Extra-Sensory Perception: Part III. Explanation and Discussion: Second Appendix to Chapter 15.

This is an appendix from J. B. Rhine's 1934 monograph *Extra-Sensory Perception*, presenting the statistical case against chance as an explanation for his experimental results. The passage explains a ratio (X = D/p.e.) used throughout the work as a measure of how far results deviate from what chance would predict, and provides a table translating specific X values into their corresponding probability figures — with the most extreme result (X = 111) yielding odds of 10⁻¹²²⁰, or roughly 10¹²²⁰ to one against chance. Rhine notes that the approximation method used carries up to 100% error, but argues this is statistically irrelevant at such astronomically small probabilities. A distinctive rhetorical move closes the section: Rhine concedes that any skeptic unmoved by an X value of 15 or 20 will not be persuaded by larger numbers either, effectively shifting the burden of proof away from mathematics and onto the reader's willingness to engage with the evidence at all. The passage is primarily a technical justification for Rhine's statistical methodology, written for a mathematically literate audience, with a candid acknowledgment of the limits of the approximations used.

Extra-Sensory Perception: Part III. Explanation and Discussion: Second Appendix to Chapter 15.

Related pages View as graph →