Chapter V (1)

EXPERIMENTAL PRODUCTION OF TELEPATHIC EFFECTS AT A DISTANCE.

In the cases so far described, where success has been attained, the agent and percipient, if not actually in the same room, have been separated by a distance not exceeding at the most 25 or 30 feet. The analogy of the physical forces would, of course, have prepared us to find that the effect of telepathy diminishes in proportion to the distance through which it has to act. And in fact we have but few records of successful experiments at a distance. Yet, on the other hand, we are confronted by a large body of evidence for the spontaneous affection of one mind by another, and that at a distance frequently of hundreds of miles. It is difficult to resist the conclusion, in view of the close similarity, in many cases, of the effects produced, that the force operating in these spontaneous phenomena is identical with, or at least closely allied to, that which causes the transfer of sensations or images from agent to percipient within the compass of a London drawing-room. It is probable, indeed, that the non-experimental evidence, for reasons already alluded to, and discussed at length in the succeeding chapter, should be generously discounted. But it is not easy for an impartial inquirer to reject it altogether. Nor indeed is any such summary solution required by the results of experimental telepathy. It is true that experiments at a distance have seldom succeeded, and that we have no record of any long-continued series of such experiments at all comparable to those conducted, _e.g._, by Mr. Guthrie or Mrs. Henry Sidgwick at close quarters. But it is also probably true that such experiments have been comparatively seldom attempted. And if account be taken of the various drawbacks incident to experiments at a distance, the amount of success already achieved, though no doubt less in proportion to the number of serious and well-conceived attempts than is the case with experiments conducted under the more usual conditions, is yet far from discouraging. For trials at a distance are tedious; they consume much time, and call for long preparation and careful pre-arrangement. The difficulties of securing the necessary freedom from disturbance are probably increased when agent and percipient are separated. The interest in such experiments is difficult to maintain apart from the stimulus of a rapid succession of trials with an immediate record of the results. Lastly, such experiments would generally be undertaken only after a series of trials at close quarters; after, that is, some portion at least of the original stock of energy and enthusiasm has been exhausted. And even when such considerations have no effect upon the experimenter, it is likely, as has been already pointed out, that the novel conditions would of themselves affect unfavourably the imagination of the percipient, and thus prejudice the results. That, notwithstanding these various drawbacks, there have been several successful series of experiments at a distance is a matter of good augury for the future.

It is much to be desired that investigators should give attention to obtaining more results in this branch of the inquiry. For independently of the fact that results of the kind form an indispensable link between instances of thought-transference at close quarters and the more striking spontaneous cases at a distance, it is important to observe that in experiments of the kind described in the present chapter the gravest objection which is at present urged, and may fairly continue to be urged, against most experiments at close quarters--viz., the risk of unconscious apprehension through normal channels--is no longer applicable. Moreover, the results can only be attributed to fraud on the extreme assumption that both parties to the experiment are implicated in deliberate and systematic collusion.

_Induction of Sleep at a distance._

Some of the most striking experimental cases, which are concerned with the production of hallucinations, are reserved for later discussion. (See Chapter X.)

But perhaps the most valuable body of testimony for the agency of thought-transference at a distance is to be found in the experiments recorded by French observers in the induction of sleep. It is not a little remarkable that this, one of its rarest and most striking manifestations, should have been among the first and, until recently, almost the only form of telepathy which attracted attention amongst French investigators. Moreover, of late years at any rate, this particular form of experiment has rarely succeeded except in France, and with hypnotic subjects. But as the number of physicians who practise hypnotism increases in other countries, we may no doubt hope to see the observations already made confirmed and enlarged. The analogy of the experiments in the induction of anæsthesia by thought-transference, recorded in the last chapter, would perhaps have prepared us to accept the induction of sleep as a not improbable effect of telepathy. But we are not without more direct testimony. The opening sentences of Professor Janet's account of the experiment with Madame B. show us that, in this case at all events, the conscious will of the operator was necessary to produce the hypnotic trance, even at close quarters. When, therefore, we find that the same cause, operating at a distance, is constantly followed by a like effect, there can be no reasonable ground for refusing to recognise the operator's will as in this case also the cause of the sleep; unless, indeed, we are prepared to attribute all the results to chance.

No. 29.--Experiments by MM. GIBERT and JANET.

In the autumn of 1885 Professor Pierre Janet of Havre witnessed some trials made by Dr. Gibert of the same town on Madame B., a patient of his own. Madame B., whose fame has now reached beyond her native land, is described by Professor Janet as an honest peasant woman, in good health, with no indications of hysteria. She has been hypnotised since childhood by various persons, and is occasionally liable to spontaneous attacks of somnambulism. One of the most remarkable features presented by Madame B.'s induced trances is that she can be awakened by the person who hypnotised her and by no one else; and that his hand alone can produce partial or general contractures, and subsequently restore her limbs to their normal condition.

"One day," to quote Professor Janet ("Note sur quelques Phénomènes
de Somnambulisme," _Revue Philosophique_, Feb. 1886), "M. Gibert
was holding Madame B.'s hand to hypnotise her (_pour l'endormir_),
but he was visibly preoccupied and thinking of other matters, and
the trance did not supervene. This experiment, repeated by me
in various forms, proved to us that in order to entrance Madame
B. it was necessary to concentrate one's thought intensely on
the suggestion to sleep which was given to her, and the more the
operator's thought wandered the more difficult it became to induce
the trance. This influence of the operator's thought, however
extraordinary it may seem, predominates in this case to such an
extent that it replaces all other causes. If one presses Madame
B.'s hand without the thought of hypnotising her, the trance is not
induced; but, on the other hand, one can succeed in sending her to
sleep by thinking of it without pressing her hand."

Of course in experiments of this kind no precautions could exclude the chance that some suggestion of what was expected might reach the percipient's mind through the gestures, the attitude, or even the silence of the experimenter. But, acting on the clue thus given, MM. Gibert and Janet succeeded in impressing mentally on Madame B. commands which were punctually executed on the following day. During the same period Dr. Gibert made three attempts, all of which met with partial success, in inducing the hypnotic trance by mental suggestion given at a distance. Subsequently, during February and March 1886, and again during April and May of the same year, these trials were repeated with striking results. During one of the trials which took place in April Mr. F. W. H. Myers and Dr. A. T. Myers were present, and from their contemporary record the following account is taken. Throughout these trials, it should be stated, Madame B. was in the Pavillon, a house occupied by Dr. Gibert's sister, and distant about two-thirds of a mile from Dr. Gibert's own house. The distance intervening between agent and percipient in this series of experiments was in no case less than a quarter of a mile or more than one mile. In the first trial described by Mr. Myers (18 in the subjoined table) Madame B. actually went to sleep about twenty minutes after the effort at willing had been made; but as some of the party had in the interval entered the house where she was and found her awake, it seems possible that their coming had suggested the idea of sleep. In the second case (No. 19) an attempt to will Madame B. to leave her bed at 11.35 P.M. and come to Dr. Gibert's house had failed--the only result, possibly due to other causes, being an unusually prolonged sleep and a headache on waking. Subsequently, to quote Mr. Myers' account,

"(20) On the morning of the 22nd we again selected by lot an hour
(11 A.M.) at which M. Gibert should will, from his dispensary
(which is close to his house), that Madame B. should go to sleep
in the Pavillon. It was agreed that a rather longer time should be
allowed for the process to take effect; as it had been observed
(see M. Janet's previous communication) that she sometimes
struggled against the influence, and averted the effect for a time
by putting her hands in cold water, etc. At 11.25 we entered the
Pavillon quietly, and almost at once she descended from her room
to the _salon_, profoundly asleep. Here, however, suggestion might
again have been at work. We did not, of course, mention M. Gibert's
attempt of the previous night. But she told us in her sleep that
she had been very ill in the night, and repeatedly exclaimed:
'Pourquoi M. Gibert m'a-t-il fait souffrir? Mais j'ai lavé les
mains continuellement.' This is what she does when she wishes to
avoid being influenced.

"(21) In the evening (22nd) we all dined at M. Gibert's, and in
the evening M. Gibert made another attempt to put her to sleep
at a distance from his house in the Rue Séry,--she being at
the Pavillon, Rue de la Ferme,--and to bring her to his house
by an effort of will. At 8.55 he retired to his study; and MM.
Ochorowicz, Marillier, Janet, and A. T. Myers went to the Pavillon,
and waited outside in the street, out of sight of the house. At
9.22 Dr. Myers observed Madame B. coming half-way out of the
garden-gate, and again retreating. Those who saw her more closely
observed that she was plainly in the somnambulic state, and was
wandering about and muttering. At 9.25 she came out (with eyes
persistently closed, so far as could be seen), walked quickly
past MM. Janet and Marillier without noticing them, and made for
M. Gibert's house, though not by the usual or shortest route. (It
appeared afterwards that the _bonne_ had seen her go into the
_salon_ at 8.45, and issue thence asleep at 9.15: had not looked
in between those times.) She avoided lamp-posts, vehicles, etc.,
but crossed and recrossed the street repeatedly. No one went in
front of her or spoke to her. After eight or ten minutes she grew
much more uncertain in gait, and paused as though she would fall.
Dr. Myers noted the moment in the Rue Faure; it was 9.35. At about
9.40 she grew bolder, and at 9.45 reached the street in front of
M. Gibert's house. There she met him, but did not notice him, and
walked into his house, where she rushed hurriedly from room to room
on the ground-floor. M. Gibert had to take her hand before she
recognised him. She then grew calm.

"M. Gibert said that from 8.55 to 9.20 he thought intently about
her; from 9.20 to 9.35 he thought more feebly; at 9.35 he gave
the experiment up, and began to play billiards; but in a few
minutes began to will her again. It appeared that his visit to
the billiard-room had coincided with her hesitation and stumbling
in the street. But this coincidence may of course have been
accidental....

"(22) On the 23rd, M. Janet, who had woke her up and left her
awake,[57] lunched in our company, and retired to his own house at
4.30 (a time chosen by lot) to try to put her to sleep from thence.
At 5.5 we all entered the _salon_ of the Pavillon, and found her
asleep with shut eyes, but sewing vigorously (being in that stage
in which movements once suggested are automatically continued).
Passing into the talkative state, she said to M. Janet, 'C'est vous
qui m'avez fait dormir à quatre heures et demi.' The impression as
to the hour may have been a suggestion received from M. Janet's
mind. We tried to make her believe that it was M. Gibert who had
sent her to sleep, but she maintained that she had felt that it was
M. Janet.

"(23) On April 24th the whole party chanced to meet at M. Janet's
house at 3 P.M., and he then, at my suggestion, entered his study
to will that Madame B. should sleep. We waited in his garden, and
at 3.20 proceeded together to the Pavillon, which I entered first
at 3.30, and found Madame B. profoundly sleeping over her sewing,
having ceased to sew. Becoming talkative, she said to M. Janet,
'C'est vous qui m'avez commandé.' She said that she fell asleep at
3.5 P.M." (_Proc. S.P.R._, vol. iv. pp. 133-136.)

The subjoined table, taken, with a few verbal alterations, from Mr. Myers' article, gives a complete list of the experiments in the induction of trance at a distance (_sommeil à distance_) made by MM. Janet and Gibert up to the end of May 1886:--

No. of | Date. |Operator.| Hour when | Remarks. |Success or failure.
Experi-| | | given. | +---------------+
ments. | | | | |
-------+---------+---------+-----------+----------------------------+
| 1885. | | | |
1 |October 3| Gibert | 11.30 A.M.|She washes hands and |
| | | | wards off trance. | ?
2 | " 9| do. | 11.40 A.M.|Found entranced 11.45. | 1
3 | " 14| do. | 4.15 P.M.|Found entranced 4.30: |
| | | | had been asleep about |
| | | | 15 minutes. | 1
|---------| | | |
| 1886. | | | |
4 |Feb. 22| Janet | .. |She washes hands and |
| | | | wards off trance. | ?
5 | " 25| do. | 5 P.M. |Asleep at once. | 1
6 | " 26| do. | .. |Mere discomfort observed. | 0
7 |March 1| do. | .. | do. do. | 0
8 | " 2| do. | 3 P.M. |Found asleep at 4: has |
| | | | slept about an hour. | 1
9 | " 4| do. | .. |Will interrupted: trance |
| | | | coincident but incomplete.| 1
10 | " 5| do. |5-5.10 P.M.|Found asleep a few minutes |
| | | | afterwards. | 1
11 | " 6| Gibert | 8 P.M. |Found asleep 8.3. | 1
12 | " 10| do. | .. |Success--no details. | 1
13 | " 14| Janet | 3 P.M. |Success--no details. | 1
14 | " 16| Gibert | 9 P.M. |Brings her to his house: |
| | | | she leaves her house a |
| | | | few minutes after 9. | 1
|---------| | | |
15 |April 18| Janet | .. |Found asleep in 10 |
| | | | minutes. | 1
16 | " 19| Gibert | 4 P.M. |Found asleep 4.15. | 1
17 | " 20| do. | 8 P.M. |Made to come to his |
| | | | house. | 1
18 | " 21| do. | 5.50 P.M. |Asleep about 6.10: trance |
| | | | too tardy. | ?
19 | " 21| do. |11.35 P.M. |Attempt at trance during |
| | | | sleep. | 0
20 | " 22| do. | 11 A.M. |Asleep 11.25: trance too |
| | | | tardy. | ?
21 | " 22| do. | 9 P.M. |Comes to his house: |
| | | | leaves her house 9.15. | 1
22 | " 23| Janet | 4.30 P.M. |Found asleep 5.5, says |
| | | | she has slept since |
| | | | 4.30. | 1
23 | " 24| do. | 3 P.M. |Found asleep 3.30, says |
| | | | she has slept since 3.5. | 1
24 |May 5| do. | .. |Success--no details. | 1
25 | " 6| do. | .. |Success--no details. | 1
| | | | +---
| | | | | 18
-------+---------+---------+-----------+--------------------------------

We have then in 25 trials 18 complete and 4 partial or doubtful successes. In two of the latter Madame B. was found washing her hands to ward off the trance, and in two others the trance supervened only after an interval of twenty minutes or more, and under circumstances which rendered it doubtful whether telepathy were the cause. It is important to note that during these earlier visits of Madame B. to Havre, about two months in all, she only once fell into ordinary sleep during the daytime, and twice became spontaneously entranced; and that she never left the house in the evenings except on the three occasions (14, 17, 21), on which she did so in apparent response to a mental suggestion. There is little ground, therefore, for attributing the results above given to chance.

A further series of trials with the same percipient was conducted by Professor Janet during the autumn of 1886. The results, communicated by him to Professor Richet, were published by the latter in the _Proceedings of the S.P.R._, vol. v. pp. 43-45.[58] In order to facilitate comparison I have thrown these later results also into tabular form. In the later trials it will be observed that there is a tolerably constant retardation of the effect. The exact degree of the retardation it was not always possible to ascertain, as it was not practicable to keep Madame B. continually under observation, and to have let those at the Pavillon into the secret, and to have asked them to exercise special vigilance at the time of the experiments would have entailed the risk of vitiating the results. Moreover, in order to avoid giving any suggestion by the hour of his arrival, M. Janet made it a rule during a great part of this period to come to the house at the same hour--4 P.M. in most cases--for several days consecutively. When an early hour, therefore, had been chosen for the experiments, the exact degree of success could only be determined if Madame B.'s movements had chanced at the right time to come under the observation of those in the house. During the period of the trials Madame B. fell asleep in the daytime spontaneously only four times.

No. of
Experi- Date. Hour when Remarks. Success
ments. given. or
Failure.
1886.
1 8th Sept. 3 P.M. Found asleep at 4 P.M. M. J.
entered unseen and without
knocking ?
2 9th Sept. 3 P.M. Madame B. complained of
headache F.
3 11th Sept. 9 (? A.M.) Found at 10, "troublée et
étourdie" F.
4 14th Sept. 4 P.M. M. J. enters at 4.15. Madame
B. says she was asleep, but
wakened by ringing of
door-bell ?
5[1] 18th Sept. 3.30 P.M. Found asleep at 4 P.M.; states
she was put to sleep at 3.30 S.
6[59] 19th Sept. 3 P.M. Went to sleep at about 3.15 S.
7 23rd Sept. 2 P.M. She was out walking F.
8 24th Sept. 3.15 P.M. Found asleep at 4. Had
been seen awake at 3.15 ?
9 26th Sept. 3 P.M. Walking in garden F.
10 27th Sept. 8.30 P.M. Commanded by M. Gibert to
come to his house. Left
the Pavillon, entranced, at
9.5 P.M. [in the account in
the _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_
the latter hour is given at
_9.15_] S.
11 29th Sept. 3.50 P.M. Found asleep at 4.5 [given in
_Revue_ as _5.5_] S.
12 30th Sept. 3.30 P.M. F.
13 1st Oct. 2.40 P.M. She was out walking F.
14 5th Oct. 4 P.M. Fell asleep suddenly at 4.5
whilst talking with nurse in
garden S.
15 6th Oct. 3 P.M. F.
16 9th Oct. 3.15 P.M. F.
17 10th Oct. 3.20 P.M. Found asleep at 4.5 ?
18 12th Oct. 3 P.M. F.
19 13th Oct. 5 P.M. Found asleep. Executed a
mental command given at
a distance--viz., to rise at
M. J.'s entrance S.
20 14th Oct. 2.30 P.M. Found asleep at 3.20 ?
21 16th Oct. 3 P.M. Found asleep at 3.30 S.

22 24th Nov. 2.30 P.M. F.
23 3rd Dec. 4.10 P.M. F.
24 5th Dec. 4.10 P.M. F.
25 6th Dec. 4.10 P.M. Found awake, washing her
hands ?
26 7th Dec. 2.30 P.M. Found asleep at 3.5 ?
27 10th Dec. 4.20 P.M. She was out walking F.
28 11th Dec. 3.15 P.M. ?
29 13th Dec. 4.5 P.M. Found asleep at 4.25. Had
been seen awake a few
minutes after 4 P.M. S.
30 14th Dec. 11.30 A.M. F.
31 18th Dec. F.
32 21st Dec. F.
33 22nd Dec. F.
34 23rd Dec. 3 P.M. Found asleep at 3.40 ?
35 25th Dec. 3.15 P.M. She was out walking. Bad
headache came on at 3.20.
Returned hurriedly, and at
once fell asleep in the
_salon_. S.

Throughout the series, except in case 10, M. Janet was the operator. It will be seen that in the 35 trials there were nine cases in which Madame B. was found asleep within half-an-hour of the attempt being made to entrance her. In six other cases she was found asleep after a longer interval, but there is nothing to indicate that the sleep did not actually supervene at the right time. In one case she was found awake within fifteen minutes of the trial, but stated that she had been awakened by the ringing of the bell which announced M. Janet's arrival. In one other case she was found washing her hands to ward off the trance. Of the 17 failures Madame B. was out walking in four cases at the time of the trial, a circumstance which no doubt diminished the chances of success. In two cases headache or disturbance were produced; of the remaining 11 trials no details are given, and it is presumed that no unusual effect was observed, and that there was no apparent cause for the failure. Of course, experiments carried on under these conditions, the trials being confined for the most part within a narrow range of hours, and the subject liable to spontaneous trance, offer some scope for chance coincidence. But as Madame B. actually fell asleep spontaneously on only four occasions during the period over which the trials extended, it will probably be considered that the number of coincidences, imperfect as they were, was considerably more than could plausibly be attributed to accident or self-suggestion.[60]

In January 1887 M. Richet made some experiments of the same kind on Madame B. Of 9 trials, however, two only could be described as completely successful, and three more as doubtful. A few further trials, in December 1887 and January 1888, were even less successful. M. Richet has attempted on several occasions to influence other subjects at a distance, but no series of successful results was attained; and isolated coincidences of the kind have, of course, little evidential value (_loc. cit._, pp. 47-51).[61]

No. 30.--Experiments by DR. DUFAY.

In a paper published in the _Revue Philosophique_ of September 1888, M. Dufay, a physician formerly in practice at Blois, and now a Senator of France, records several instances in which he has himself succeeded in producing sleep at a distance. In one case he hypnotised from his box in the theatre, as he believes without her knowledge, a young actress who had been a patient of his, and caused her, whilst in the state of lucid somnambulism, to play a new and difficult part with more success than she would have been likely to achieve in the normal state. In this particular case, however, it seems possible that the subject may have received some intimation of Dr. Dufay's presence in the house, and that the hypnotic state may have been due to expectation. Another case was that of Madame C., who had been for some time treated hypnotically by Dr. Dufay for periodical attacks of sickness and headache. So sensitive did this patient become to his suggestions that she would fall into the hypnotic sleep as soon as the bell rang to announce his coming, and before he had actually entered the house. The circumstances under which Dr. Dufay first made a deliberate attempt to influence Madame C. at a distance were as follows:--He was in attendance on a patient whom he was unable to leave, when he was unexpectedly summoned by Monsieur C. to hypnotise Madame C., who was in the height of an attack. He assured Monsieur C. that on his return home he would find Madame C. asleep and cured, as proved actually to be the case. However, here also, as Dr. Dufay points out, self-suggestion is a possible explanation. The following case seems less open to suspicion on this ground:--

"On another occasion," Dr. Dufay writes, "Madame C. was in perfect
health, but her name happening to be mentioned in my hearing, the
idea struck me that I would mentally order her to sleep, without
her wishing it this time, and also without her suspecting it. Then,
an hour later, I went to her house and asked the servant who opened
the door whether an instrument, which I had mislaid out of my case,
had been found in Madame C.'s room.

"'Is not that the doctor's voice that I hear?' asked Monsieur C.
from the top of the staircase; 'beg him to come up. Just imagine,'
he said to me, 'I was going to send for you. Nearly an hour ago my
wife lost consciousness, and her mother and I have not been able to
bring her to her senses. Her mother, who wished to take her into
the country, is distracted....'

"I did not dare to confess myself guilty of this catastrophe, but
was betrayed by Madame C., who gave me her hand, saying, 'You did
well to put me to sleep, Doctor, because I was going to allow
myself to be taken away, and then I should not have been able to
finish my embroidery.'

"'You have another piece of embroidery in hand?'

"'Yes; a mantle-border ... for your birthday. You must not look as
though you knew about it, when I am awake, because I want to give
you a surprise.'

* * * * *

"I repeated the experiment many times with Madame C., and always
with success, which was a great help to me when unable to go to
her at once when sent for. I even completed the experiment by also
_waking_ her from a distance, solely by an act of volition, which
formerly I should not have believed possible. The agreement in time
was so perfect that no doubt could be entertained.

"To conclude, I was about to take a holiday of six weeks, and
should thus be absent when one of the attacks was due. So it
was settled between Monsieur C. and myself that, as soon as the
headache began, he should let me know by telegraph; that I should
then do from afar off what succeeded so well near at hand; that
after five or six hours I should endeavour to awaken the patient;
and that Monsieur C. should let me know by means of a second
telegram whether the result had been satisfactory. He had no doubt
about it; I was less certain. Madame C. did not know that I was
going away.

"The sound of moanings one morning announced to Monsieur C. that
the moment had come; without entering his wife's room he ran to
the telegraph office, and I received his message at ten o'clock.
He returned home again at that same hour, and found his wife
asleep and not suffering any more. At four o'clock I willed that
she should wake, and at eight o'clock in the evening I received
a second telegram: 'Satisfactory result, woke at four o'clock.
Thanks.'

"And I was then in the neighbourhood of Sully-sur-Loire, 28
leagues--112 kilometres--from Blois."

Similar experiments have been recorded by, amongst others, Dr. J. Héricourt,[1] a colleague of M. Richet in the editing of the _Revue Scientifique_, Dr. Dusart,[62] and Dr. Dariex.[63] In the last case there were only five trials, the experiments being then discontinued at the request of the patient. The first three trials were completely successful, the sleep supervening within, at most, a few minutes of the time chosen by the agent.

The following narrative resembles those cited above in its general features. But in view of the nature of the effect produced--a painful hysterical attack--it is perhaps hardly a matter for regret that the case is without any exact parallel.

No. 31.--By DR. TOLOSA-LATOUR.

In this account, taken from a letter written to M. Richet by Dr. Tolosa-Latour on the 5th March 1891 (_Annales des Sciences Psychiques_, Sept.-Oct. 1893), Dr. Latour explains that he had repeatedly hypnotised a lady who was seized in September 1886 with hysterical paralysis, and had ultimately succeeded in effecting by this means a complete cure. Prior to his treatment, in 1885, she had suffered for some time from daily hysterical attacks, and when she came under Dr. Latour she was still occasionally subject to them, and found relief in the hypnotic sleep. Both symptoms had at the time which he writes almost completely disappeared.

"I had made some very curious experiments, but I had never
thought about either action at a distance or clairvoyance. It
was while leaving Paris and reading your [M. Richet's] pamphlet
in the carriage that the idea occurred to me of sending Mdlle.
R. to sleep. It was Sunday, October the 26th, the very day of my
departure. I remember the hour too; it was just before reaching
Poitiers, where some relations of my grandmother were expecting me.
I told my wife that I was going to try the experiment, and begged
her to say nothing about it to any one. I began to fix my thoughts
about six o'clock, and during the journey from Poitiers to Mignie
(where we stayed several days) I again and again thought of this
question, especially during the intervals of silence which always
occur during a journey.

"I wished to cause a violent hysteric attack, as I knew that she
had not been dangerously ill for a long time. So on Sunday, October
the 26th, from six till nine o'clock in the evening, I fixed my
thoughts intently on the experiment.

"Then, on my return, I asked my brother if Mdlle. R. had called him
in, as she always did when she was ill. Among the patients' names
I did not find hers. It seemed almost certain that my experiment
had failed. A week afterwards I called on her, and was agreeably
surprised to learn that, on the contrary, it was a success, as you
will judge by her letter. She does not fix the day, but her sister
and the nurse have told me that it was the second Sunday after the
festival of St. Theresa--that is to say, after Wednesday the 15th;
the first Sunday being the 19th, the second is of course the 26th.

"This is the letter:--

"_From_ MDLLE. R. to M. TOLOSA-LATOUR.
"_March_ 23_rd_, 1891.

"MY EXCELLENT FRIEND AND DEAR DOCTOR,--I wanted to write to you
yesterday to give you the particulars of the attack I had about the
middle of last October, but I was not able to do so till to-day.

"As I told you, it was about the middle of October; I do not
remember the date, but I recollect very well that it was a festival
day, and at half-past six in the evening.

"We had just been to see my sister and brother; we had had luncheon
with them. I was perfectly well, without any excitement; it was
five o'clock, and I reached home all right, but when I was sitting
down, in the act of eating, I found myself unable to speak or open
my eyes, and, at the same moment, I had a very severe, long, and
violent attack, such as I do not remember to have had for a long
time.

"I was so ill that I thought of sending for Raphael,[64] and my
sister proposed it, but I thought that I ought not to disturb him,
for, knowing that you were away, nobody could stop the convulsions
and the excitement.

"I suffered horribly, for it was an attack in which I experienced,
so to say, all my previous sufferings combined. I was completely
broken down, but I have had no other attacks since, not even a
spasm."

No. 32.--By J. H. P.[65]

The next case records the execution by the subject of a simple command to approach the operator, as in some of M. Gibert's experiments already described, and the partial execution of an order of a more complicated kind, given from a distance of more than twenty-five miles:--

It is possible to give M. a command in the waking state, but she
must be quiet at the moment when she receives it.

We had never made experiments of this kind until R. one day
proposed that we should try to make M. come to the room where we
were. M. was in a neighbouring house, and could not know that we
were actually in a kiosk at the end of the garden.

For three minutes I gave her the mental command to come. I began
to think that I had failed, and continued energetically for three
minutes more; she did not come, however.

We were just thinking that the experiment had failed when the door
opened suddenly and M. appeared.

"Well, do you think I have nothing else to do! Why do you call me?
I have had to leave everything."

"We wanted to say 'good morning' to you."

"Very well! I am going away now."

She shook hands with us and went away quickly; whereupon it
occurred to me to make her stop just at the gate.

(Mental command)--"I forbid you to go out. You cannot open the
gate; come back." And back she came, furious, asking if we were
laughing at her.

Now, to send this last command I had not moved at all from my
place, and M. was completely invisible behind the garden wall;
moreover, I was a long way from the window. I told her that this
time she could open it, and let her go.

I will finish with another experiment of the same kind, which only
partly succeeded, but which will serve to show the intensity of the
mental transmission between M. and me. I went away, one morning,
without thinking of M. I had to be away all day, 38 kilomètres from
her. At 2.30 it occurred to me to send her a mental command, and I
repeated it for ten minutes.

"Go at once to the dining-room; you will take a book there that is
on the mantelpiece; you will take it up to my study, and you will
sit in my armchair before my writing-table." I reached home at
night. The next day, as soon as I saw M., and even before saying
good morning to me, she cried: "I did a clever thing yesterday.
I must be losing my wits, I suppose! Just imagine! I came down
without knowing why, opened the dining-room door, then went up to
your study, and sat in your armchair. I moved your papers about,
then I went back to my work."

The command had then been understood; but she did not go into the
dining-room, and she did not take the book from there.

J. H. P.

(_Annales des Sci. Psych._, May-June 1893.)

_Transference of Simple Sensations._

We may now pass to experiments in the transference of simple impressions of the same kind as those dealt with in Chapters II. and III. The following is a record of a series of trials in the transference of auditory impressions:

No. 33.--From MISS X.

Miss X. is a lady resident in London, who is known personally to the present writer and other members of the S.P.R. She has experienced all her life frequent interchange of telepathic impressions with some of her friends. At the request of Mr. F. W. H. Myers, Miss X. and a friend D., also living in London, throughout the year 1888, with the exception of three months during which they were living in the same house, kept diaries in which any incident or feeling which might seem to be telepathically connected with the other was recorded. The ladies during a great part of the time saw each other constantly, and compared notes of their experience. In D.'s diary for the year there are thirty-five entries of the kind, of which twenty are believed to have been recorded before it was known whether or not there was any actual event to correspond with the impression. Of the twenty entries fourteen refer to hearing music played by Miss X., and two to reading books at, as D. believed, her telepathic instigation.

The entries in D.'s diary are given in italics. The degree of correspondence with the entries in Miss X.'s diary is indicated in the words included between brackets.[66]

(1) _Jan._ 6_th. Tried several books ... finally took to "Villette."_

(From Miss X.'s diary it appears that she willed D. to read _The
Professor_, also by Charlotte Brontë.)

(2) _Jan._ 23_rd. Sonnets, E.B.B._ 10.30 P.M.

(In Miss X.'s diary, written at about 10 P.M., appears the entry,
"Sonnets viii.-ix., E.B.B.")

(3) _March_ 6_th. Hellers_, 7.30. (_i.e._, D. had an impression of
hearing Miss X. playing. Miss X. states that she was actually
playing Hellers at the time, but there is no note in her diary of
the fact.)

(4) _March_ 7_th. Beethoven waltzes_, 10. (Correct--recorded in X.'s
diary after seeing D.'s entry.)

(5) _March_ 8_th. No practice._ (_i.e._, X., contrary to her custom,
was not playing at this hour: correct.)

(6) _March_ 9_th. Music_ 7.30-8. (Correct.)

(7) _March_ 10_th._ ?_Music_ 9.30-10 A.M. (Correct. Miss X. had told
D. that she would be out at that hour, and had subsequently changed
her plans, so that the music was unexpected to D., hence the note
of interrogation.)

(8) _March_ 13_th._ 7.40. _Music._ (Correct.)

(9) _March_ 14_th._ 9.30 A.M. [Music.] _Evening of same day. Nothing
but organs and bands, popular airs and Mikado_. ?_Flash of Henselt_
9 (P.M.)

(10) _March_ 15_th._ 9-10. ?_Faint Henselt._ (Miss X. writes:--"I
remember that when D. showed me these entries I was specially
interested. I was practising at the time some music of Henselt's
she had never heard, and was playing this on all five occasions.
D. notes it on the first three vaguely as 'Music,' something which
she did not recognise. On the 14th I played it over to her, and
afterwards she recognised it imperfectly. I was practising it for
her, knowing she would like it, so that she was much in my mind at
the time.")

The following entries were made whilst D. and X. were in different and distant counties:--

(11) _August_ 15_th. Hellers_, 9.10-25. (Correct.)

(12) _August_ 17_th. Slumber Song_, 7.35-50. (Correct. D. wrote of
her two experiences, and X. read the letter aloud to her hostess,
who remembered that X. had actually played the music named above at
the time referred to.)

(13) _September_ 14_th. Hallé_, 9 A.M. (Incorrect. X. was not
playing.)

(14) _November_ 18_th. Chopin Dead March_, _War March Athalie_,
7.15-8 P.M.

(15) _November_ 25_th. Lieder_, 7.30.

(16) _November_ 26_th. Lied, never gets finished._ 5.15-20.

(Miss X. writes:--"On each of the above three occasions D. asked
me next day what I had played and found she was right. My playing
of the Lied on November 26th was interrupted by the arrival
of visitors, and the unfinished air naturally haunted me. D.
writes:--On the day in question H. and I were together. I said
to her that I could hear you [Miss X.] playing--a Lied we both
associated with you--but that you never got beyond a certain part,
which seemed to be repeated. H. replied, 'It is strange you should
say that. I can't _hear_ her, but I have been seeing her at the
piano for some minutes.' H. corroborates this.")

It will thus be seen that in these 16 cases there were only two instances (1 and 13) in which D.'s impression failed to correspond with the facts. The remaining four entries (out of 20 recorded beforehand) relate to impressions which also appear to have corresponded with the event, but the degree of correspondence is more difficult to estimate.

In Miss X.'s own diary there are 55 entries during this period, of which 27 were made before the event was known. Of these 3 are failures, and in two other cases it is doubtful whether the impression was actually telepathic, or whether the coincidence should not be attributed to accident. In the other 22 cases of correspondence, presumably telepathic, Miss X. was sometimes the agent, sometimes the percipient. The impressions relate to events of various kinds, such as meeting particular persons, receiving letters, and playing music. Of the veridical impressions four were visual and one was a dream.[67]

No. 34.--From M. J. CH. ROUX.

The following record is taken from a paper by M. Jean Charles Roux, medical student, published in the _Annales des Sciences Psychiques_ (vol. iii. pp. 202, 203). These experiments in thought-transference at a distance were preceded by a series of fairly successful trials with playing-cards at close quarters, and by some other experiments designed to test clairvoyance.

_Third Series_: Experiments at a distance.

Lemaire is in his room, I in mine, with two rooms intervening. At an hour previously fixed on, I suggest a card to him.

Date. Card thought of. Card guessed.

(1) Mar. 15, 1892 4 hearts red, hearts; low number, five
(2) " 18, " 10 hearts 3 diamonds
(3) " 27, " 6 spades 6 clubs
(4) " " " Kg. diamonds Knave diamonds
(5) " " " ace diamonds 5 clubs
(Agent had failed to concentrate his attention.)
(6) " " " Queen spades King spades
(7) " " " 4 clubs 6 clubs
(8) Apr. 6, " 3 clubs 5 clubs
(9) " " 2 spades 2 spades

_Fourth Series._

The account of the following six trials at a distance in space and time, which are imperfectly recorded in the _Annales_, is taken from a letter received from M. Roux, dated the 19th December 1893:--

(10) Paris, 2nd April.--Lemaire having gone out I drew a card from
the pack, the 9 _Hearts_, and tried to transfer it to him. Then I
wrote a note to the following effect: "Guess the card that I am
thinking of as I write these words," and left it on the table. A
few minutes after Lemaire entered and guessed the 7 _Hearts_.

(11) 3rd April.--Lemaire was out. I drew a card from the pack, the
_ace Hearts_, and tried to transfer it to him. As on the previous
day, I left a note on the table and went out immediately. When I
came back at midnight I found a line from Lemaire saying he had
guessed the _ace Hearts_.

The four other experiments took place in a country town, at
Chateauroux. We lived about 500 or 600 yards apart.

(12) 13th April.--In the morning I saw Lemaire and said to him,
"At 2 o'clock you must guess a card that I shall suggest to you."
I went home, and at a quarter to twelve I drew from the pack the
5 _Hearts_. I saw Lemaire again in the evening. He had guessed
the 6 _Hearts_. He was walking in the street with a friend. At
about two minutes to 2 P.M. he looked at his watch, remembered the
experiment, and immediately the idea of _Hearts_ came to him. A few
minutes later, when alone, he tried to guess the exact card, and
decided on the 6 _Hearts_.

(13) 13th April.--I said to Lemaire that on the 14th April, at 9
A.M., he was to guess a card. After going home on the 13th April,
at 10 P.M. I drew a card from the pack--4 _Clubs_. Next day, at 9
A.M., Lemaire guessed 2 _Clubs_.

(14) July 17th.--Lemaire was to guess a card at 9 o'clock. At 10
minutes to 9, from my house, I tried to transfer the 4 _Spades_.
(I have forgotten to make a note of whether I merely thought of
this card or whether I drew it from a pack.) At 9 o'clock Lemaire
guessed 5 _Spades_.

(15) 30th July.--This experiment is more complicated but none the
less interesting. On the 30th July, at 11 A.M., Lemaire was to
guess a card which I had tried to suggest to him on the 26th July.
This card was the _Knave Diamonds_. But he forgot to do it, and did
not remember to guess the card till 7 P.M. on the 30th July. Now
on this same day, the 30th July, from 6 to 6.30 P.M. I was myself
engaged in guessing a card by clairvoyance, and after many attempts
I decided on 7 _or_ 8 _Clubs_, and Lemaire, guessing the card at 7
P.M., also decided upon 7 _Clubs_. So that I had suggested the card
to him unconsciously.

Thus, omitting the last trial as of doubtful interpretation, we find that in 14 trials the card was guessed correctly twice, the number alone once, and the suit alone nine times, or three times the probable number.

_Transference of Visual Impressions._

In the four cases which follow the impression was of a well-marked visual character; reaching, indeed, in the two last to the level of actual hallucination. It should be observed that in none of these four cases is the possibility of chance coincidence so entirely precluded as in many of the experiments at close quarters already cited. In the first of the cases recorded by Dr. Gibotteau (No. 40), and in some of Mr. Kirk's experiments (No. 37), the luminous patches seen by the percipients are not unlike rudimentary hallucinations of a sufficiently common type, and their resemblance in these instances to the objects actually looked at or thought of by the agents should not therefore be pressed very far. In the other cases, however, the percipient received a well-marked impression of a definite object. But here there is a flaw of another kind. The coincidences may have been due, as indeed Miss Campbell (No. 35) is careful to suggest, to a lucky shot on the part of the percipient at the object the agent would be likely to choose. The very distinct nature of the impression produced in each case upon the percipient, as contrasted with the vague images called up, _e.g._ in Miss Campbell's case, by more or less conscious conjecture, is, however, against this interpretation; and the fact that in the first narrative the experiments quoted were the culmination of a successful series of experiments at close quarters tells in favour of a telepathic explanation for these also.

No. 35.--By MISS CAMPBELL and MISS DESPARD.

A series of experiments in thought-transference at close quarters had been carried on by the narrators at intervals from November 1891 to October 1892. In sending the account of these experiments at a distance, Miss Campbell explains that in the trial on October 25th, "there was first an auditory impression, as if some one had said the word 'gloves,' and then the gloves themselves were visualised."

(No. 1.) "_June_ 22_nd_, 1892.

"Arranged that R. C. Despard should, when at the School of Medicine
in Handel Street, W.C., between 11.50 and 11.55, fix her attention
upon some object which C. M. Campbell, at 77 Chesterton Road, W.,
is by thought-transference to discover."

PERCIPIENT'S ACCOUNT.

"Owing to an unexpected delay, instead of being quietly at home at
11.50 A.M., I was waiting for my train at Baker Street, and as just
at that time trains were moving away from both platforms, and there
was the usual bustle going on, I thought it hopeless to try on my
part; but just while I was thinking this I felt a sort of mental
pull-up, which made me feel sure that Miss Despard was fixing _her_
attention, and directly after I felt 'my--compasses--no, scalpel,'
seemed to see a flash of light as if on bright steel, and I thought
of two scalpels, first with their points together, and then
folding together into one; just then my train came up.

"I write this down before having seen Miss Despard, so am still in
ignorance whether I am correct in my surmise, but as I know what
Miss Despard would probably be doing at ten minutes to twelve,
I feel that that knowledge may have suggested the thought to
me--though this idea did not occur to me until just this minute, as
I have written it down.

"C. M. CAMPBELL.

"77 Chesterton Road, W."

AGENT'S ACCOUNT.

"At ten minutes to twelve I concentrated my mind on an object that
happened to be in front of me at the time--two scalpels, crossed
with their points together--but in about five minutes, as it
occurred to me that the knowledge that I was then at the School of
Medicine might suggest a similar idea to Miss Campbell, I tried to
bring up a country scene, of a brook running through a field, with
a patch of yellow marsh marigolds in the foreground. This second
idea made no impression on Miss Campbell--perhaps owing to the
bustle around her at the time.

"R. C. DESPARD."

(No. 2.) "_October_ 25_th_, 1892.

"At 3.30 P.M. R. C. Despard is to fix her attention on some object,
and C. M. Campbell, being in a different part of London, is by
thought-transference to find out what that object is."

PERCIPIENT'S ACCOUNT.

"At 3.30 I was at home at 77 Chesterton Road, North Kensington,
alone in the room.

"First my attention seemed to flit from one object to another
while nothing definite stood out, but soon I saw a pair of gloves,
which became more distinct till they appeared as a pair of baggy
tan-coloured kid gloves, certainly a size larger than worn by
either R. C. D. or myself, and not quite like any of ours in
colour. After this I saw a train going out of a station (I had just
returned from seeing some one off at Victoria), almost immediately
obliterated by a picture of a bridge over a small river, but I felt
that I was consciously thinking and left off the experiment, being
unable to clear my mind sufficiently of outside things."

AGENT'S ACCOUNT.

"At 3.30 on October 25th I was at 30 Handel Street, Brunswick
Square, W.C. C. M. C. and myself had arranged beforehand to make
an experiment in thought-transference at that hour, I to try
to transfer some object to her mind, the nature of which was
entirely unspecified. I picked up a pair of rather old tan-coloured
gloves--purposely not taking a pair of my own--and tried for about
five minutes to concentrate my attention on them and the wish to
transfer an impression of them to C. M. C.'s mind. After this I
fixed my attention on a _window_, but felt my mind getting tired
and therefore rather disturbed by the constant sound of omnibuses
and waggons passing the open window.

"R. C. DESPARD.
"_October_ 25_th_, 1892."

Miss Campbell writes later:--

"77 CHESTERTON ROAD, NORTH KENSINGTON, W.,
_November_ 24_th_, 1892.

"With regard to the distant experiments, the notes sent to you were
the only ones made. In the first experiment (scalpels) I wrote
my account before Miss Despard's return, and when Miss Despard
returned, before seeing what I had written [she] told me what she
had thought of, and almost directly wrote it down.

"In the second experiment (gloves), I was just going to write
my account when Miss Despard returned home, and she asked me at
once, 'Well, what did I think of?' and I told her a pair of tan
gloves--then sat down and wrote my account, and, when she read
it through, she said, 'Yes, you have exactly described Miss M.'s
gloves, which I was holding while I fixed my attention on them,'
and then she wrote her account."