1 871.] on Psychic Force, 477 



acts directly — the psychode — is only susceptible of very simple 

 modification under the influence of the mind ; Explanations 

 which are based on the Intervention of Spirits. M. Thury 

 refutes all these explanations, and considers the effects due 

 to a peculiar substance, fluid, or agent, pervading, in a 

 manner similar to the luminiferous ether of the scientist, 

 all matter, nervous, organic, or inorganic — which he terms 

 psychode. He enters into full discussion as to the properties 

 of this state or form of matter, and proposes the term 

 ectenic force (e/crcW, extension), for the power exerted when 

 the mind acts at a distance through the influence of the 

 psychode.* 



There is likewise another case on record in which similar 

 test experiments were tried, with like results, by a tho- 

 roughly competent observer. The late Dr. Robert Hare, in 

 one of his works, t gives an engraving of an apparatus very 

 similar to my own, by which the young man with whom 

 he was experimenting was prevented from having any other 

 communication with the apparatus except through water ; 

 yet, under these circumstances, the spring balance indicated 

 the exertion of a force equal to 18 lbs. The details of this 

 experiment were communicated by Dr. Hare to the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, at the meeting 

 in August, 1855. 



The references I now give afford an answer to the state- 

 ment that these results must be verified by others. They 

 have been verified over and over again. Indeed, my own 

 experiments may be regarded merely as verifications of 

 results already obtained and published by eminent scientific 

 men in this and other countries.]: 



But I was not content with this. I felt that having the 

 opportunity of showing these phenomena to others, I might 



* Professor Thury's e&enic and my psychic force are evidently equivalent 

 terms. Had I seen his work three months ago I should have adopted his 

 term. The suggestion of a similar hypothetical nervous fluid has now reached 

 us from another and totally different source, expounded with distindt views, 

 and couched in the language of one of the most important professions — I allude 

 to the theory of a nervous atmosphere advanced by Dr. Benjamin W. Richard- 

 son, M.D., F.R.S., in the " Medical Times," No. 1088, May 6, 1871. 



f "Experimental Investigation;" By Robert Hare, M.D., Emeritus Pro- 

 fessor of Chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania, &c. New York : 

 Partridge and Britton, 1858. 



X The Report of the Dialectical Society on Spiritualism will appear in a 

 few days, and it will be seen that the Investigation Committee, though com- 

 mencing their experiments with the entire conviction that they should expose 

 an imposture, have ended by affirming that they are convinced of the existence 

 of a force emanating from the human organisation, by which motion may be 

 imparted to heavy substances, and audible sounds made on solid bodies without 

 muscular contact ; they also state that this force is often directed by some in- 

 telligence. 



