r \ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from Duke University Libraries https ;//archive.org/details/modernpsychicalp01carr MODERN PSYCHICAL PHENOMENA BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR Psychical Phenomena and the War The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism The Coming Science The Problems of Psychical Research Personal Experiences in Spiritualism Eusapia Palladino: and Her Phenomena Death : Its Causes and Phenomena Death Deferred The Natural Food of Man Vitality, Fasting and Nutrition True Ghost Stories Hindu Mag.ic Psychic Development Hindu Psychic Development (“Yoga”) Etc, Etc. TRANSLATIONS Spiritism and Psychology By Professor Theodore Flournoy HUGE PIYPNOTIC WHEEL, AS USED IN THE "MYSTERIES OF MYRa/' containing more than 50 REVOLVING MIRRORS, REFLECTING LIGHT MODERN PSYCHICAL PHENOMENA RECENT RESEARCHES AND SPECULATIONS BY HEREWARD ^RRINGTON, Ph.D. Author of “Psychical Phenomena and the War,” “The Problems of Psychical Research,” “The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism,” etc., etc. ILLUSTRATED 125044 NEW YORK DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 1919 Copyright, 1919 By bodd, mead and company, Ino. 1 'r/ ' I TO MRS. REGINALD DeKOVEN With Sincere Appreciation 125044 '1 PREFACE Two objections are frequently made to the study of Psy¬ chical Phenomena. The first of these is that this re¬ search leads nowhere: we run against a stone wall, in our investigations, and that beyond this point we (seem¬ ingly) cannot pass. We have advanced, in other words, into a hopeless cul-de-sac, from which there appears to be no egress. The second is the Cui Bonof objection: “ Even though these phenomena be true, of what use are they? Even granting their actuality, of what practical benefit are they to the world?” Both these objections have been met and answered in the past by pens far more competent than mine; but I may perhaps add a few words, in this place, in order to repeat once again our replies to such objections, which are by no means new! Many psychical researchers have felt the full force of these arguments. Professor William James, for exam¬ ple, in his Memories and Studies (pp. 175—76), says: — “ I confess that at times I have been tempted to believe that the Creator has eternally intended this department of nature to remain baffling,— to prompt our curiosities and hopes and suspicions all in equal measure, so that, although ghosts and clairvoyances, and raps and messages from spirits, are always seeming to exist and can never be fully explained away, they also can never be susceptible of full corroboration.” '‘But” Professor James goes on to say, “ it is hard to vii viii PREFACE believe that the Creator has really put any big array of phenomena into the world merely to defy and mock our scientific tendencies; so my deeper belief is that we psy¬ chical researchers have been too precipitate with our hopes, and that we must expect to mark progress not by quarter-centuries but by half-centuries or whole centu¬ ries.” That is very true! Yet, compared with other branches of scientific investigation, it might almost be said that Psychical Research in the past few decades has made far more progress than any other branch of learning in a similar period of time. When we take into consideration the fact that scientific psychical research is yet less than forty years “ old when we consider that,— in 1882, in which year the Society for Psychical Research (S. P. R.) was founded — hypnotism, dreams, telepathy, crystal gazing, automatic writing, the vast powers of the sub¬ conscious mind, dissociation of personality, multiple per¬ sonality, and many other phenomena today recognized and accepted by “ orthodox ” science,— were then still as little understood and as little accepted as the more strik¬ ing phenomena are today: when we remember how these phenomena have gradually gained acceptance — owing chiefly to the indefatigable labours of the S. P. R.: when we further take into consideration the fact that many other phenomena (such as apparitions, “ ghosts,” haunted houses, telekinesis, materialization, thought photography — even spirit communication itself) are today gradually but surely winning acceptance, we justly feel that enor¬ mous progress has been made in this field; and that, doubtless, much more important and significant results will be forthcoming within the next few decades, as the result of better methods of investigation, and a better PREFACE IX comprehension of the necessary modes of research. Per¬ sonally, I have always liked to compare progress in psy¬ chical research with the early progress in electricity — an important but at times a dangerous and ill-understood power.* The electricity generated by rubbing the cat’s back is a far cry from the enormous power generated by the great dynamos which light our cities and run our rail¬ ways; but it is the same power, in a different degree. Similarly with psychical phenomena. We are as yet only in the “ back-scratching stage ”; but a century or two hence it will be a very different matter and we shall then see the enormous value, importance and significance of these phenomena which we are now groping among and endeavouring to establish. What I have just said is in a sense also a reply to the second of the objections above raised, viz: Of what use are these phenomena, even if true? We now know that many of them are of the very greatest significance and value — even from a practical standpoint — enabling us to understand our own nature; while, when other phe¬ nomena become equally established, their importance will very readily be seen. Is the proof of survival “ use¬ less”? Is the proof that we possess astounding and 'hitherto unsuspected powers within ourselves likewise “useless”? Is the application of all this to our daily lives also “useless”? It would be foolish indeed to think so; and I have endeavoured, in Part I of this book, to point out a few of the many significant influences upon 1 Dangerous, possibly, yes: but just as we only learned to control and obtain the ultimate mastery of electricity by research and experiment, so we can only learn to control and obviate the possible danger from psychic experiments in the same manner. If men had applied the “ too-dangerous- to-play-with ” policy to the study of electricity we should not by now have arrived very far in our understanding of electrical phenomena! Surely, it is the same with regard to “ Psychics! ” X PREFACE our science and our lives which would naturally flow from our acceptance of these facts. We must always remem¬ ber that the last thing we know of any science is what it is all about! Conic sections were studied for nearly two thousand years before their utility was discovered; and then, at the end of this long period of abstract study, they were found to be the necessary key with which to attain the knowledge of one of the most important laws of Nature. “ The really profound changes in human life all have their ultimate origin in knowledge pursued for its own sake. The use of the compass was not in¬ troduced into Europe till the end of the twelfth century A. D., more than 3000 years after its first use in China. The importance which the science of electro-magnetism has since assumed in every department of human life is not due to the superior practical bias of Europeans, but to the fact that in the West electrical and magnetic phe¬ nomena were studied by men who were dominated by abstract theoretic interests.” {An Introduction to Math¬ ematics, by A. N. Whitehead, F. R. S., pp. 32—33.) When Michael Faraday was asked (regarding induction), “What is the use of this discovery?” he answered: “ What is the use of a child — it grows to be a man! ” Surely, nothing could be more a propos the case in point! Let us see-to it that the Child of Psychical Research is not still-born! The general character and arrangement of the present book will be sufficiently apparent to the reader from the “ Contents ” page — Part I endeavouring to outline a few of the many relationships and bearings of psychical phenomena upon our science and our thought; Part II detailing some of the newer researches and speculations PREFACE XI in this fascinating field; while Part III gives an account of some experiments conducted by Dr. W. H. Bates and myself in crystal gazing and crystal vision — in which an entirely new technic was applied — inasmuch as our aim was to study the actual physiological changes taking place within the eyes, during the production of crystal visions. This is, we believe, the first attempt so far made to arrive at a definite understanding of the actual physiology of crystal visions. Several Chapters in this book have already appeared in various psychical and other Journals — The Occult Re¬ view, Azoth, The Annals of Psychical Science, The Psy¬ chical Research Review, Munsey’s Magazine, etc.— ac¬ knowledgment to which is hereby made, as well as thanks to their editors, for their courtesy in granting permission to reproduce these articles in the present volume. H. C. CONTENTS PART I THE RELATION OF PSYCHICAL PHENOMENA TO EVOLUTION, PSYCHOLOGY, BIOLOGY AND ETHICS CHAPTER PAGE I The Destiny of Man: Physical and Spirit¬ ual .3 II Abnormal vs. Supernormal Psychology . 14 III Vitality and the Law of Conservation . 36 IV The Origin of Evil; With a Discussion as to Its Nature.59 PART II RECENT EXPERIMENTS AND THEORIES V The Coming Science: Psychical Research , 79 VI Personal Reminiscences of Eusapia Palladino 96 VII What are Ghosts?.115 VIII Psychic Photography.125 IX Projecton of the “ Astral ” Body .... 146 X Instrumental Communication with the “ Spirit World ”.155 XI Mathematical Proofs of a “ Spirit World ” .