Apparitions and thought-transference: an examination of the evidence for telepathy. Frank Podmore

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СКАЧАТЬ Who are you that writes, and has told all you know? A. Wife.

      118. But does no one tell wife what to write? If so, who? A. Spirit.

      119. Whose spirit? A. Wife's brain.

      120. But how does wife's brain know (certain) secrets? A. Wife's spirit unconsciously guides.

      121. But how does wife's spirit know things it has never been told? A. No external influence.

      122. But by what internal influence does it know (these) secrets? A. You cannot know.

      Mr. Newnham, who was a Mason, took the opportunity on several occasions of questioning the planchette on details of the Masonic ritual and archæology—of which Mrs. Newnham was of course ignorant—with very surprising results. It will be seen from the extracts which follow that Mrs. Newnham's answers showed not only an acquaintance with the terms of the question, but even a fragmentary knowledge of the correct answer—knowledge which under the circumstances could hardly have been derived elsewhere than from the questioner's brain.

       March 26th.

      166. Of what language is the first syllable of the Great Triple R.A. Word?[50] A. Don't know.

      167. Yes, you do. What are the three languages of which the word is composed? A. Greek, Egyptian, Syriac first syllable (correctly given), rest unknown.

      168. Write the syllable which is Syriac. A. (First syllable correctly written.)

      169. Write the syllable which is Egyptian. A. Second.

      170. Can you not write the syllable itself? A. Third Greek.

      174. Write down the word itself. A. First three and last two letters were written correctly, but four incorrect letters, partly borrowed from another word of the same degree, came in the middle.

      176. Why do you write a word of which I know nothing? A. Wife tried hard to tell the word, but could not quite catch it.

      177. Catch it from whom? A. Not quite sure.

      178. Not quite sure of what? A. I know nothing. Wife doesn't quite know.

      182. Write out the prayer used at the advancement of a Mark Master Mason. A. Almighty Ruler of the Universe and Architect of all worlds, we beseech Thee to accept this, our brother, whom we have this day received into our most honourable Company of Mark Master Masons. Grant him to be a worthy member of our brotherhood; and may he be in his own person a perfect mirror of all Masonic virtues. Grant that all our doings may be to Thy honour and glory, and to the welfare of all mankind.

      This prayer was written off instantaneously and very rapidly. It is a very remarkable production indeed. For the benefit of those who are not members of the craft, I may say that no prayer in the slightest degree resembling it is made use of in the Ritual of any Masonic degree; and yet it contains more than one strictly accurate technicality connected with the degree of Mark Mason. My wife has never seen any Masonic prayers, whether in "Carlile," or any other real or spurious Ritual of the Masonic Order.

      183. I do not know this prayer. Where is it to be found? A. Old American Ritual.

      184. Where can I get one? A. Most likely none in England.

      185. Can you not write the prayer that I make use of in my own Lodge? A. No, I don't know it.

      We have to remark here not merely the exhibition of a will and an intelligence differing from the writer's normal self, but the display of a yet more alien disingenuousness. Similar evasions and inventions occur more than once in the course of these experiments. Indeed, a certain degree of moral perversity is a frequent and notorious characteristic of automatic expression.

      Some interesting experiments of the same kind were conducted, in the winter of 1892–93, by Mr. R. H. Buttemer, of Emanuel College, Cambridge, and Mr. H. T. Green. Throughout the series the questions were, as in the preceding case, written down, so that the percipient was completely ignorant of their purport. The following is the record of the last experiments of the series.

      No. 25.—By MR. R. H. BUTTEMER.

      February 18th, 1893, 8 P.M. Mrs. H., Miss B., Mr. and Miss M. present, in addition to Mr. Green, and Messrs. S., W., and Buttemer.

      Mr. Green, as usual, operated Planchette, and on this occasion sat with his back to all the other persons present.

      Q. (from Mr. M.): What was I doing this afternoon?

      A. i. ——the sun—— (all else illegible). ii. Enjoying the fresh air of heaven.

      Q. What was Mr. Rogers doing in Cambridge?

      A. i. (Irrelevant, or possibly connected vaguely with the question.) ii. Ask another, but Mr. Rogers came up on important business connected with the Lodge. (Correct.)

      

      Q. Where has Mrs. M. gone?

      A. i. (Irrelevant.) ii. Far, far away, but more next time. iii. Her mother has gone to—oh, what a happy place is London! iv. All change here for Bletchley. (Mrs. M. had possibly passed this station on her journey.)

      Q. Who has won the Association Match to-day?

      A. i. (Illegible.) ii. O ye simple ones, how long will ye love simplicity? Why, Oxford, of course. [This fact was known to some persons in the room, but not to Mr. Green.]

      One of the company then suggested the attempt to get the name on a visiting card transmitted, and the question was written, "Write name on card." Mr. Green did not know that this experiment was about to be tried, and the card was picked from a pile at random. The name was John B. Bourne. A sentence was written by Mr. Green, which proved to be, "Think of one letter at a time and then see what will happen." We did so.

      A. i. J for Jerusalem, O for Omri, H for Honey, and N for Nothing. ii. B for Benjamin, O for Olive, U for Unicorn. (The remaining letters were given incorrectly.)

      Q. How many of the Society's books are here? (There were two volumes of Proceedings on the table.)

      A. i. (Irrelevant.) ii. The answer is 100–98.

      Q. What is 2 × 3?

      Two irrelevant answers were given, possibly owing to a slight disturbance in the room. The third answer was—"When that noise has ceased and S. has finished knocking the lamp over, I say 6."

      A trial shortly after this, February 19th, gave no results, and the power of automatic writing appears to have entirely left Mr. Green for the present. (Proc. Soc. Psych. Research, vol. ix. pp. 61–64.)

      In this, as in Mr. Newnham's case, the mode of expression is again characteristic of the automatic consciousness. It is explained by Mr. Buttemer that when two or more answers are given, the operator had been simply told to write again, after the first irrelevant answer, without being shown the question.

       Table Tilting.

      No. 26.—By the AUTHOR.

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