Apparitions and Thought Transference

Abstract

MR. PODMORE, in the opening chapter of this popular exposition of telepathy, pleads for the recognition of psychical research by the general body of scientific workers. He reminds us of the opposition geological and biological discoveries have encountered, and ventures to compare the circumstances of the small group of investigators with which he is connected, and more particularly the prejudice and derision they encounter, with the experiences of Cuvier and Agassiz. Convincing as this comparison may appear to the general reader, in one respect at least it fails. Three hundred years ago, all these phenomena of crystal gazing, thought transference, and apparitions had a broader basis of belief than they have to-day; even a hundred years ago, the ordinary scientific investigator was at little or no advantage over the exponent of magic arts. But though, as Mr. Podmore reminds us, the leading propositions of natural science once encountered popular prejudice, ridicule, contempt, hatred, far more abundantly than has ever been the lot of psychical interpretations, they have won through and triumphed, while the credit accorded such evidence as the S.P.R. accumulates has, if anything, diminished. A thing Mr. Podmore scarcely lays sufficient stress upon is the fundamental difference in the quality of the facts of “psychical research,” as distinguished from those of scientific investigation—using scientific in its stricter sense. It is true he has, with an appearance of frankness, devoted a chapter to “special grounds of caution,” in which he concedes the truth of various criticisms, and owns to several undeniable impostures; but even here he passes from admissions to a skilful argument in favour of telepathy, and avoids the cardinal reason for keeping aloof from this field of inquiry, that lies in the quality of the evidence. Apparitions and Thought Transference. By Frank Podmore (London: Walter Scott, 1894.)