JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION A Publication of the Society for Scientifi c Exploration (ISSN 0892-3310) Editorial Offi ce: Journal of Scientifi c Exploration, Society for Scientifi c Exploration, Kathleen E. Erickson, JSE Managing Editor, 151 Petaluma Blvd. So., #227, Petaluma, CA 94952 USA [email protected], 1-415-435-1604, (fax 1-707-559-5030) Manuscript Submission: Submit manuscripts online at http://journalofscientifi cexploration.org/ index.php/jse/login Editor-in-Chief: Stephen E. Braude, University of Maryland Baltimore County Managing Editor: Kathleen E. Erickson, Petaluma, CA Associate Editors Carlos S. Alvarado, Atlantic University, Virginia Beach, VA Daryl Bem, Ph.D., Cornell University, Ithaca, NY Robert Bobrow, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY Courtney Brown, Emory University, Alanta, GA Prof. Etzel Cardeña, Lund University, Sweden Jeremy Drake, Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA Bernard Haisch, Digital Universe Foundation, USA Michael Ibison, Institute for Advanced Studies, Austin, TX John Ives, Samueli Institute, Alexandria, VA Roger D. Nelson, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ Mark Rodeghier, Center for UFO Studies, Chicago, IL Dr. Michael Sudduth, San Francisco State University, CA Book Review Editor: P. D. Moncrief ([email protected]) Assistant Managing Editor: Elissa Hoeger, Princeton, NJ Society for Scientifi c Exploration Website — http://www.scientifi cexploration.org Chair, Publications Committee: Robert G. 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Society Members receive online Journal subscriptions with their membership. Online Library subscriptions are $135. JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION A Publication of the Society for Scientifi c Exploration Volume 25, Number 3 2011 Editorial 447 Editorial STEPHEN E. BRAUDE Research Articles 453 Refl ections on the Context of Near-Death Experiences MICHAEL NAHM 479 An Important Subject at the Institut Métapsychique International: Jeanne GIULIO CARATELLI Laplace. The 1927–1934 Experiments MARIA LUISA FELICI 497 A Baby Sea-Serpent No More: M. A. WOODLEY Reinterpreting Hagelund’s Juvenile D. NAISH “Cadborosaur” Report C. A. MCCORMICK 515 Avian Formation on a South-Facing MICHAEL A. DALE, GEORGE J. HAAS Slope along the Northwest Rim JAMES S. MILLER of the Argyre Basin WILLIAM R. SAUNDERS A. J. COLE, JOSEPH M. FRIEDLANDER SUSAN OROSZ Guest Editorial 539 On Wolverines and Epistemological Totalitarianism ETZEL CARDEÑA Letter to the Editor 553 No Debate Needed on the Extraterrestrial Explanation FRANK G. POLLARD Book Reviews 555 Essay Review: Know Your Numbers—At Your Peril Prescribing by Numbers: Drugs and the Defi nition of Disease by Jeremy A. Greene HENRY H. BAUER 563 Essay Review: On Doubles and Excursions from the Physical Body, 1876–1956 On the Trans-Corporeal Action of Spirit by William Stainton Moses; Posthumous Humanity: A Study of Phantoms by Adolphe D’Assier; Le Fantôme des Vivants: Anatomie et Physiologie de l’Ame: Recherches Expérimentales sur le Dédoublement des Corps de l’Homme by Hector Durville; The Case for Astral Projection by Sylvan J. Muldoon; Les Phénomènes de Bilocation by Ernesto Bozzano; The Phenomena of Astral Projection by Sylvan J. Muldoon and Hereward Carrington; ESP Projection: Spontaneous Cases and the Experimental Method by Hornell Hart; Six Theories about Apparitions by Hornell Hart et al. CARLOS S. ALVARADO 581 ESPRIT: Men and Women of Parapsychology, Personal Refl ections, Volume I, edited by Rosemarie Pilkington SALLY RHINE FEATHER 583 Notre Sixième Sens by Charles Richet DJOHAR SI AHMED 590 The Western Esoteric Traditions: A Historical Introduction by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke STAN V. M CDANIEL 600 Electronic Voices: Contact with Another Dimension? by Anabela Cardoso IMANTS BARUŠS 605 Manufacturing Depression: The Secret History of a Modern Disease by Gary Greenberg TANA DINEEN 609 Karl Shuker’s Alien Zoo by Karl P. N. Shuker HENRY H. BAUER Articles of Interest STEPHEN C. JETT 611 The Origin of Purportedly Pre-Columbian Mexican Crystal Skulls by Margaret Sax, Jane M. Walsh, Ian C. Freestone, Andrew H. Rankin, Nigel D. Meeks 611 Crystal Cranium by Owen Edwards 611 Legend of the Crystal Skulls: The Truth Behind Indiana Jones’s Latest Quest by Jane MacClaren Walsh 612 Follow the Kelp by Heather Pringle 612 Kelp Highways by Heather Pringle 613 Radiocarbon and DNA Evidence for a Pre-Columbian Introduction of Polynesian Chickens to Chile by Alice A. Storey et al. 613 In Search of the World’s Most Ancient Mariners by Michael Balter SSE News 615 SSE Masthead 616 Index of Previous Articles in JSE 629 Order forms for JSE Issues, JSE Subscriptions, and Society Membership 632 Instructions for JSE Authors Journal of Scientifi c Exploration, Vol. 25, No. 3, pp. 447–452, 2011 0892-3310/11 EDITORIAL arapsychologists are often—and understandably—concerned about fi nding Preliable and stable repositories for the donation of manuscripts, published books and articles, investigator’s notes and diaries, and other valuable research materials. (No doubt this challenge also confronts other areas of frontier sci- ence, but I’m personally familiar only with its manifestation in parapsychol- ogy.) University and public libraries can be fi ckle, initially accepting donations of these materials but disposing of them later. And parapsychological organiza- tions often struggle to maintain a tenuous hold on their own existence—and, of course, the existence of their libraries and archives. For example, the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) in London at one time housed an extensive and rich collection in the Society’s home at 1 Adam & Eve Mews (one of the world’s great addresses). But when fi nancial pressures forced the SPR to relocate to a much smaller venue elsewhere in Kensington, the organization had no choice but to divide its collection and deposit most of the rarer items in the Cambridge University Library (where, I’m told, some of those items occasionally “dematerialize”). Similarly, the Rhine Research Center (RRC) in Durham, North Carolina, has been in a precarious fi nancial position for decades. When the organization moved to newly built headquarters several years ago, their valuable archives were at least moved to a home that was not a fi re or fl ood hazard (unlike the basement of the former RRC building across the street from Duke University). But if the RRC folds, either from fi nancial pressure or a paucity of support personnel, what becomes of its collections? Currently, the Parapsychology Foundation in New York City is in serious fi nancial trouble, and its enormous and well-organized library could easily be out of a home in the near future. It’s no wonder, then, that I—along with other chronologically challenged psi researchers—worry about what to do with our own private collections of books, notes, and other archival materials. Can any relevant and useful organization be counted on to survive, and can any person be trusted to respect and preserve the donation, or (following retirement or death) to pass the collection on to another trustworthy person? I faced this dilemma about ten years ago when I was asked to sort through and preserve the letters, papers, and books of my close friend psychiatrist Jule Eisenbud. Eisenbud is probably best-remembered for his investigation of the psychic photography of Ted Serios, an alcoholic Chicago bellhop who appeared to produce anomalous images on “instant” Polaroid fi lm (for the full story, see Eisenbud, 1967, Eisenbud, 1989, and for a summary and update see Braude, 2007). 447 448 Editorial The Serios case, in my view, is very strong and very important, and Jule’s materials