Page:Philosophical Review Volume 1.djvu/709

No. 6.]

We are accustomed to think of our age as an age of science par excellence, but the metaphysical tendency in man cannot be rooted out by any demonstration of the impossibility of metaphysics. This metaphysical tendency reveals itself especially when man begins to think about himself. In this connection it is interesting to recall the epidemic of Spiritualism which prevailed about the middle of our century. But aside from Spiritualism, other doctrines have come to the front of late, which tend to establish the existence of the supernatural, i.e., that which is above the known forces of nature. Such are mesmerism, animal magnetism, odisme and 'mantévisme.' The London "Society for Psychical Research" was founded in 1882. R. gives a resume of the principal results arrived at by the society. (1) Experimental Telepathy and Clairvoyance. While the committees on mesmerism (as distinct from hypnotism) and on odisme have done comparatively little, the reverse is true of the commission which has occupied itself with clairvoyance and thought-transference. The commission has published, not only its own work on this subject, but also the results of work done independently by Professor Ch. Richet, of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris. From all the evidence accumulated, the commission believes that it has obtained a scientific and purely experimental verification of telepathy. This is more than R. can concede. (2) Telepathic Apparitions and Hallucinations. After sifting narratives of 'haunted houses,' etc., the commission appointed to investigate this subject concluded that in twenty-eight of the cases reported, the reality of the phenomena was incontestable, but confined itself to nineteen cases of authenticated phantoms. When real, the phantoms are believed to conform to a certain type: they do not (as is usually supposed) appear at particular hours or days. Moreover, they do not speak, or move their limbs. The commission thinks that at present any explanation of these phenomena would be premature, and only states what it believes to be the facts. Other members of the society have attempted to fill in this gap. The results are published in Phantasms of the Living. The theory of this part of the society is peculiar: apparitions belong to the class of hallucinations, with this difference, that they have a real source in the mind of some other person. There are no authenticated apparitions of the dead. Apparitions come from the dying, but death is a process which takes time. By analogy with the application of the telepathic theory to apparitions, the same critical analysis is applied to