Phantasms of the Living, Vol. I

number of observers; the chief reason being the gradual decline of the percipient faculty . . . . . . . . 29-31

§ 7. In a series of experiments conducted by M. Charles Richet Charles Richet (1850–1935), a French physiologist and Nobel laureate known for psychical research. in France, the participants were apparently not people of any special sensitivity; however, enough trials were conducted that the total number of successes significantly exceeded what would be expected by chance alone . . . . 31-33

The pursuit of this line of inquiry on a large scale in England has produced results that make it practically certain that a cause other than chance has been at work . . . . . 33-35

§ 8. Experiments in reproducing diagrams and rough drawings. In a long series conducted by Mr. Malcolm Guthrie Malcolm Guthrie (1835–1899), a Liverpool merchant and pioneer in thought-transference experiments., two percipients percipient and a large number of agents agent were employed . . . . 35-38

Specimens of the results . . . . . . . 39-48

§ 9. Professor Oliver J. Lodge’s Sir Oliver Lodge (1851–1940), a prominent physicist and psychical researcher. experiments with Mr. Guthrie’s "subjects," and his remarks on them . . . . . . 49-51

§ 10. Experiments in transferring elementary sensations—tastes, smells, and pains . . . . . . . 51-58

§ 11. A different department of experiment involves cases where the transference does not affect the percipient's conscious mind, but manifests in their motor system, either automatically or semi-automatically. Experiments in inhibiting speech . . . . 58-62

§ 12. The most conclusive cases of thought-transference that do not reach the percipient's consciousness are those where the idea is reproduced by the percipient in writing, without them being aware of what they have written. Details of a long series of trials carried out by the Rev. P. H. and Mrs. Newnham . . . . . . 62-69

The intelligence acting on the percipient's side in these experiments was, in a sense, an unconscious intelligence—a term that requires careful definition . . . . . . . . 69-70

§ 13. M. Richet has introduced an ingenious method for utilizing what he calls "mediumship"—that is, the tendency to exhibit intelligent movements in which consciousness and will play no part—for the purpose of telepathic experiments. By this method, it has been clearly shown that a word on which the agent concentrates their attention may be unconsciously reproduced by the percipient . . . . . . . 71-77

And it is even possible that a word that has only an unconscious place in the agent's mind may be similarly transferred . . . . 77-79