is believed on evidence of\na general, but not as yet of a specific nature. Among other facts it\nis indicated by the influence of the age of blinding on the future\ndevelopment of noted blind persons. Similarly, after the critical\nperiod, the same processes of growth and assimilation continue, as\nis evidenced by the vague character and comparatively early decay of\nthe dream-vision of those becoming blind close upon the end of the\nseventh year. The more time spent in gathering in the provisions,\nthe longer do they hold out. The significance of the critical period\nlies in its demonstrating a point in the growth of the higher\nsense-centres, at which a divorce from sense-impression is no longer\nfollowed by a loss of their psychical meaning; a point at which\nimagination and abstraction find a sufficiently extended and firmly\nknit collection of experiences to enable them to build up and keep\nalive their important functions; a point where the scholar dispenses\nwith the object-lesson and lives off his capital; a point at which\nthe scaffolding may be torn down and the edifice will stand.\n\nThe indication of such a period in the development of the human\nmind brings clearly into view the dependence of the higher mental\nprocesses upon the basis furnished them by the experiences of\nsensation; it strongly suggests a rational order and proportion\nin the training of the several faculties of the child's mind; and\nfinally, it prevents the formation and survival of false notions, by\nsubstituting certain definite though incomplete knowledge for much\nindefinite though very systematic speculation.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[13] A noted blind teacher of the blind says: \"Wenn wir ... den\nEinfluss der Blindheit auf die geistige Th\u00e4tigkeit des Blinden\nbeobachten, so haben wir Blindgeborene und Blindgewordene ... streng\nauseinander zu halten.\"\n\n[14] This applies mainly to intellectual acquirements. The\nemotional life of those who have lost their sight is often, and\nwith much truth, regarded as sadder and more dreary than that of\nthe congenitally blind; the former regretfully appreciate what they\nhave lost; the latter live in a different and more meagre world, but\nhave never known any other. It is interesting in this connection to\ntrace the influence of the age of \"blinding\" (_sit venia verbo_) on\nthe mental development of eminent blind men and women. Of a list\nof 125 blind persons of very various degrees of talent, which I\nhave been able to collect, the age of blinding was (approximately)\nascertainable in 114 cases. Of these about 11 are really very\ndistinguished, and 10 of them (the exception is the wonderful\nmathematician, Nicholas Saunderson) became blind either in advanced\nyouth, middle life, or still later; of the group next in eminence\n(about 25) the average age of the onset of blindness is in early\nyouth (at nine or ten years); and those earliest blind are generally\nmusicians, who least of all require sight for their calling. The\naverage age of blinding of the rest of the list--whose achievements\nwould for the most part not have been recorded had they not been\nthose of blind persons--is as low as seven years, while that of the\nmusicians (about 15 in the group) is little over three years. All\nthis speaks strongly for the permanent intellectual importance of\nsight in early education.\n\n[15] Dr. Heermann's observations also enable us to trace the\nanatomical conditions underlying the power of dream-vision. From ten\ncases in which post-mortem examinations were held, he concludes that,\nallowing for much individual difference, after about twenty years\nthe optic nerves degenerate, and often as far back as the chiasma.\nThis shows that the nerve is not necessary for dream-vision, and thus\ngoes to prove that the process is dependent on cerebral organs--a\nvaluable piece of evidence fifty years ago. Esquirol records a case\nof sight-hallucinations in a blind woman, again indicating the same\nconclusion.\n\n[16] A further interesting question regarding the dream-vision of the\npartially blind is, How much must they be able to see in order to\ndream of seeing? In answering this question, the blind give the name\n\"seeing\" to what is really a complex of sensations and judgments, and\nthis same complex may enter into their dreams. Cases occur in which\nthere is only the slightest remnant of sight, and yet this forms a\nfactor in dream-life. It is a very imperfect kind of vision, and\nacts more as a general sense of illumination, and as an anticipatory\nsense. Generally speaking, those who know color have more frequent\nand brighter dream-vision than those who distinguish light and\nshade only. For example, of those partially blind from birth, such\nas see color tolerably well (there are sixteen such) have regular\ndream-vision--of course, no clearer than their best days of sight. Of\neleven who have some faint notion of color, three have dream-vision\nregularly; six have it rarely, while two (almost never or) never have\nit. Of eleven who can see no color at all, ten have no dream-vision,\nand one has it occasionally.\n\n[17] That even a comparatively slight disturbance of vision,\naffecting only a small portion of the visual experience, can leave\na permanent trace upon the sight-centre is made very probable by a\ncase (recorded by Dr. McCosh, _Cognitive Powers_, p. 106) of a young\nman whose defect consisted in his seeing everything double,--a defect\nwhich a subsequent operation removed. \"If I attempt,\" he writes,\n\"to recall scenes that I saw while my eyes were out of order, I\ninvariably see them as they appeared during that time, although I\nmay have seen them many times since the operation. For instance, in\nthe case of the minister in the pulpit at home, I see two images of\nhim, no matter how much I may try to get rid of one of them.... My\nrecollection of the office in which the operation was performed,\nas also of everything in it, is double, although I saw it only\ntwice before the restoration of my sight, and many times after. The\nobjects which I have seen since the operation are always single when\nrecalled.\"\n\n[18] I have gathered considerable data in regard to the dreams of the\ndeaf, but they are not ready for definite formulation.\n\n[19] From Dr. Hall's manuscript. Dr. Hall had the opportunity of\nobserving her during three short naps, and has incorporated a part\nof his manuscript into a paper on Laura Bridgman, republished in\nhis _Aspects of German Culture_, pp. 268-270. From this manuscript\nI take the following illustrations of her dreams, and her method of\ndescribing them. They are recorded verbatim.\n\n\"_Question._ 'Do you dream often?' _Answer._ 'Very often, many\nthings.' _Q._ 'Did you think hard yesterday to remember dreams for\nme?' _A._ 'I did try, but I always forget very soon.' _Q._ 'Did you\never dream to hear?' [Her idiom for 'that you could hear.'] _A._\n'Only the angels playing in heaven.' _Q._ 'How did it sound?' _A._\n'Very beautiful.' _Q._ 'Like what?' _A._ 'Nothing.' _Q._ 'Was it\nloud?' _A._ 'Yes, very.' _Q._ 'What instrument?' _A._ 'Piano.' _Q._\n'How did the angels look?' _A._ 'Beautiful.' _Q._ 'Had they wings?'\n_A._ 'I could not know.' _Q._ 'Were they men or women?' _A._ 'Don't\nknow.' _Q._ 'Can you describe their dress?' _A._ 'No.' _Q._ 'Was\nthe music fast or slow?' _A._ 'I cannot tell.' On another occasion\nshe was asked, 'Did you ever dream to see?' _A._ 'I could see the\nsun.' _Q._ 'How did it look?' _A._ 'Glorious.' _Q._ 'What color?'\n_A._ 'I cannot tell' [with a sign of great impatience]. _Q._ 'Was\nit very bright?' _A._ 'Yes.' _Q._ 'Did it hurt your eyes?' _A._\n'Yes, they ached.' _Q._ 'What was it like?' _A._ 'Nothing. I saw it\nwith my eyes' [much excited, breathing hard and fast, and pointing\nto her right eye]. Some days later, after some promptings from her\nattendants, she renewed the subject of her own accord, as follows:\n'I remember once a dream. I was in a very large place. It was very\nglorious and full of people. My father and mother were standing by.\nThe glorious piano was playing. When I heard the music I raised up\nmy hand so' [standing and pointing impressively upward and forward\nwith the index finger, as the letter g is made in the deaf and dumb\nalphabet] 'to my heavenly Father. I tried to say God.' _Q._ 'With\nyour fingers?' _A._ 'Yes.' _Q._ 'Where was God?' _A._ 'So' [pointing\nas before]. _Q._ 'Far away?' _A._ 'No.' _Q._ 'Could you touch him?'\n_A._ 'No.' _Q._ 'How did you know he was there?' _A._ 'I cannot\ntell.' _Q._ 'How did you know it was God?' _A._ 'I cannot explain.'\n_Q._ 'What was he like?' _A._ [After a pause] 'I cannot tell\neverything to everybody' [half playfully, whipping her right hand\nwith her left, and touching her forehead significantly, to indicate\nthat she was unable adequately to express what was in her mind]. _Q._\n'Could he touch you?' _A._ 'No. He is a spirit.' _Q._ 'Did he see\nyou?' _A._ 'He sees everything. See how melancholy I look because I\ndo not feel interested.' On another occasion she said, 'I often dream\nthat Doctor Howe is alive and very sick,' but no details could be\nelicited. Again, after imitating the gait of different people, she\nsaid, 'I dream often of people walking. I dream many things, but do\nnot remember what I really dream. I used to dream of animals running\naround the room, and it woke me.'\"\n\nIt is evident that her dreams of hearing and seeing were either\nmerely verbal, or the substitution and elaboration of kindred\nsensations (sense of jar and heat) which she experienced. For further\nexamples of her dreams see her _Life and Education_, by Mrs. Lamson,\npp. 88, 154, 166-168, 218, 223, 224, 226, 286, 290, 303, 304.\n\n[20] _The Lost Senses_, by John Kitto. Dr. Kitto draws an ingenious\ninference from the sonnet addressed by Milton to his deceased\n(second) wife, whom he married after the onset of his blindness. From\nthe lines, \"I trust to have | Full sight of her in Heav'n without\nrestraint,\" and \"The face was veiled, yet to my fancied sight,\" etc.,\nhe argues that the poet was unable to imagine the face of his wife,\nwhich he had never really seen, and so saw the face veiled; but hoped\nin the future world to have \"full sight of her without restraint.\"\n\n[21] I have evidence to indicate that among the blind (as probably\namongst persons at large) women dream more extensively than men, that\nis, they have more \"frequent\" and fewer \"occasional\" dreamers than\nmen. The period from five to nine years is richer in dreams than the\nperiod from ten to fourteen years, and from then on a slight decrease\nwith age occurs. It is to childhood, the period of lively imagination\nand of a highly tinged emotional life (and to women, who present\nthese characteristics more prominently than men), that dream-life\nbrings its richest harvest.\n\n\n\n\nINDEX\n\n\n      Alchemy, 18, 171;\n        problems of, 19;\n        modern forms of, 20;\n        type of occultism represented by, 20.\n\n      Analogy, as applied in pseudo-science, 23, 43, 44, 267, 268;\n        as a logical process, 237, 267, 272;\n        the natural history view of, 236 sqq., 271;\n        as characteristic of primitive thought-habits, 239, 241, 247;\n        in children, 251;\n        see also, Metaphor, Myth, Numbers, Superstition, Symbolism,\n        Unusual.\n\n      Animal Magnetism; see Mesmer.\n\n      Apperception, illustrated by diagrams, 283-295.\n\n      Astrology, 18, 171, 266-269;\n        interest in, 23;\n        logic underlying, 23.\n\n      Attention, misdirection of, 121, 124;\n        expectant, 294.\n\n      Automatic writing, 333.\n\n      Automatograph, 309.\n\n\n      Beard, Dr. G. M., 229.\n\n      Belief, fixation of, 40, 104, 105;\n        occult, see Occult;\n        psychology of, 38, 60.\n\n      Bernheim, ----, 230.\n\n      Bertrand, ----, 201.\n\n      Besant, Mrs., 10.\n\n      Binet, ----, 157.\n\n      Blavatsky, Mme., 7, 8, 9, 10.\n\n      Blindness, 340;\n        total, 341;\n        partial, 343, 344;\n        in dream-life, 361-363, 367, 368;\n        age of onset and dream-vision, 341-344, 369, 370;\n        and the imagination, 363, 364;\n        and special sensibilities, 365-367.\n\n      Braid, James, 205;\n        his early observations, 206, 207;\n        his historical position, 207, 208;\n        his method, 207;\n        his theories, 209, 211;\n        his relation to phrenology, 209, 210;\n        his later writings, 211;\n        detection of unconscious suggestion, 211, 212;\n        his status, 213.\n\n      Brand, ----, 241.\n\n      Bridgman, Laura, 366;\n        dreams of, 347-350.\n\n\n      Census Office, 301.\n\n      Charcot, J. M., 69, 228, 338.\n\n      Christian Science, 26, 44;\n        origin of, 27;\n        principles of, 27-30, 31, 32;\n        text-book of, 28;\n        extravagance of, 30, 31, 32;\n        antagonism to science, 33.\n\n      Clairvoyance, 14, 223, 226;\n        see Puys\u00e9gur.\n\n      Clocquet, ----, 214.\n\n      Clodd, Edward, 241, 242, 244, 245, 248, 265, 272.\n\n      Coincidences, 81, 83, 88, 90;\n        and chance, 84, 97.\n\n      Color, association with sound, 366, 367.\n\n      Conjuring; see Deceptions, conjuring.\n\n      Contagion, mental, 132-134.\n\n\n      Darlingism, 224.\n\n      Darwin, Erasmus, 346.\n\n      Davey, ----; see Hodgson and Davey.\n\n      Deafness, in relation to dreams, 347.\n\n      Deception, as dependent upon objective conditions, 109;\n        as dependent upon habit, 111;\n        love of, 111;\n        historical aspect of, 112;\n        conjuring, 113, 114-117, 120-128;\n        as imitation of reality, 116-118;\n        as dependent upon subjective conditions, 118, 120-128;\n        and technical knowledge, 13, 128, 148;\n        analysis of, 129;\n        as influenced by contagion, 132-134;\n        liability to, 150;\n        see also Illusion.\n\n      Deleuze, J. P. F., 217.\n\n      Deslon, 183, 184.\n\n      Dickens, Charles, 350.\n\n      Digby, Sir Kenelm, 261.\n\n      Dorman, ----, 240, 246, 249.\n\n      Drawings, equivocal, 286-295.\n\n      Dreams, sensory factors in, 364, 365;\n        of the blind; see Blindness; see Omens.\n\n      Dupotet, ----, 202, 224.\n\n      Dyer, ----, 256, 258, 264.\n\n\n      Eccentric opinions, 2.\n\n      Eddy, Mary Baker Glover, 27.\n\n      Electro-biology, 219.\n\n      Englinton, ----, 146.\n\n      Esdaile, ----, 215.\n\n\n      Faria, Abb\u00e9, 200;\n        his use of suggestion, 201.\n\n      Folk-medicine, 260, 265.\n\n      Fox, Margaret and Katie, 138.\n\n      Frazer, ----, 254.\n\n      Furness, Horace Howard, 142-144, 158, 163.\n\n\n      Galton, Francis, 338, 366.\n\n      Gassner, Johann Joseph, 179, 180.\n\n      Greaterick or Greatrakes, Valentine, 176-178, 180.\n\n      Gregory, William, 222.\n\n\n      Hall, G. Stanley, 347, 348.\n\n      Hallucinations, 71.\n\n      Hansen, ----, 229.\n\n      Heermann, Dr. G., 342, 343.\n\n      Hodgson, Richard, 8, 147, 150;\n        and Davey, 129, 149, 151-157.\n\n      Hollerith, ----, 301.\n\n      Houdin, Robert, 121, 122.\n\n      Husson, ----, 202.\n\n      Hypnotism, 67, 171;\n        history of, 172 sqq., 203, 227, 231-235;\n        before the Academies, 202-205;\n        extravagances of, 214, 217-227;\n        as applied to medicine, 202, 204, 214;\n        lessons of, 231-235.\n\n      Hypothesis, its logical status, 100, 101.\n\n\n      Illusion, 109, 110;\n        optical, 282, 284;\n        of ambiguous outlines, 286 sqq.;\n        see also Deception.\n\n      Images, their use in magic, 244.\n\n      Inertia, mental, 296, 297-300.\n\n      Interest, as creating coincidences, 88-92;\n        as influencing perception, 119;\n        in Psychical Research, 56-58, 63, 65.\n\n      Involuntary Movements, 307;\n        illustrations of, 312-321;\n        influence of bodily position upon, 322-330;\n        analysis of, 322-330;\n        varieties of, 334;\n        effects of object of attention upon, 331-333;\n        see also Subconscious.\n\n      Involuntary whispering, 335, 336.\n\n\n      James, William, 39, 41, 43.\n\n\n      Kellar, Harry, 122, 140, 150.\n\n      Keller, Helen, 366;\n        her account of her dream-life, 353-358;\n        her mental traits, 351, 352, 359, 360.\n\n      Kitto, John, 363, 366.\n\n      Knerr, Dr., 141, 142, 145.\n\n\n      Lang, Andrew, 14, 21, 66, 166, 176.\n\n      Le Bon, ----, 134.\n\n      Lewis, Prof. Carvill, 146.\n\n      Liebault, A. A., 216.\n\n      Logic, as applied to the occult, 3, 13, 19, 23, 30, 31, 39;\n        logicality and rationality, 45.\n\n      Lubbock, Sir J., 242, 252.\n\n\n      Magic, 242, 257, 265;\n        sympathetic, 240, 241, 246, 254, 261-263, 273;\n        correspondences in, 266;\n        see also Images, Names, Numbers.\n\n      Mahatma, 8, 10.\n\n      Martineau, Harriet, 221, 222.\n\n      McCosh, Dr., 346.\n\n      Medicine; see Folk-medicine; see also Superstition.\n\n      Mental Community, 80-83.\n\n      Mental Telegraphy; see Telepathy.\n\n      Mesmer, Friedrich Anton, 14, 25, 36, 43, 180;\n        his theories, 181, 189;\n        his practices, 181, 190, 191;\n        his Parisian career, 182-189;\n        the commission to examine, 185-187, 192, 193;\n        his attitude, 187;\n        caricatures of, 188;\n        his status in regard to Hypnotism, 191, 192.\n\n      Metaphor, in relation to analogy, 248, 264, 270.\n\n      Mind, its influence over body, 26, 37, 38;\n        mortal, 28, 29.\n\n      Mind-reading; see Muscle-reading.\n\n      Miracles; see Supernatural.\n\n      Muscle-reading, 308, 324.\n\n      Myth, in relation to analogy, 270.\n\n\n      Names, their use in Magic, 243-245, 257.\n\n      Nancy, School of, 230.\n\n      Numbers, in Magic, 258;\n        in relation to analogy, 259.\n\n\n      Observation, defects of, 87, 153-155.\n\n      Occult, nature of, 3;\n        motives that incline to the, 4, 39, 40, 43;\n        conditions that favor the, 5, 57;\n        persistence of, 46;\n        antidote to the, 46.\n\n      Occult Healing, 25, 26, 33, 34;\n        varieties of, 34, 35;\n        by absent treatment, 36;\n        extravagances of, 35, 37.\n\n      Od, 225.\n\n      Omens, 243, 253;\n        by contraries, 250;\n        in dreams, 255-257.\n\n      Oudet, Dr. ----, 204, 215.\n\n\n      Palmistry, 18;\n        interest in, 23;\n        logic underlying, 23.\n\n      Perception, 106, 108, 110;\n        as determined by interest, 119;\n        and expectation, 120.\n\n      Personal interpretation of events, 17, 40-42, 56, 84.\n\n      P\u00e9tetin, ----, 197, 198;\n        his transposition of the senses, 199.\n\n      Phrenology, 18, 171;\n        interest in, 23;\n        logic underlying, 23.\n\n      Physiognomy, 18.\n\n      Podmore, Frank, 10, 162, 164, 167.\n\n      Prepossession, 44, 120, 126, 127, 130, 131, 151, 162-166, 296,\n            297-300;\n        a noteworthy illustration of, 301-304.\n\n      Pseudo-science, 5, 20, 21, 24;\n        temper of, 22;\n        practical aspect of, 18, 21, 25;\n        varieties of, 35.\n\n      Psychical Research, the programme of, 50;\n        the trend of, 51, 62, 75-77;\n        interests contributing to, 56-58, 63, 65, 66;\n        the problems of, 67;\n        relation to Psychology, see Psychology.\n\n      Psychology, scope of, 51;\n        relation to Psychical Research, 52-56, 58-61, 64, 65, 76;\n        difficulties in teaching, 298.\n\n      Puys\u00e9gur, Marquis A. M. J. Chastenet de, 194;\n        his discovery of somnambulism, 194, 195;\n        his views and status, 196, 197.\n\n\n      Quackery, 25.\n\n\n      Reichenbach, Baron, 225.\n\n      Rydberg, ----, 266, 267.\n\n\n      Salp\u00eatri\u00e8re, 202, 228, 231.\n\n      Scherer, ----, 366.\n\n      Science, the spirit of, 48;\n        the nature of, 49;\n        and error of, 69.\n\n      Sensation, and perception, 106, 107.\n\n      Seybert Commission, 140, 141, 158.\n\n      Sidgwick, Mrs., 141, 157.\n\n      Sight; see Vision.\n\n      Signatures, doctrine of, 264.\n\n      Sinnett, A. P., 10, 11.\n\n      Slade, Henry, 139, 140, 141.\n\n      Somnambulism, artificial, 197, 198.\n\n      Spiritualism, 12, 27, 44, 125;\n        manifestations of, 13, 128, 131;\n        origin of, 14, 15, 137, 166, 167;\n        doctrines of, 15, 161, 165;\n        present status of, 16, 18, 169;\n        fraud disclosed in, 140, 141, 142-145, 146, 157, 159.\n\n      Spiritualists, temper of, 16, 17.\n\n      Statistics, in relation to mental problems, 84-86.\n\n      Subconscious, 70, 79, 92, 108, 128, 129, 308.\n\n      Suggestion, 230;\n        unconscious, 68, 174, 186, 199, 211, 233.\n\n      Sully, James, 111, 345.\n\n      Supernatural, divergence between report and fact, 153, 155, 158;\n       conflict with science, 174.\n\n      Superstition, 252, 254, 258;\n        in relation to analogy, 253;\n        in medicine, 259.\n\n      Survivals, 240, 248, 269, 274.\n\n      Symbolism, in relation to analogy, 248, 249, 270.\n\n      Sympathy; see Magic, sympathetic.\n\n\n      Telepathy, 72, 73, 78;\n        logical status of, 74;\n        evidence for, 96-98, 103;\n        validity as an hypothesis, 99;\n        inclination toward, 104.\n\n      Theosophy, 7, 27;\n        Mr. Hodgson's investigation of, 8, 9;\n        alleged miracles of, 9, 10;\n        doctrines of, 11, 12.\n\n      Thought-habits, in children and savages, 251, 271, 272.\n\n      Triplett, Norman, 117, 123.\n\n      Tylor, ----, 167, 240, 242, 250, 253, 256, 267, 270, 273.\n\n      Tyndall, ----, 135.\n\n\n      Unconsciousness of defects, 79, 80;\n        see also Subconscious.\n\n      Unknown, attitude toward the, 49.\n\n      Unusual, in relation to analogy, 250, 260.\n\n\n      Vision, its nature, 276, 337;\n        subjective and objective, 276;\n        subjective factor in, 277, 279, 280, 283, 288-295;\n        interpretation in, 285, 286-295;\n        education of the visual centre, 341, 345-347, 369, 370;\n        its function in dreams, 339.\n\n      Visualizing power, 338.\n\n\n      Z\u00f6llner, ----, 139.\n\n\n\n\n                The Riverside Press\n  _Electrotyped and printed by H. O. Houghton & Co._\n             _Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A._\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTranscriber's Note:\n\nObvious typographical errors were repaired, but period spellings and\nhyphenation inconsistencies were retained.","title":"Fact and Fable in Psychology","tradition":"ritual-magic","translated_text":null,"word_count":101413}