PSYCHICAL RESEARCH.

Evening Star, Issue 12765, 19 March 1906, Page 4

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH.

At the general meeting of the Society for PHychical Research, London, "Professor W. F. Barrett, F.R.S., deiiverd a lecture on 'Some Objects and Methods of Work in Psychical Research.' Mrs Henry Sidgwick was in the chair, and among those present was Sir William Crookes. , Professor Barrett, before proceeeding to deliver his address, expressed, the pleasure of the meeting at the announcement that Mr Gerald Balfour had been elected to act as their president. Few men. possessed bo profound l a philosophical training and so wide a knowledge of and so" deep an interest in their society as their president.—(Cheers.) Some, he said,, thought that the object of the society was fo obtain proof of the existence of a future life. That might or might not follow from their •investigations or those of their; successors, but that was not the object of their society. They had no creed to support, no doctrine to teach. Their duty was simply that of inquiry, of exploration in somewhat difficult and obscure regions. Tlie only method Was to begin ;lt tho outskirts of tho known; in other words, they must attack the simpler problems before they could hopefully attack the higher and more complex ones. The first and undoubtedly the most important subject, in wlsich they could welcome the cd-Operation of all their members, was that of further experimental evidence in relation to thought transference. It was true that they had established a very strong probability, amounting, in his opinion and that of many o.thers, to a certainty, that the action of mind upon mind did uncloubtediy exist independently of the recognised channels of sense; but it had not taken its place among tho received and accepted truths of orthodox science. It was necssary •to present such a mass of undeniablo evidence that conviction might be "assured. The difficulty was to get the objectors to weigh the evidence which existed and to give it an unprejudiced consideration. It Was of great importance to discover as' many persons as possible who were, in a greater or lesa degree, percipients of some telepathic infiuence. They would probably find that a revival of the old willing game would help in this direction. When the Voguo for the willing game was at its height more was doiie in the discovery of true thought transference than had been done since: and yet the willing game, as ordinarily conducted, was nothing more than an exhibition of tactile scnsioility. All the phenomena which came within the scope of their soekty Were due to the operation; not of their conscious, but of their subconscious, self, were the result not of the will or the reason coming into play, but were manifested when the will or the reason was in abayance. While our reft«m and our conscic|tistiess constituted that portion oi our life with which wo were most familiar, and which wag the only portion known to our friends, that portion was only a very small part of out personality, the larger portion of which was submerged below the level of consciousness. All life sought to externalk'e and manifest itself, conscious life doing this through, voluntarily muscular action, subsconScious life doing ifc through involuntary acts which, transcended our normal conscious power. The lecturer explained various Waya in.which those interested in tlie aims Of the society might make practical efforts to contribute to tho knowledge which they desired to attaitt.