PSYCHICAL RESEARCH OF THE CENTURY.' 



I\v Andrew I^ang. 



It is difficult even to give a name to the subject of this essay. The 

 word "psychical " seems to beg- the question, and to insinuate tliat there 

 is such a thing as iipsyche, orsoul, distinguished from the ordinary intel- 

 lect. As a matter of fact, psychical research is only an inquiry as to 

 whether there be any faculties and phenomena to which, for lack of a 

 better name, the term "psychicaP' may be applied. That there are 

 such faculties and such phenomena has been the belief of the majority 

 of mankind in all known ages. A singular uniformity marks th(> Ix^liefs 

 (or superstitions) of all periods, races, and conditions of culture. 

 This uniformity, of course, does not, as Dr. Johnson inferred, amount 

 to proof. Curiosity and love of excitement, wearied with the " natural " 

 (that is, accustomed) i-ound of events, had only to imagine exceptions 

 to everything normal; and "miracles" of uniform character were at 

 once asserted. A dead man does not walk about; deny this — and 

 ghosts walk. People can not be in two places at once; deiu' this — and 

 you have "bilocation." Men do not %; den}^ this — and you have 

 "levitation." The future and the remote are dark to all; deny this — 

 and you invent every branch of prophecy, seership, and clairvoyance. 

 Inanimate objects are never spontaneously volatile; affirm the oppo- 

 site— and you are confronted with the "physical phenomena" of 

 "spiritualism." Fire always burns objects subjected to its action; 

 affirm the opposite— and you come to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed- 

 nego. Thus the uniformity of the beliefs in such marvels is very 

 readily explained. 



But the explanation becomes more difficult \\hen you ha\e to 

 deal, not with savage mythology and civilized folk-lore, but with 

 the attested experiences of educated modern men and women. 

 They have witnessed one or other of these marvels, or so they per- 

 sist in averrmg. Their experience has been identical with that of 

 savages and barbarians; with that of classical antiquity; with that 

 of saints, witches, and members of the Royal Society at the time 

 of the Restoration. This fac t is so puzzling that, at ditferent periods. 



1 Copyright, 1901, by New York Evening Post Company. Reprinted from The 

 Evening Post,' January 12, ]901, l)y special permission of G. P. Putnam's Sons. 



675 



