I87I.] 



on Psychic Force. 



491 



in vain for evidence of any force or power being used up in 

 the production of these results. 



Now, however, having seen more of Mr. Home, I think 

 I perceive what it is that this psychic force uses up for its 

 development. In employing the terms vital force, or nervous 

 energy, I am aware that I am employing words which 

 convey very different significations to many investigators ; 

 but after witnessing the painful state of nervous and bodily 

 prostration in which some of these experiments have left 



Fig. 12. 



Mr. Home — after seeing him lying in an almost fainting con- 

 dition on the floor, pale and speechless — I could scarcely 

 doubt that the evolution of psychic force is accompanied by 

 a corresponding drain on vital force. 



I have ventured to give this new force the name of 

 Psychic Force, because of its manifest relationship to certain 

 psychological conditions, and because I was most, desirous 

 to avoid the foregone conclusions implied in the title under 



Fig. 13. 



which it has hitherto been claimed as belonging to a province 

 beyond the range of experiment and argument. But having 

 found that it is within the province of purely scientific re- 

 search, it is entitled to be known by a scientific name, and 

 I do not think a more appropriate one could have been 

 selected. 



To witness exhibitions of this force it is not necessary to 

 have access to known psychics. The force itself is probably 

 possessed by all human beings, although the individuals 

 endowed with an extraordinary amount of it are doubtless 



VOL. VIII. (O.S.) — VOL. I. (N.S.) 3 S 



