Investigators into the spirit world

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33065, 4 November 1972, Page 10

Investigators into the spirit world

Pioneers of the Unseen. By Paul T abort. Souvenir Press. 243 pp. (Reviewed by H.R.U.) Here we have thumbnail sketches of six well-known investigators into the spirit world. Spiritualism in its modern form appears to have been born in 1849 with the mediumship of the Fox sisters. Throughout the whole of the second half of the nineteenth century and on through the twentieth — especially in the 1920 s—a great deal of careful experimental investigation went into the subject and the fame of a handful of mediums became international. Since then there has been some lessening of activity in the field, with occasional upsurges of interest, but the cold eye of modem' clinical science does not seem as well suited to it as the atmosphere of chintzy drawing rooms of moneyed families where so many seances took place. The author describes the violence of arguments that take place not only between the non-believer and the believer but amongst the psychical researchers themselves. The leaders in the field need the complete courage of their own convictions, however unpopular these may be, otherwise they betray their vocation. Truth must be their paramount concern whether it means the exposure of a dishonest, fraudulent medium or the open admission that they have witnessed some occurrence which has no normal explanation, and by the existing scientific standard is beyond human reason. That such an event can be of the smallest or the most trivial kind must make no difference. If a matchbox is moved half an inch by some agency that cannot be identified as physical, if the most commonplace sound or sight has apparently a super-normal source he must not hesitate to search into this. The pioneers the author picks are Here ward Carrington, a lonely ascetic figure of high principles and complex psychological makeup, who had many interests beside physical research which became the centre of his life. He was mainly associated with two mediums, the Italian Eusapia Paladino, and the American, Marjory. Eusapia was a fat middle aged semi-literate Neapolitan with a strong tendency to cheat and make up phenomena when her abilities did not seem to be at their peak. She could, however, apparently produce happenings under strict controls that could not be explained by fraudulent or mechanical sources. As far as Marjory was concerned Carrington became somewhat uncritical of her as he, along with other investigators, had a love affair with her. Carrington is still being quoted in new publications and his methods of careful scientific control to establish the truth of psychic phenomena are being followed today. Another investigator was Sir Oliver Lodge. Famous for his scientific discoveries and the theories underlying them, it was he who found methods

of detecting electric waves and invented the ignition plug. At the same time he was a spiritualist, a firm believer in survival after death, and a deeply religious man who saw no difficulty in reconciling his personal faith with the laws of the physical world he did so much to elucidate. His investigations were given special impetus by the death of his son Raymond early in the First World War and his constant, apparently successful, attempts to communicate with him from then on. His colleagues considered him somewhat indiscriminate in his receptiveness as a psychical researcher and inclined to accept evidence which he certainly would not have admitted in the scientific work compartment of his life. Nevertheless, his communications with Raymond when they were published lessened the burden of death in the family to many of his time whose mourning was cut short by further conversation with their loved ones on the Other Side. Charles Richer was a friend of Lodge and a Professor of Physiology at the Sorbonne. He became one of the most outstanding natural scientists of his age, his interests were as wide as his knowledge and his studies were just as creative as thorough. Again it was not an easy transition to move from physiology and neurology to psychical research. It came from a deep, honest, passionate urge to discover truth, and explore nature. Richet gave an impetus to the systematic and openminded study of hypnotism, and helped individuals like Charcot in 1880 to apply this generally to psychiatry, neurology and a variety of physical ailments. To him the alleged phenomena of telepathy without the intervention of the normal senses could not be denied. Pure clairvoyance also seemed to occur in many cases and his own experiments and conclusions have not been questioned. Richet’s eventual intention was to turn psychical research and mental mediumship into a new branch of physiology, making it as much of an exact science as its forms permitted. Baron von Schrenck-Notzing spent almost 40 years in psychical research having married a wealthy wife, and in spite of medical qualifications not needing to work on more mundane occupations. He covered the period 1909-1921, and the list of his mediums became household words, such as Willy Schneider. His epigraph was Faraday’s “nothing is too marvellous to be true.” He was particularly careful to avoid trickery by mediums who had to submit to full physical examination including all body apertures and were then virtually tied down before the seance. By his colleagues von SchrenckNotzing was derided and attacked, and abused because he lent his considerable ■scientific reputation and prestige to what was considered unworthy of any serious scholar. Cesare Lombroso is now best remembered for his description of the criminological physical appearancebeing low brow receding foreheads, massive jaws and “bad repellent faces” —and this still influences thinking today in spite of having been disproved on numerous investigations. Towards the end of his career in the early 1900’s Lombroso switched from psychiatry and criminal anthropology Into investigating the phenomena of spiritualism, and was warned that he would ruin an honourable reputation. He never hesitated, however, and felt it his duty to stand his ground in the thick of the fight where the most menacing obstructions occur. He ended up by considering that "however doubtful each separate case may be, in the ensemble they formed such a compact web of proof as wholly to baffle the scapel of doubt.” Lombroso considered that the molecular constitution of the spirits resembled that of radioactive

bodies and that they could be weighed, finger printed and exert pressure on various measuring instruments. He studied the psychological disturbances in mediums such as the above mentioned Eusapia, classified them according to their symptoms but still believed them to have supernatural powers. Sound and light he says exist far beyond the limits within which our ears and eyes are able to function. Materialisations therefore can be fitted into this world which we are not able to pick up by ordinary means. Finally, Raphael Schermann was a graphologist who could interpret handwriting and see the inner life of the person concerned, his past, present and future. He was employed by police and insurance companies before the First World War and subsequently. He identified murderers by a squiggle on one letter and warned wealthy patrons of crashing aeroplanes that they had booked on. He was in the end killed by invading forces in Poland during the Second World War, apparently not having foreseen his fate. “The Pioneers of the Unseen” are an interesting group of individuals somewhat eccentric and yet not classifiable as grossly disturbed, honest in their convictions and careful in their approach. The firm belief held by them that we have a curtain all about us and occasionally look through holes or have it parted for us will no doubt continue to be investigated by both charlatans and somewhat esoteric scientists in the future.