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>f//^(/>fA Address

OF THE

President of the American Society
for Ps/cftical Researcfi.

JANUARY 12, 1886.

ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT.

It might naturally be expected that in addressing you on the
present occasion your president should enter into an account
of work done and results gained. There are, however, difficul-
ties in the way of doing this in a satisfactory way. It has been
my misfortune to reside so far from the seat of the society, that
I have not been able to take that active part in your work
which would have been appropriate to my office. Moreover, so
far as I have followed this work, it would seem that up to the
present time it consists more in preliminary efforts, and prepara-
tions for further research, than in finished experiments leading
to establish conclusions. Under such circumstances, the ques-
tion in what direction our efforts should tend is a most impor-
tant one ; and I shall, therefore, ask your permission to enter
into a discussion of the general aspect and relations of the
subject.

Looking at the situation from the most general point of view,
the first* question to present itself would be : Why are we here?
what is our field of work ? We might reply in a way equally
general, that we are investigating^those obscure mental phe-
nomena which do not seem to accord with the laws of mental
action as ordinarily apprehended through the experience of the
race. We are more particularly concerned with a large class of
sporadic, but well-known phenomena, which seem to indicate
that the mind may possess certain susceptibilities outside the
limits which experience teaches us is commonly imposed upon
its powers.

We are perfectly familiar with a certain system of inter-
action between mind and matter. Every instance of voluntary
motion, and every instance of a mental effect produced by an
external cause, is a case of such inter-action. Taking any one
mind, we may consider it either as an agent producing effects
external to itself by the action of the will, or as an object acted
upon by external causes. Now, a very wide induction from
general experience shows us that this inter-action is, in our
ordinary experience, subject to the foUowirig restrictions : —

Firstly, no individual mind can be acted upon except through

Addresn of the. Prenident,

the medium of a material organism with which it is associated.
The external cause, whatever it may be, must act on the organ-
ization itself in order that the mind may either be excited to
consciousness, or affected in any other way. Moreover, the
action of such external causes is a physical process, subject to
purely physical laws.

Secondly, the mind cannot act upon any thing external to
itself, except through the agency of its material organism ; and,
this organism being set iu action, the effect is subject to purely
physical laws.

Both of these laws are strikingly illustrated in our every-
day experience. For example, if a living organism is left
unsupported, it will fall exactly like dead matter, in spite of
any thing the mind can do to stop it. When supjiorted, it
presses upon the support with a force equal to the weight of
the matter composing it ; and no effort of the will can increase
or diminish this pressure. Two persons in each other's neigh-
borhood cannot be conscious of each other's existence except
through t^ J physical medium of light, sound, or material mo-
tion, produced by one and acting upon the organism of tlie
other. By no act of the will can we produce motion or any
other change in an external object unless we set in operation a
sufficient physical force through the medium of our organism.
These, I say, are hypothetical laws, and may be regarded as
conclusions from general experience. They are, however, like
all other general laws, in seeming disaccord with occasional
phenomena. It is these sporadic phenomena with which we are
mainly concerned, and which we desire to subject to some form
of law. If mind is not subject to the restrictions which have
been just defined, we have a mental actio in distav^ which is
variously known as '•• thought-transference," " telt^ui' 'ly," and
"mind-reading." Granting this apparent actio in d.stans, we
may either suppose it real, or attribute it to some unrecognized
physical agency. This question will, however, arise at a later
period in our researches. The main question with which we
are now concerned is. Can one mind influence another in any
other way than through the action of known physical causes
acting between and through their respective organisms? If
this question is answered in the afiinnatiye, thou a great di»-

','

Addreaa of the President.

oovery is made, opening up a new field, not only of research,
but of philosophical speculiition and of practical application.
If answered in the negative, our work is not done, because we
then have to explain the sporadic phenomena which seem to
indicate thought-transference.

Let us begin by looking at the question from its two sides,
beginning with the affirmative one. If we consider the current
of our mental processes while sitting listlessly at our desks, we
may find our minds to wander in u half-unconscious way from
one subject to another. Vague emotions of various kinds may
arise without our being able to assign any reason for .iicm.
We may feel elated without being conscious of any agreeable
event to cause elation, and depressed without having heard any
evil tidings. The visual image of absent friends, or the thought
of an exciting scene which has been before us, may arise un-
bidden. Memories follow each other without any apparent logi-
cal order. Ideas come and go as if of their own accord.

That these mental impressions are all results of sufficient
causes, is a conclusion so instinctive that we can feel no doubt
of its truth, and therefore shall take it for granted. The first
question which arises is whether the causes are all contained,
consciously or unconsciously, within the organism ; or whether
they may operate and produce their effect through it from
outside, without the mediation of the organism. Considering
the subject apart from our general experience of the world,
there does not seem to be any reason, a priori, why we should
admit one of these hypotheses rather than the other. The
belief that the impressions of distant friends or relatives are in
some way reproduced in our minds, is one generally entertained
in infancy. Neither to the infant nor to the adult mind need
the question, how can such impressions be conveyed from mind
to mind, cause any more difficulty than the question how a
body millions of miles away can exert force upon a ball in my
hand. If we know by experience that the force is exerted, that
must satisfy us. The discovery of the medium, if any, by
which the effect is produced, is a different and independent
problem.

The mental operations alluded to may be rationally attrib-
uted> not only to the action of distant minds known to us, but

AddreM of the Premlent.

to that of minds otherwise totiilly unknown. It ia not uncom-
niou iiniong some chisses to attribute those vurying mentul
states wliich they cannot otherwise account for to the action of
intelligences in another and invisible sphere. From a scientiiio
point of view, the whole question is an open one, except so far
as it may have been settled by observation and experiment.

The opinion that a mind can act where the organism is not
is one which we know to have been held in one form or another
by men in all ages. In it originates the belief in the possession
of miraculous powei-s by gifted beings. Indeed, were we asked
what is the distinguishing mark of the conception of a miracle,
as it exists ii} the mind of a believer, we might reply by saying
that it is the belief that certain gifted persons possess the
power of producing effects through the immediate agency of
their minds, without bringing into action any sufficient physical
cause. Although the belief in the possibility of such a power
is stronger and more general among the lower races, we cannot
say that men of any race or degree of intelligence are wholly
free from it. From his own observations the writer believes
that one-third of the intelligent people of his acquaintance in
England and America are more oi less under its influence.
The fact that the majority of the soundest thinkers not only do
not accept the opinion, but look upon it with a greater or less
degree of contempt, as an evidence of mental weakness, exerts
a repressive effect upon its free expression, and thus diminishes
its apparent prevalence.

The speaker distinctly remembers the development of his
own ideas on the subject in childhood. Remarks dropped in
the conversation of others, coupled with a deep feeling of the
wide range of possibilities involved in the universe so newly
opened to his mind, led him to grasp with some eagerness at
the idea that impressions might be conveyed from one sym-
pathetic mind to another at great distances. But continued
observation never showed the slightest connection between his
own mental states and those of his friends or relatives. One
attempt to put the supposed law to a practical use is still dis-
tinctly remembered. He set out for a schoolhouse where his
father (the teacher) usually remained a short time after school
to read. He was extremely desirous of reaching his father be-

Addreaa of the Prenident,

fore the latter ahniild leave, and tlien fore exerted himself to tlia
utmost to concentrate his desires on the father in hucIi niiiiinttr
as to induce him to remain. Arrived at tlie Hchooihoiise. he
found him still there, hut just ahnut to leave. The hoy intpiired
dili^^ently of the father whetht r he had felt any unusual disposi-
tion to remain. 'Die reply was, that he hu<l remained only to
finish what he had just been reading, and that he liad felt no
impression whatever tending to make him stay. The natural
conclusion was adverse to what is now called telepathy, and it
may he Mupposed that the majority of thin King men reach the
same conclusion in much the same way.

When we look carefully into the subject, we find that the
general course of experience teuds in this direction. The fact
that many drugs stimulate in the highest degree the mental
processes which I have sought to describe, gives color to the
view that their origin is not without the organism. In our
common life-experience we find that one mind acts on another
only through the medium of physical causes emanating from one
organism and reaching the other. It is quite true that the con-
necting link may be so delicate as almost to evade recognition.
Shades of feeling in one mind are made known to another by
changes in the countenance so slight and delicate as to entirely
evade description. But the medium of communication is al-
ways present in the light, which, reflected from one face, paints
its image on the retina of the eye. This is shown very conclu-
sively by the fact, that, if the room is darkened, the one will cease
to be conscious of the feelings of the other. We also find that
it is not at all necessary to the conveyance of intelligence by
such connecting physical causes that the person receiving the
intelligence, or otherwise acted upon, should be conscious of it.
He may have no more conception of the mode of action than
the opium-eater has of the causes of his visions.

If thought-transference really exists, it has hitherto failed in
the case where its agency has been most urgently required by
society. A man on trial for murder knows well whether he has
or has not done the deed ; and his mind is agitated by im-
pressions, which, could they be conveyed to those who sur-
round him, would settle the question of his guilt or innocence.
Yet no case has yet arisen where judge or jury have been con-

' I

AdiJreHH of the Prenideid.

Hcious of any meiitnl effect ciiused by tho trnriKfer of iinpres-
Hioiirt fi-oin tlie rniiul of tliu pri.sonor which couUl help thiMii to
deuiile thin <iue»tioii. In great cities we Me Hurrouiideil by
many thouHaniU of our feHow-nion in every Htuge of mental
excitement. Yet, if we close our eyes »ind eiirs, we are wholly
unuonscious of any impression which we can truce to cmaiuitions
proceeding from their minds.

But a conclusion thus reached is not necessarily beyond fur-
ther investigation. We must admit, tlmt, until the formation
of our parent society in England, no one ever undertook ex-
haustive experiments to determine whether there is or is not
any such action. If the action in question is weak, obscure, or
rare, it might well elude the rough tests which have hitherto
been applied. The undoubted fact that tho belief is generally
found in very bad company, though suspicious, is not conclu-
sive. The phenomena of hypnotism afford an excellent illus-
tration of an analagous case. It must be admitted that these
phenomena have always been found in very bad company.
From this fact alone they scarcely received any attention finu
investigators for nearly a century; and many rejected them as
spurious, or as the result of collusion between the operator and
his subject. But, when once taken up in a scientific spirit, a
hew condition of the nervous system was discovered, the re-
sults of which upon our knowledge we cannot yet foresee.

We must not overlook another side of the case. The theo-
ries which the performers presented to the public, and by which
they professed to explain the phenomena, were as false and as
spurious as any one had ever supposed them. There was oidy
a residuum of truth at the bottom of a great mass of fraudu-
lent pretension. Yet that residuum was well worth collecting.

The conclusion which an unbiassed mind should take of the
subject, in advance of any investigation or evidence, seems to be
this: Leaving out all theories founded on any supposed rela-
tion of the mind to the nervous system, there can be no sound
reason for denying the possibility of mental action at a dis-
tance. At the same time, the probabilities of the case are
against it. As it is always best to bet against any individual
horse winning a race, or any single number occurring at a turn
of the roulette table, so it is sound to consider .the probabilities

Addretn of (he Preitident,

of tlie case to be agiiiiist imy Hcientilic theory of the cIush ve-
lerreil to. In other wonb, llie burden of proot w on the siile
of the affirmative.

On this side we have a mass of evidence so great that we
cannot deal with it in detail, unless our task is facilitated by
reference to those logical principles which should direct our
thoughts. In order to avoid employing these principles in too
abstract a form, I shuU borrow them directly from our common-
sense methods of drawing conclusiojis in every-day life. It is,
however, necessary to lay bare tlie frame-work which underlies
these methods, and in doing this I must ask your close atten-
tion for a few moments.

Every explanation of natural phonomena, when complete,
involves two elements, — a general law and a particular fact.
The former may, and nearly always is, taken for granted as too
well known to need statement. And, in fact, the ordinary
mind, how much soever intluenced by it, seldom comprehends
it with entire clearness. Yet it must exist in the intellect,
consciously or unconsciously.

Walking in the fields, I hear a sharp explosion. I explain it
by the fact that some one has fired a gun. In doing this, I
assume the general law that the firing of a gun causes an explo-
sive sound. To one unacquainted with this general fact, the
statement that a gun had been fired would afford no adequate
explanation. He would see no connection between the sound
he had heard, and my statement that it was caused by firing a
gun, until he apprehended the general law.

Sitting at your desk on a sultry aiternoon, you find the air
gradually growing dark. A flash of light suddenly illuminates
the room. The explanation which at once presents itself is
ti at the .darkness is caused by a thunder-cloud, and that the
flflsh is the result of an electric discharge in the cloud. Here
you have in mind the general laws, that a thunder-cloud cuts
off a large part of the solar light, and that an electric discharge
produces a brilliant flash. If you never knew that an electric
discharge produced a flash, the explanation would fail. But
the supposition of the particular fact that a cloud is passing at
the moment is equally necessary to the explanation.

I need not stop to point out how the general laws necessary

Addreas of the President.

to the explanation of natural phenomena are inferred by induc-
tion. Every rational mind, in the course of its development,
may be said to apprehend, consciously or unconsciously, a con-
tinual increasing number of \a\rs of nature. Perhaps the qual-
ification " rational " may not here be required. It may be said
that all the higher animals reach a conception of such laws,
and that the only difference is that the irrational animals enter-
tain this conception unconsciously, while rational minds enter-
tain it consciously, and can separate it from that of the special
facts in which it is exhibited.

The main fact which I wish to illustrate by this digression is
that every mind, in the course of its development, is modifying
or adding to its conceptions of the laws of nature. The higher
order of minds continually group the laws apprehended by
minds of a lower order, under some mora general laws ; and it
is in this grouping that scientific progress consists. We may
say that all the laws apprehended by the common man are
grouped by the scientific theorizer under more general laws.
In the common mind, there are a great number of laws of
nature determining the occurrence of physical pain or pleas-
ure, heat, cold, blows, contact with acids, disease, injuries.
In the cultivated mind, this complex system of laws assumes
the form of a few more general and simple laws. But how
far soever the work of generalizing laws may be carried, they
can never be applied to the explanation of phenomena without
evoking eome special fact, or system of facts, to which they

apply.

It follows, that, when a phenomenon is presented to us which
we find it difficult or impossible to explain, we must conclude,
either that we have some new law of nature to apprehend, or
that some particular facts which we do not see are present to
modify the action of known laws. Whether our difficulties
arise from ignorance of the law or of the fact, is a question
which in some cases involves great difficulty, while in others
the mind settles it without question. The untutored man, who
for the first time sees iron in a state of fusion, learns correctly
the (to him) new general law that iron is melted by heat. But
he may infer a new law when he really has to deal only with a
known law, acting through facts which are concealed from him.

■•— * • ■-I'. rif ll f ii .i. il Ji i ,

Address of the President.

A juggler holds in front of him a dish of water filled with jelly-
fish. An assistant having thrown a large handkercliief over
the dish, the juggler rolls the handkerchief in a lump ; and ves-
sel, water, and fish have all disappeared. A lookerKin might
see in this the evidence of some new law of nature, in virtue
of wliich a mass of matter could become invisible ; but the bet-
ter informed spectator knows that something has been done
under the handkerchief which he did not see, and that no new
law of nature comes into play. He might find it impossible to
explain, even to his own satisfaction, how the disappearance has
come about : but this ignorance does not in any way diminish
his confidence that the phenomenon can be fully explained by
the presence of some particular circumstances of which he is
ignorant.

I hope that the main principle which I wish to enforce will
now be clearly apprehended. When a set of phenomena pre-
sents themselves to us, apparently defying explanation, we may
conclude either that some law of nature of which we have
before remained ignorant has come into play, or that the
result is due to known laws acting under particular circum-
stances of which \vh are ignorant. The whole question of the
reality of psychic force is of this kind. We have seen thought
transferred from mind to mind. The evidence of the transfer
in some cases is beyond doubt. 'Xhe question is. Did it take
place through some physical connection between two organisms
which eludes our scrutiny, but which, had we seen it, we should
have recognized as involving no new principle, or did some new
law of nature come into play? Is there any criterion by which
we can decide between these two hypotheses? The history of
scientific investigation shows that there is. But, before point-
ing it out, let us glance at the subject from a slightly different
standpoint.

Phenomena which we are unable to explain at the moment
are of almost daily occurrence. Every sound which we hear,
and of which we cannot state the origin, belongs to this class.
The course of our thoughts, and the internal physical pains
so familiar to humanity, frequently belong to the same class.
Indeed, the number of particular facts which we do not know
is 80 very great, that our natural impulse is always to attribute

Address of the President.

any inexplicable phenomenon, not to some new law, but to
some unknown combination of circumstances. In many cases
we call phenomena tlms arising spurious, not because they are
unreal, but because we may suspect that circumstances which
give rise to them have been intentionally produced to deceive
us. The word would, however, bear a connotation which we
should avoid applying to the present case without explanation.
One very natural way of investigating the question whether
inexplicable phenomena belong to the class just mentioned is
that followed by our parent society. It consists in carefully
investigating all the attendant circumstances with a view of
finding whether they afford a sufficient explanation of the phe-
nomenon under known laws. If investigation shows the pres-
ence of conditions under which the phenomenon could be pro-
duced by such laws of nature, it is then assumed that no new
law comes into play ; but if the most searching investigation
fails to discover any such conditions, then it is to be concluded
that a new law of nature is established, with a greater or less
degree of probabilit)'.

Although this method is in perfect accord with our ordinary
modes of investigating phenomena involving no new law, yet I
must, with all due respect to those who have applied it, express
my dissent from its validity as a method of discovering such
laws. In fact, it is not in accordance with our every-day habit
of inference to infer a new law by this method. I think the
following illustration will make this habit clear.

Let us have presented to us fifty phenomena, all belonging,
80 far as we can see at the first glance, to one class, and all
apparently inexplicable without assuming some new law. We
proceed, however, to investigate, with a view of determining
whether they are not the product of circumstances not evident
at the moment. Suppose, to fix the ideas, that the separate
phenomena are fiftv in number: it matters not whether fifty
repetitions of the same thing, or fifty separate occurrences of
the same general character, all differing in their details. What
connects them together is some element of similarity. They may
be produced by one person, or they may show certain likenesses
in virtue of which they supposed them explainable by some one
new law.

Address of the President.

We now proceed to investigate. A very little examination
shows that twenty of tlieni are tiie product of known causes
which we did not at first see. More careful examination, ex-
tended through several hours or days, explains twenty more
in the same way ; leaving only ten from which to infer a new
law. Bringing in new means of investigation, and devoting
increased industry to the work, we succeed in exphiiniiig five
more, one by one ; leaving yet five which defy our powers. Are
we to conclude that these five do not belong to tlie same class
as the others, that there cannot possibly be any circumstances
m.known to us which have produced them, and that some new
law of nature is therefore established ? I think not. I think
the man of well-balanced mind in such a case always reasons
thus: As first presented to me, these phenomena were all of the
same general character. All seemed to point to the existence
of a new law of nature. All had the character of individuals
claiming that they were not the product of known causes. But,
as I went through the investigation, I find that ninety per cent
of them had deceived me in various ways by being the product
of known causes, concealed from my sight. As some of these
hidden causes require little investigation for their discovery,
others yet more ; and as my powers of investigation are limited,
and I can never be sure that no unknown causes are present, —
I therefore conclude that the remaining ten per cent are the
product of circumstances which have only the common property
of eluding my present powers of investigation.

This is, in fact, the method of reasoning which we always
adopt in every-day life. * We adopt it because we know that
circumstances are constantly present, the discovery of which
eludes all our powers. No one claims the ability to explain
every thing he sees and hears in one day. He knows that un-
known causes are continually present, and is satisfied to relegate
inexplicable phenomena to their action. Hence, the method of
investigation in question can only show satisfactorily our in-
ability to discover the true cause, and can never justify us in
concluding that a new law of nature comes into play.

The true method of investigation is exemplified by the whole
history of physical science. The general laws of nature are per-
permanent : the special circumstances under which they act are

Addrean of the President.

continually varying. We see a law only in a sequence of phe-
nomena permanent in its character. This system is also in per-
fect accord with our common-sense meinod of drawing conclu-
sions. When the same phenomenon occurs under the same
conditions time after time, we infer a law of nature. Wlien we
cannot trace its repetition to any common set of conditions, we
conclude that it is due to varying circumstances, perhaps un-
known to us.

It is a characteristic of all scientific progress, that, when we
ascertain any new law connecting phenomena, we are able to
produce them with continually increasing facility. Take the
case of electricity, for example. Before regular experiments
were made, electrical phenomena were so little known that they
might have been deemed entirely spurious. The early experi-
menters met great difficulty in reproducing them at pleasure.
Sometimes they appeared, and sometimes they did not. Some-
times electricity was conducted from one body to another, and
sometimes it was not. But, as investigation went on, there was
a regular progress, step by step, until a stage was reached at
which all the phenomena could be produced at pleasure, and
fully explained by known laws and attendant circumstances.

How does psychic research stand this test? I think we must
all admit, that, up to the present time, it does not stand it at all.
The unwelcome fact seems to be that we have absolutely no
general knowledge that we did not have ten years ago. We
have seen that there is sometimes an apparent transfer of thought,
and that impressions are apparently produced from time to
time by unknown causes. We knew* this as well before we
began our investigation as we do now. If any new law of
nature is involved, what is its character? Let us grant that
thought is sometimes transferred. What question will then
arise ? I reply, that the first question to be considered is under
what circurastances and conditions, and by what agencies, is it
transferred ? That these circumstances, conditions, or agencies
are exceptional, is perfectly obvious. Were they universal and
general, our minds would be affected by those of the thousands
who surround us. We know that they are not so affected.
The whole question, is, therefore, under what conditions are men-
tal impressions of any kind communicated from mind to mind

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Address of the President.

without the intervention of known physical causes ? I have
carefully studied the proceedings of our parent societ}', as well
as articles in magazines describing cases of supposed thought-
transference, without being able to find any answer whatever
to this question.

Let us now look more closely into the history of the inves-
tigation. As our own work is in some sort a continuance of
that of the English society, we may begin by recalling certain
extremely interesting experiments of the former, which, if prop-
erly followed up, might be expected to lead to a definite con-
clusion.

In the latter part of the year 1882, some members of the
society learned through Mr. Douglas Blackburn, an associate,
that a mesmerist of Brighton, named Smith, had the power of
describing impressions existing in Mr. Blackburn's mind. After
some tests of this power, it was found that Mr. Smith could
copy a drawing of which it was supposed he had no knowledge,
except as it existed in Mr. Blackburn's memory. In copying
the drawings, the " percipient," Mr. Smith, sat at a tsible, blind-
folded, while behind him sat the "agent," Mr. Blackburn,
thinking intently on the form of the drawing as he had just
seen it. Very soon Mr. Smith began to make a copy of the
drawing so like the original that no doubt could exist of a
relation between the two. This copying of drawings was prac-
tised in December, 1882, in Brighton, and again for three or
four days during the following month in London.

It was afterwards found that two young ladies in a large
drapery establishment in Liverpool possessed a similar power;
and reports on them were made to the society by their em-
ployer, Mr. Malcolm Guthrie, J.P., and by Professor Lodge.
In some respects these trials are more complete than those
made with Mr. Smith, since a number of pefsons seem to have
acted successfully as agents. Out of a total of one hundred
and fifty drawings, only sixteen are given ; so that the data for
deducing any law bearing upon the subject are entirely wanting.
These copies of drawings have a great advantage over ver-
bal descriptions, in that the record can be made the subject .*'
future study. It was found that the three or fouj persons abie
to copy invisible drawings were also able, as we may well sup-

AJdreftH of the President.

pose, to describe invisible objects. It is tlifncult to see how one
could draw an object unless be luid some conception of it in bis
mind, and witb tins conception he should be able to describe it.
There was also one interesting case of an apparently marvel-
lous power of naming objects thought of by others. The Rev.
A. M. Creery discovered that his four little girls, as well as a
waiting-maid in his family, possessed this power in a remarkable
degree. A child being sent out of the room, an object to be
thought of was agreed upon by the company, or a card was
drawn from a pack and passed around. On being called back
to the room, the child was very soon able to name the card or
object. What is yet more wonderful, the power was not con-
fined to merely mateiial objects, but extended to the guessing
of numbers and names which could convey no definite idea to
a child's mind. Judging from the number of reports made
about these children, it would seem that some definite conclu-
sion might have been hoped for.

The question which now arises is. Does all this prove that in
this case thought was transferred from one person to another
without the interventicm of previously recognized agencies?
The principles I have already enunciated will lead us to answer
this question in the negative. All investigation of this kind
should assume in advance that the phenomena which we observe
^e the result of certain causes, or are associated with certain
conditions; and that when these causes or conditions are repro-
duced, the phenomenon will recur. Until these causes or con-
ditions are discovered, nothing can be inferred.

What science concerns itself with is not the mere recurrence
of the phenomena, but the nature of the relation between the
cause and the effect. Such isolated facts as that some particu-
lar man in the fifteenth century got well of a disease after a
priest had laid hands upon him, or that a little girl at a certain
time guessed a card she did not see, are in themselves of no sci-
entific interest or importance, however well they may be fitted
to excite our curiosity. What we want to discover is the
invariable relation by which every sick man of a definable class,
upon whom the right kind of a priest lays his hands, shall be
cured ; and to discover all the conditions under which a little
girl can name a card. Until these conditions can be discovered,

ijmmmmmsi...

- atinW-i

AddreHM of the Prttttident.

we have no right to attribute the result to one cause rather
than to another. It is true that we have not the right to
demand tliat every little girl shall he able to name the eard
under the given conditions. There may be only one girl out
of a thousand, or only one out of a million, who possesses the
required power, just as there is only one man out of a thousand
who can integrate a differential equation. At the same tune,
tiie cases must be numerous enough to niake them a subject of
some kind of investigation, and to deduce from them a state-
ment of some kind of general law. The rarer they are, the
greater the attention that should be devoted to them when
found.

Again, in the case of the drawings, as well as in the other cases,
the same question arises. We have given, an " agent " A, and
a '* percipient " P. It is found that au impression of some sort
is conveyed from A to P. What we want to know is, how it
is conveyed. When we can answer this question, we shall be
able to say whether a new theory of mind is to be established.
To find how it is conveyed, the very first step is to determine
by experiment the laws «)f conveyance ; that is, the conditions
necessary and sufficient to the transmission. The first ques-
tions which would arise might be the following : —

Whether the power on the part of A diminishes with the
distance from P ; and, if so, according to what apparent law?

Whether at any given distance the relative position of the
two parties affects the result?

Whether the interventicm of a material obstacle, such as a
door, interferes with the transmission of the impression ?

Whether the presence of light or darkness affects the result?

Whether sight on the part of either A or P is jiecessary ?

Whether the result is any more successful when the object
or idea selected originates with the agent than with some other
person?

Whether the presence of any particular person is necessary ?

After these questions are all answered, other details without
number would arise. But these would come first.

It does not appear, that, up to the present time, either the
parent society or our own has been able to decide any of these
questions. When the experiments were begun, it was indeed

►i'SVSSCTliStfWli^Mil

- *^f^«V#^..->-^.-^- n.,^^^-:!..^ , •

4AI

AddreM of the Premlent.

sought to determine whether contact between Mr. Blackburn
und Mr. Smith wa.s necessary. This question was decided in the
negative. In another case, wlune the trials were made with
Messrs. Bhickburn and Smith, tlie observers, after nuikiiig
eleven numbered experiments, placed the two men in separate
rooms. It was then found that the communication failed.
But there was no inquiry why it failed, and no statement
wheth-sr the door was open or shut, or whether the parties
were farther apart than tliey were when the experiment suc-
^ceeded.

' Whatever view we may take of this matter, it seems to me,
that, in the absence of any consideration or decision upon tlie
various questions which I have raised respecting the con<litions
of thought-transference, we are not entitled to conclude that
any causes come into play in the matter except unknown con-
ditions. This view is strengthened by another consideration
to which I shall call your attention. I have already alluded to
the general fact in the history of scientific investigation, that,
when sequences of phenomena which are rare in themselves
become a subject of inquiry, their reproduction and observation
become easier anil easier. Two centtuies ago the phenomena
of electricity produced by artificial excitation were extremely
rare and had little variety. But, as science advanced, new
methods of producing electrical effects were discovered, and
the conditions of the production of electricity became easier
and easier to fulfil. Now no one has any doubt or difficulty
about the method of producing electrical phenomena at
pleasure. Why this should be so is obvious. The more we
study a phenomenon which is the product of a law of nature
acting under certain conditions, the more likely we are to dis-
cover such conditions. The more we find out about them, the
easier it will be to produce them, or to determine the law of
their recurrence. Easier investigation is therefore the almost
necessary result of scientific progress.

On the other hand, if the phenomenon becomes moie rare as
we proceed, we reach the conclusion that it is not associated
with any given conditions by a law of nature, but is only the
result of accidental or unknown circumstances unassociated
with any new law. I may, perhaps, borrow an astronomical

Jlistamimmimmi

Aihlreitfi of the PreniJent.

illustration of this principle. Wo know that astronomical
records contain many observations of dark bodies passing over
the disk of the sun. It has frequently been supposed that
these phenomena were due to the transits of unknown inter-
Mercurial planets. But, when we look into the history of the
subject, we find that such observations are nearly always made
by comparatively inexperienced observers, with imperfect in-
struments; and that as instruments are improved, and observers
acquire practice, they gradually disappear. These facts alone
have sufficed to render astronomers sceptical as to their reality.
The fact that the observations cannot be reconciled with each
other in such a way as to (how that they belong to the same
body is generally considered to afford nearly conclusive proof
of their spurious character. In fact, we may regard this charac-
ter as now fully established.

Guided by this analogy, let us see what we should expect the
history of psychical research to be, were thought-transference
real. An investigator w()uld have found one or more i)ei-sons
possessing some power of influencing the minds of others by a
direct transfer of ideas. It would probably nave been found
that some ideas were transferred more readily than others, and
that the transfer was better marked under some conditions than
under others. The discovery of these ideas and their conditions
would in its turn have facilitated the study of the transfer by
teaching how to secure it, and thus the body of knowledge
would have gone on increasing. This knowledge would have
resulted in the discovery of other laws, and in the gradual en-
largement of the number of people who possessed the power.
Finally the investigators would have been able to say: If you
consider this or that form of thought ; if you select a certain
definable class of people, and proceed in a certain way, — then
you will be able, when you please, to observe thought-trans-
ference.

Such has not been the history of the case. The most careful
collection of facts and observations during three years has failed
to show any common feature in the ideas transferred, and has
thrown no light on the question of the condition under which
the phenomena can occur. The theory cannot be reconciled on
any reasonable hypothesis, even that of thought-transference,

AJdrenH of tlie Prendent,

with the absence of such ftction where we should most ex-
pect it.

When wo consider the iniportunce of the problems which
were presented, we cannot but feel regret that so little public
attention was given to the subject. If we accept the conclusion
of thought-triinsfeience, we liave the startling result that there
were and probably still are in England a number of people
possessed of the power of perceiving or being affected by what
is going on in other men's minds. Why did not Parliament
giant the necessary funds to enable these people to be collected,
supported at the public expense, and experimented upon?
" Practice makes perfect," says the proverb i and it might well
be hoped that, after a little well-<lirected practice, these people
could perceive the thoughts and memories in the minds of mur-
derers and robbers, and thus do away at one stroke with one
of the greatest difficulties in administering justice. Instead of
this, the parties and the subject have been lost sight of, so far
at least as appears from published I'ecords.

To suppose that the society has made no effort to utilize the
knowledge acquired during its existence, by discovering other
persons possessed of the powers in question, would be too
severe a reflection upon its eminent membership for any one to
indulge in. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, we are
\o presume that a very careful search has been kept up. But,
if this is BO, not only have no new discoveries been made, but
the old ones, if we can call the conclusions by that name, have
not been confirmed.

I feel it a great misfortune that I have not been able to take
an active part in the work of this society, and am not fully
acquainted with its latest details. So far, however, as I have
learned, we have been less successful than the parent society in
finding satisfactory subjects of investigation. We might almost
say that careful search has failed to bring us subjects to be ex-
perimented upon. An exception to this is found in the case of
one of our most eminent members, who has been experimenting
upon mesmerized pei-sons. His work having not yet been com-
municated to the society, I must speak of it with much reserve,
and may possibly be out of strict order in alluding to it at all.
I cannot, however, refrain from citing one result which he has

Adilreta qf (he Preaident.

)

verbally communicutetl to me. It in well known thnt mesmer-
ized jierHona are tiiuHu Hiipposed to l>u nioMt MUHCcptiMe to the
reception of agencieH exerted by other niindrt without phyMical
communication. I U>arn, however, that our fellow-experimenter
has not been able to find any cases in which any mental impreH-
»ion could be conveyed to, or any nervous effect produced upon,
a mesmerized subject, without a sufficient physical cause being
found. Isolate the agent and the subject from each other, and
no impression or action whatever can pass from one to the
other.

If the investigation of thought-transference is to be still fur-
ther pursued by us, it may be useful to point out the condi-
tions under which we should expect it to be found. One of
these must be found in the case of the man who is surrounded
by a crowd watching a pyrotechnic display. Within a few
yards of him there are a hundred people who simultaneously
receive upon their minds the startling impression of a brilliant
rocket. If there is such a thing as telepathy, then, a person
standing in the middle of the crowd, with his eyes closed and his
ears filled with wax, ought to know just when the rocket appears,
by a mental tremor of some kind, not traceable to any physical
agency. I suggest this as one very simple experiment on the
subject.

Let U3 take another case. West of the Mississippi River
there are probably several hundred thousaind persons whose
chief amusement is the playing of a game of cards, in which a
knowledge of the cards which another person right in front of
him is looking at, or even the power to make a probable guess
on the subject, would lead rapidly to success and fortune. Yet
not a case has ever been known to arise in which a player could
get the slighest inkling of what sort of a hand his opponent held
by any process of mind-reading. Is it not worth our while to
institute an investigation among the players of this game ?

The question may arise whether the non-occurrence of the
phenomenon under those circumstances where we should most
suspect it is not due to the rarity of some special power. This
hypothesis is however negatived by the observations of our
parent society, already mentioned. We have seen that three
or four children and a waiting-maid were found in a single

AddreuM qf the Pretident.

family, till of whom cnul.l mime cards which other persons hnd
Himply Umked at, aiul c(»ul«l even jfiiess a mimiier whii^li aiiotht-r
person tiiouglit of. Now, if tliu pow.ir w«re really rare, what is
tlie probability that four pei^^ons pi)«8esMiiu it would be found
in a single family? W should ii, vf to wander among the in-
finities to investigate it. I'onsibly it might be suggested that
heredity would result in one possessing the same powers iliat
others did. Hut heredity could not extend to the wuiting-niaid
of the family, uidess we introtluce some such new biological
hypothesis as t\\i absorption of one person's powers by another.
Not oidy were four or five of the persons found in one family,
but in other cases two or more were found at work in the same
factory. Now, adopt what theory we may, this curious group-
ing of i^ersons endowed with the power prevents us from re-
garding it as sporadic. We must form the hypothesis, that,
when one individual possesses it, there is & certain chance of its
passing to another individual who chances to be an inmate of
the same family. But, if we adopt this hypothesis, how shall
we prevent it from spreading through the whole community ?
In fine, what rational hypothesis can we form to explain every
thing? If we grant that thought-transference is a fact, just
how are we to limit it? How explain its apparent absence
under circumstances where we shcmld most suspect it? What
prevents any one person from being influenced by the thoughts
and feelings of the whole thousand milli«m of other people who
live in the world? In the absence of any answer by the
Psychical Society, I shall suggest one : The intensity of the
effect diminishes very rapidly with the distance.

If this be the case, it should increase very rapidly as the dis-
tance diminishes ; and of this no evidence has been found. Nor
is the hypothesis of dependence upon distance supported by all
the facts. In some of the most striking cases on record, the
parties were separated by miles ; I am not sure but continents
or oceans have occasionally intervened.

It appeai-8, therefore, that not only has no theory of thought-
transference been constructed, but it does not seem possible
even to imagine any one simple theory, or set of general laws,
which will explain all thg phenomena. I beg leave to say once
more, that what we want is a statement of general laws, like

Addremt of the Pre»uieu(.

tho«e which we find in bo(»k« on meohunicH, olpotricity, ningnet-
iHUj, or phyniology, setting forth tho coiiditionH nnilor which
tlioiigliUrunrtference can he brought tibout. That no Hii'h
work has appeared, or been attempted, can, it Heeina to inc, be
acc(;unted for only by the fact jiwt brougiit out, that no one «et
•)f principle* cau bo formuUted that will cover all the »ui»iKmed

lactH. ^ e \ V

When, some two years ago, the early experiments of the Eng-
lish psychical society were made known, it seemed to me that
a stnuig case was made out for a new law of nature governing
the transnussion of thought, or some form of mental intluence
from perso)i to person. The state of the case I suppose to be
that a number of members found themselves permanently able
to copy drawings without other guidance than the thoughts of
other members not in physical contact with them. Under the
influence of this possibility, I encouraged the formation of our
own society, and accepted membership in it.

Being thus interested in the work, my first act was very natu-
rally to enter upon a more critical and careful study of the work
of the parent society. I soon noticed that in its essential fea-
tures it differed remarkably from what I had supposed. It lost
the character of generality which I had attributed to it. As
the result of the circumstances which I have already considered,
I may say that the work of the society seems to me to have
almost entirely removed any ground which might have existed
for believing thought-transference to be a reality. I have seen
nothing in our own work to change that conclusion. Every
wide consideration which occurs to me leads in the same direc-
tion. We are not dealing primarily with a question of quantity
and degree, but with one of yes or no. Considered in ad-
vance of experience, it may be an open question whether thought
in its very nature is or is not transferrable. Whether we regard
thought as simply the working of our own organism, or regard
our minds as inhabiting our nervous systems, it may be true
in either case that our minds are absolutely incapable of exert-
ing an actio in distans. Now, if this bg true as an essential qual-
ity of mind, then the very expression *♦ thought-transference "
involves an impossibility. But granting that it is true, and that
thought may be transferred, then reflect upon the number of

.^v«

Address of the President.

people who surround us, and the infinity of the conditions undei*
which thought might be transferred. How is it that with such
ample opportunities of experiment extending througli centuries,
and such industry as has been devoted to the subject here and
in England through the last two years, no living person knows
any more about the conditions of transference to-day than men
did a thousand years ago ?

The question suggests itself whether the search for the
phenomena under present circumstances is not much that of
looking for a kind of gold which shall differ in density from
ordinary gold, or for a smbstance of unheard-of specific gravity.
We may advertise for specimens of such things, and execute
many weighings, with a view of testing claimants to our atten-
tion. Yet I am persuaded that, should we undertake this., the
unanimous views of chemists would be that we were wasting
our labor. The negative evidence that no gold has been found
differing much in specific gravity from that which we carry in
our pockets is conclusive against its existence.

Whether we should take the same view of thought-transfer-
ence is a question on which I refrain from expressing a decided
opinion, for the reason that no such opinion is necessary. Even
if there is no real thought-transference, we have cases of appar-
ent thought-transference to investigate and explain, which may
lead us to the discovery of new laws of mental action.

An illustration of the line of research here indicated may not
be out of place. The largest collection of facts made by our
parent society comprises occurrences of the following general
character. A person, generally one not subject to hallucina-
tions, suddenly receives an impression the cause of which he
cannot define. Commonly it is the visual image of some absent
friend or relative in a state of suffering, or the voice of a speaker
calling aloud, or the impression a pain not associated with any
physical cause. After a few hours, days, or weeks, news is
received from the friend that something had happened to him
at the very moment the impression had been received, bearing
too close relation to the impression for a mere accidental co-in-
cidence. Very often the case is one of the death of the friend.
Sometimes he cried aloud in pain, and used the very words
which the other heard.

r'.ia';g6'Sr;- ii ar H g - " . - ■

Address of the President.

Such is the order of events as commonly described ; Imt, if
described as they actually come to knowledge, tliey would ap-
pear ill a different form. The experience of the observer would
be : I heard that my friend was dead, or that lie had met with
an accident and cried aloud. After inquiring when the death
or accident occurred, I remembered that about that time I heard
this very exclamation, or saw his image before my eyes.

Now, we have two theories on which this may be explained.
It may be that there was a real transfer from the friend to the
liercipient ; or the whole recollection may have been the work
of the percipient's mind at the time,— -a mere illusion of the
memory. My own experience leads me to believe that these
illusions are more common and more difficult to distinguish
from the reality than generally supposed. I have no reason to
consider myself in any unusual degree the victim of illusions;
yet I frequently find vague impressions in my mind the reality
of which I am unable either to deny or affirm. They may have
been dreams, and they may have been occurrences. I fre-
quently have a dream which I forget all about until a day or
two afterwards, when perhaps some impression produced in the
dream is brought to mind. Having totally forgotten that I
had any dream at all, I am often at a loss to say whether the
impression is that of something which I really saw, or some-
thing which I dreamed of. I do not remember ever to have
had an hallucination in my waking hours, but dream hallHci-
nations I find not at all uncommon. It may not be out of
place if I relate one, which, after the lapse of more than a year,
I am still unable to classify with certainty as a reality or illu-
sion. *

I dined with friends at a hotel, later and more generously
than was my custom, and retired without the post-prandial air-
ing necessary in my case to sound sleep. The window of my
room in the hotel was directly above the kitchen, and I was
much disturbed by noise coming from that quarter. Some time
in the night, I cannot tell when, I heard, or thought I heard,
a window opened above my room, and the (roice of a guest call-
ing in a loud voice to the servants below, " If you don't stop
that racket, I will get up and leave the hotel." The whole im-
pression was so vivid that I have ever since been in doubt

Address of the President.

whether it was a dream or a reality, with perhaps slight proba-
bilities in favor of its being a dream.

I believe that our dream life and our imaginative powers are
more potent factors in the production of supiwsed extraordi-
nary phenomena than is commoiily supi^sed. Whatever may
be the fate of the theory of thought-transference, the phenom-
ena of hypnotisms, as well as of dreams, illusions, and faults
of memory, are ah before us. They form a field of whicli the
cultivation has only commenced, and which ought to prove
attractive to all. I even venture to say, that, if thought-trans-
ference is real, we shall establish its reality more speedily by
leaving it out of consideration, and collecting facts for study,
than by directing our attention especially to it.

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