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EXPERIMENTS IN 
 
 PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 LEVITATION, "CONTACT," AND 
 THE "DIRECT VOICE" 
 
EXPERIMENTS IN 
 
 PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 LEVITATION, "CONTACT," AND 
 THE "DIRECT VOICE" 
 
 BY 
 
 W. J. CRAWFORD, D.Sc. 
 
 LECTURER IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING, THE MUNICIPAL TECHNICAL INSTITUTE, 
 BELFAST ; EXTRA-MURAL LECTURER IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING, 
 QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY OF BELFAST ■ 
 AUTHOR OF "ELEMENTARY GRAPHIC STATICS," "CALCULATIONS ON THE ENTROPY- 
 TEMPERATURE CHART," "THE REALITY OF PSYCHIC PHENOMENA," 
 "SOME PRACTICAL HINTS FOR THOSE INVESTIGATING SPIRITUALISM," 
 
 ETC. 
 
 LONDON 
 JOHN M. WATKINS 
 
 21 CECIL COURT, CHARING CROSS ROAD 
 
 E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY 
 
 68 1 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 
 
 1919 
 
C7 
 
 educ. 
 
 PSYCH. 
 LIBRARY 
 
PREFACE 
 
 In this work I deal with problems connected 
 with the physical phenomena of spiritualism. I 
 have already examined some of these in The 
 Reality of Psychic Phenomena, published two 
 years ago, but in the present volume I go 
 further into details. I describe experiments for 
 the most part of a more difficult and far-reaching 
 nature than those set forth in my former book. 
 In addition, I give the results of tests carried 
 out on " contact " phenomena and on the " direct 
 voice." 
 
 I purpose in the near future to write a volume 
 dealing with the more intimate details of the 
 psychic structures at the Goligher circle. 
 
 I think that a series of small works dealing 
 with the results of psychic investigation is 
 preferable to one unwieldy volume containing 
 masses of detail. One needs to take these 
 psychic matters in small doses if they are to 
 have any chance of assimilation. 
 
 My purpose in writing these books is to 
 advance our knowledge of psychic phenomena 
 and the laws underlying them. The actual ex- 
 perimenting has given me great pleasure, though 
 it has involved the outlay of much time and 
 
 -428 
 
vi EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 labour. No one unacquainted with the subject 
 and its peculiar difficulties can adequately ap- 
 preciate the time and toil required in the 
 preparation of even a small work such as this. 
 The only reward is an intellectual one, and the 
 stimulation comes from one's innate interest in 
 the subject. 
 
 I have to thank Mr S. Stoupe, of the Art 
 Department of the Technical Institute, Belfast, 
 for the valuable help he has given me, especially 
 with regard to photography ; and Mr C. C. 
 Pounder, A.M.I.Mech.E., for his assistance in 
 reading over the manuscript and suggesting 
 alterations and improvements. 
 
 I also desire to thank other friends who have 
 helped me in various ways. 
 
 In the text of the present work I use the 
 letters R.P.P. when I refer to my former book, 
 The Reality of Psychic Phenomena. 
 
 W. J. CRAWFORD. 
 
 Belfast, December 1918. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 1. INTRODUCTORY I 
 
 2. NEW PROBLEMS AND EXPERIMENTS ON RE- 
 
 ACTION .l8 
 
 3. MISCELLANEOUS 82 
 
 4. ANALYSIS OF RESULTS ..... IOO 
 
 5. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS .... 120, 
 
 6. CONTACT PHENOMENA I54 
 
 7. DIRECT-VOICE PHENOMENA .... 170 
 
 Vll 
 
EXPERIMENTS IN 
 
 PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 Problems which await solution — The Goligher phenomena — What 
 the operators themselves say about the psychic structures. 
 
 Although complete in itself, the present volume 
 is partly a continuation of my previous book, 
 The Reality of Psychic Phenomena, which 1 
 assume the reader has perused. In that book 
 I described a series of experiments carried out 
 with a view of ascertaining the laws governing 
 the lifting of tables at seances. Those experi- 
 ments dealt, in the main, with phenomena pro- 
 duced at a home-circle in Belfast, at which tables 
 and stools and other articles were lifted into the 
 air untouched by any person. I put forward 
 the theory that rod-like structures issued from 
 the body of the medium and effected the levita- 
 tions. The table movements were executed 
 under the guidance of invisible " operators " who, 
 under the seance conditions, were able to work 
 in conjunction with the medimr-.- 4 '■ i ,' 
 
 In this volume the matter is taken further. 
 
2 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 It deals with experiments carried out by me at 
 Belfast in 1916-1917. The circle referred to as 
 the Goligher circle consists of Miss Kathleen 
 Goligher (the medium), her three sisters, brother, 
 father, and brother-in-law. The terminology- 
 employed is the same as that previously used. 
 
 Although certain general conclusions were put 
 forward in my previous book, many problems 
 were necessarily left unsolved or were only partly 
 solved. A few such are as follows : — 
 
 (1) While the table is levitated, what is the 
 
 effect of adding weights to it, i.e. of 
 gradually increasing the w r eight of the 
 levitated body ? If the cantilever theory 
 be true, would not the applied moment 
 of the weight at length reach such a 
 magnitude that the medium would topple 
 over in her chair ? 
 
 (2) When a man presses downwards with great 
 
 force upon the levitated table, would not 
 the cantilever theory involve the toppling 
 over of the medium ? 
 
 (3) Is the cantilever theory true for all types of 
 
 levitation phenomena, or is it only true 
 for a particular case ? 
 
 (4) What type of psychic mechanism is employed 
 
 when the medium's chair (with the medium 
 sitting on it) is bodily moved about the 
 floor of the seance-room ? 
 
 (5) How is it that the medium feels no reaction 
 
 effects upon her body ? 
 
INTRODUCTORY 3 
 
 (6) What type of psychic mechanism is employed 
 
 when the table rests on the floor several 
 feet from the medium, and a man cannot 
 move it either inwards or outwards, how- 
 ever hard he pushes it towards, or pulls 
 it from the medium ? 
 
 (7) What is the exact shape of the cantilever 
 
 arm which levitates the table ? 
 
 These are problems upon which I hope to 
 be able to throw some light in this book. The 
 experimental consideration of the more intimate 
 details of the psychic structure is left to another 
 occasion. 
 
 In order that the reader may properly focus 
 his attention on the work to follow, let me 
 briefly describe, even at the risk of some slight 
 repetition, the phenomena that occur at an 
 ordinary observational seance with the Goligher 
 circle. 
 
 The General Phenomena 
 
 The members constituting the circle enter the 
 room, and each sits down on his customary chair. 
 They sit in the form of a circle about five feet 
 diameter, and the table is placed in the centre. 
 The ordinary illuminant is turned off and a red 
 light turned on. The sitters clasp each other's 
 hands in chain order, and the seance commences. 
 One of the members of the circle opens the 
 proceedings with prayer, and then a hymn is 
 sung. In a few minutes, sounds— tap, tap, tap 
 
4 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 — are heard on the floor close to the medium. 
 These are the first " spirit " raps of the evening. 
 They soon become louder and stronger, and 
 occur right out in the circle space, on the table, 
 and on the chairs of the sitters. Their magni- 
 tude varies in intensity from the slightest audible 
 ticks to blows which might well be produced by 
 a sledge-hammer, the latter really being awe- 
 inspiring and easily heard two stories below, and 
 even outside the house. The loud blows per- 
 ceptibly shake the floor and chairs. Sometimes 
 the raps keep time to hymns sung by the 
 members of the circle ; sometimes they tap out 
 of themselves complicated tunes and dances on 
 top of the table or on the floor. Besides the 
 ordinary raps the operators can produce various 
 modifications and peculiar variations. For in- 
 stance, they can imitate a bouncing ball so per- 
 fectly that one would be prepared to affirm a 
 ball was really in the room. They can imitate 
 to perfection the sawing of the table leg, the 
 striking of a match, the walking of a man, and 
 the trotting of a horse. They give double and 
 treble knocks, i.e. two or three fast ones and one 
 slow one. In fact, almost every variety and 
 combination of rap it is possible to imagine is 
 heard. I have used the phonograph in the 
 seance-room and possess three authentic records 
 of many varieties of raps. These records I have 
 used while lecturing on this subject. The re- 
 corded sounds can easily be heard in a hall 
 holding 500 people. 
 
INTRODUCTORY 5 
 
 After a quarter of an hour or so the rapping 
 ceases and another type of phenomenon takes its 
 place. The reader should remember that the 
 members of the circle are simply sitting on their 
 chairs holding each other's hands in chain order, 
 and are only passive instruments in the hands of 
 the invisible operators — whoever the latter may 
 be supposed to be. The little table is standing 
 on the floor within the circle formed by the 
 sitters, and is not in contact with any of them, 
 or with any portion of their clothing. Suddenly 
 the table gives a lurch or moves slightly along 
 the floor. After a while it may give another 
 lurch, or it may rise into the air on two legs (two 
 legs being thus in the air and two on the floor). 
 These movements — which are executed, as I 
 have said, without physical contact with the 
 medium or the members of the circle — are the 
 preliminary motions which usually take place 
 just previous to the first levitation, i.e. before 
 the table rises completely into the air of itself, 
 where it remains suspended for several minutes 
 without visible support. 
 
 I have seen hundreds of levitations under all 
 conditions : standard levitations (such as that 
 mentioned above), abnormal levitations (such as 
 where a stool rose four feet into the air and 
 moved gently up and down for several minutes 
 while we all examined it closely and while the 
 medium was seated on a weighing-machine), and 
 freak levitations (such as where the table, being 
 levitated, rocked in the air just like a small boat 
 
6 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 tossed about on a choppy sea). I have seen the 
 table turn completely round in the air, and I 
 have seen it levitated upside down and sideways. 
 After the exhibition of levitation ceases, the 
 trumpet phenomena commence. At the begin- 
 ning of the seance a couple of thin metal cones, 
 which fit telescopically into each other and which 
 we will call " trumpets," are fixed together and 
 placed upright on the floor between the medium 
 and her father. The trumpets now begin to 
 straddle over the floor with little leaps and jerks, 
 remaining in a vertical position until they reach 
 the table (now at rest in the centre of the circle), 
 where they fall, or are sometimes seemingly 
 pushed over, and are then drawn under the 
 table. A loud shuffling noise is now heard, for 
 the operators are trying to detach the trumpets, 
 a somewhat difficult process, as they fit rather 
 tightly together. At length, however, the 
 operators succeed in separating the two pieces, 
 which are soon seen floating in the air, with their 
 ends projecting from under the table. The 
 halves then beat time to a tune, like the batons 
 of a conductor, after which a visitor is allowed 
 to grasp the end of either and thus " shake 
 hands " with the invisible entities. Sometimes 
 the operators press upwards on the undersurface 
 of the table with one or both of the floating 
 trumpets, thus levitating it. A little handbell is 
 sometimes placed on the floor, and this is often 
 lifted and rung. The sound may be clear as 
 though the bell were held by the handle, or dull 
 
INTRODUCTORY 7 
 
 as though it were held by the metal. Sometimes 
 raps accompany the ringing of the bell. The 
 sitters are occasionally psychically " touched " on 
 various parts of the body. 
 
 Towards the end of the seance — about an hour 
 and a half from the opening — the psychic energy 
 available, to use a common term, is at a maxi- 
 mum, and great forces are exerted. For instance, 
 although a heavy man sits upon the table, it 
 moves about the floor with great ease ; or the 
 table being levitated, a strong man pushing from 
 the top cannot depress it to the floor ; or the 
 table moves to the side of the circle farthest 
 from the medium and an experimenter is asked 
 to lay hold of it and try to prevent its return to 
 the centre, but he is totally unable to do so ; or 
 the table's weight can be temporarily so much 
 increased that it cannot be lifted, or, on the other 
 hand, so much reduced that it can be raised by 
 an upward force of an ounce or two ; or the table 
 being turned upside down on the floor cannot be 
 raised by a strong upward pull on the legs, being 
 apparently fastened to the floor. 
 
 Some New Levitations 
 
 Besides the ordinary standard type of levita- 
 tion, in which the table rises vertically into the 
 air in a normal manner, various modified and 
 peculiar types of the phenomenon have occurred. 
 At a recent seance the table turned over on its 
 side with edge of surface and two legs on the 
 
8 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 floor, surface remote from medium. Then it 
 levitated in that position (fig. 1), remaining in 
 the air for about half a minute, with lowest edge 
 about a foot above the floor. The surface (S) 
 was about 4 feet from the body of the medium. 
 It levitated again in the same way, and then 
 turned over in the air, very slowly at first and 
 then jerkily, until its surface was horizontal 
 
 ♦EVlTATED 
 
 TabLe 
 
 B 
 
 Medium. 
 
 FLoor Level. 
 
 Fig. i. 
 
 and it had attained a normal levitated position. 
 Fig. 2 gives successive positions. At subsequent 
 seances the table turned completely over, as 
 above, both broadwise and endwise, i.e. where, 
 in the one case, AB (fig. 1) represents the short 
 edge, and, in the other case, the long edge of the 
 surface. 
 
 While at position (3), i.e. where the table was 
 inclined at about 45° to the floor, the operators 
 
INTRODUCTORY 
 
 9 
 
 seemed to experience the greatest difficulty in 
 the carrying out of this phenomenon. They 
 seemed to have no 
 trouble in levitat- 
 ing the table as at 
 ( 1 ), and in turning 
 it over in the air 
 to about position 
 (3), but a halt 
 always occurred at 
 (3). Sometimes, 
 even, the table 
 dropped there, the 
 completed pheno- 
 menon evidently 
 being impossible 
 despite the almost 
 frantic efforts of 
 the operators. At 
 other times, after 
 a brief halt and 
 various shakings 
 and jerkings in the 
 air, the table was 
 turned over into 
 positions (4) and 
 (5). At the criti- 
 cal point (3) sounds 
 were often heard 
 on the surface and 
 legs of the table, 
 
 
 
 J 
 
 -J 
 
 as though suckers were slipping over the wood, or 
 
10 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 were being forced off, or were taking new grips. 
 There could be no mistaking these sounds, for 
 they made quite an audible swish. On one or 
 two occasions the table suddenly dropped 6 in. 
 or so in the air, and simultaneously there was 
 heard the swishing noise, the inference being 
 that a sucker had been torn from its grip. The 
 operators themselves say that during these 
 abnormal levitations they have several psychic 
 rods projecting from the medium simultane- 
 ously, and that they grip the surface, the legs, 
 and the cross-bars (if the table possesses them) 
 with the ends of these rods, which resemble 
 straight arms having the power to take a suction 
 grip on wooden surfaces with their free ex- 
 tremities. Up to position (3) (fig. 2) it is easily 
 understandable that the rods could fairly easily 
 grip the legs or undersurface of the table (per- 
 haps three rods being in operation at once) and 
 turn the table partly over as shown ; but about 
 position (3) there would have to be a new dis- 
 position of the rods ; or one or more of them 
 would have to let go and take a grip on another 
 part of the table ; or, owing to the awkward 
 position reached, some of the rods would have 
 too much stress upon them and would be likely 
 to slip (as seems actually to occur, if we may 
 judge by the sounds heard) ; and, in general, new 
 arrangements would have to be made. Imagine 
 a man sitting in the medium's chair, and, instead 
 of his two arms, to possess three or four unjointed 
 rods which he can move up and down and to 
 
INTRODUCTORY 11 
 
 and fro, which he can shorten and lengthen but 
 which he cannot bend, and with the ends of 
 which he can take a suction grip on various parts 
 
 PLoofj LeveiL . 
 
 Fig. 3. 
 
 of the table, and we have a fairly good idea of 
 what is taking place during the occurrence of 
 the phenomenon. 
 
 The psychic rods are usually quite invisible. 
 
 "FLoor Level. 
 
 Fig. 4. 
 
 Abnormal levitations (in each case lasting for 
 a minute or longer, not merely transitory) have 
 also occurred, as in fig. 3, where the table re- 
 mained in the air inclined as shown, with legs 
 
12 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 towards medium, and as in fig. 4, where the 
 legs were directed away from the medium. 
 
 The Shape of the Levitating Cantilever 
 according to the operators 
 
 The shape of the cantilever at the end of my 
 first series of experiments was comparatively 
 
 FLoor Level 
 
 Fig. 5. 
 
 doubtful. I took it to be roughly as follows 
 (fig. 5), where M is the medium, T the levitated 
 table, and AB the levitating cantilever, the last 
 consisting of two main portions : A, an arm spring- 
 ing from the medium, and B, a vertical column 
 continuous with the arm pressing upwards on the 
 undersurface of the table. I have since taken the 
 opportunity thoroughly to question the operators 
 as to its shape. A seance was held at my own 
 
INTRODUCTORY 13 
 
 house, and replies to questions were given by 
 means of raps, blows, shufflings on the floor, etc. 
 The following was the code : — 
 
 Three raps meant " Yes." 
 
 One rap meant " No." 
 
 Two raps meant " Doubtful." 
 
 A continuous series of raps meant that the 
 operators wished to say something on their 
 own account, i.e. they wished the alphabet 
 spelt out to them, so that they could inter- 
 polate a word or a short sentence. 
 
 A long scraping sound on the floor meant 
 that my supposition (on which I was basing 
 the question) was not quite correct, although it 
 contained some elements of the truth. 
 
 A great many emotions, such as joy, sorrow, 
 agreement, disagreement, fun, friendliness, anger, 
 etc., were often also indicated by the various 
 styles of rapping. For instance, loud emphatic 
 blows in answer to a question indicated (accord- 
 ing to their number) strong agreement or dis- 
 agreement ; or if a lot of questions were asked, 
 none of which would seem to hit the exact truth, 
 a final question apparently did actually strike it. 
 there was a little fusillade of raps indicating that 
 the correct solution had at last been reached. 
 Sometimes the operators seemed so pleased at 
 my guessing something correctly that they 
 suddenly rapped out a lively little tune on the 
 floor. 
 
 The reader should understand that the follow- 
 
14 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 ing description of the levitating structure is 
 given by the operators and that I am not 
 responsible for it and do not attach undue 
 importance to it. Nevertheless it has its points 
 of interest and I think should be included. 
 
 With regard to the dimensions of the canti- 
 lever structure, I first asked the operators if 
 they understood what a " cross-section " was. 
 They answered " No." Then I went on as 
 follows : — 
 
 Q. Do you know the meaning of the words 
 " diameter " or " thickness " ? 
 
 A. Yes. 
 
 Q. Do you know the magnitude of the dimen- 
 sion we call an inch ? 
 
 A. Yes. 
 
 When I asked them to rap out the number of 
 inches in a certain part of the structure they 
 usually hesitated for a little, as though thinking 
 the matter over, and then rapped out the 
 number decisively and firmly. 
 
 According to the operators, the dimensions 
 and shape of a normal levitating cantilever are 
 as shown in fig. 6. 
 
 A. The top of the columnar part of the cantilever 
 is spread out into a broad flat surface of 
 area approximating to the undersurface of 
 the table. In other words, the head of the 
 cantilever is shaped like a mushroom, and 
 even bears some analogy to that boy's 
 plaything known as a sucker. 
 
INTRODUCTORY 
 
 15 
 
 B. A fairly uniform vertical column of diameter 
 about 4 in. At K the cantilever changes 
 its direction from vertical to more or less 
 horizontal. At K the structure is 3 or 
 4 in. above the floor. 
 
 FLooe' Level. 
 
 Fig. 6. 
 
 C. Just before entering the body of the medium, 
 the rod widens to a diameter of about 
 7 in. The rod does not branch out like 
 the roots of a tree where it enters the 
 body of the medium, but goes in un- 
 divided. 
 
 I had thought it possible that the fixed end 
 of the cantilever {i.e. the end fixed to the body 
 of the medium) might spread out into a large 
 number of little rootlets (see R.P.P., ch. xiii.), 
 but the operators were most emphatic that it 
 does not, but goes in solid, although its diameter 
 
16 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 increases (from 4 in. to 7 in.). The diameter 
 given for the greater part of the structure, viz. 
 4 in., agrees approximately with the diameter of 
 the vertical and arched columns seen in the 
 photograph (see R.P.P., ch. xii.). 
 
 It is to be remembered that the whole 
 structure is generally quite invisible to anyone 
 with normal eyesight. The operators always 
 said, however, that under certain conditions 
 certain people who are not clairvoyants would 
 be able to see it, and this statement of theirs 
 has lately proved to be true. I will deal with 
 this point in a later volume. 
 
 What the Operators say of the 
 Rapping Rods 
 
 The theory for rapping, developed in my 
 former book, is that a psychic " rod " issues 
 from the body of the medium — a semi-flexible 
 rod, which is moved up and down and strikes 
 the floor or table. The operators say that the 
 rod theory considered generally is correct. 
 They say that raps are produced in two ways : 
 
 (1) Soft raps, bouncing-ball imitation, etc. — 
 
 by beating the side of the rod on the 
 floor, as one uses a stick for beating a 
 carpet. 
 
 (2) Hard raps — by beating the rod on the floor 
 
 more or less axially. 
 
 While I was obtaining this explanation from 
 
INTRODUCTORY 17 
 
 them, they illustrated the various styles of raps 
 under consideration at the moment, by actually 
 rapping on the floor. 
 
 I asked them the approximate dimensions of 
 a rapping rod used to give a fairly hard blow 
 They gave a blow on the floor as a sample and 
 then said that the diameter of rod used in that 
 particular case was about 2 in. and of uniform 
 thickness over its length, until just before enter- 
 ing the body of the medium, where it increased 
 to a diameter of about 3 in. 
 
 The operators also said that the same rod 
 could be used to make a variety of raps, accord- 
 ing to the strength with which it was struck on 
 the floor. They illustrated this statement by 
 producing (they said with the same rod) a quick 
 variety of raps, as follows : — 
 
 (1) Light taps, as though a lead pencil were 
 
 striking the floor. 
 
 (2) Light bouncing- ball imitation, and 
 
 (3) Hard blows. 
 
 These three different raps were used at this 
 time to reply to questions requiring an affirma- 
 tive answer, i.e. if the operators wished to say 
 "yes" they gave the three raps — (1), (2), (3) 
 above — all different, in succession, a rather in- 
 teresting development. 
 
 2 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 NEW PROBLEMS AND EXPERIMENTS ON 
 REACTION 
 
 Capsizing of medium and her chair during levitation — The two 
 kinds of levitating structure — Effect on weight of medium 
 when experimenter presses downwards on levitated table — 
 Levitation over spring balance — Upside-down levkation — 
 Effect on medium when table's weight is increased — Relation 
 between increased weight of table and loss of weight of 
 medium — Bicycle tests — Psychic structure used when table is 
 pushed inwards strongly towards medium — Direct downward 
 push on spring balance — Psychic mechanism used when 
 medium and her chair are pushed along the floor — Matter 
 abstracted from the body of the medium. 
 
 In my former book, as I have already said, many 
 problems were left unsolved with regard to 
 mechanical reaction during the phenomenon of 
 levitation of the table. I am now going to 
 describe experiments carried out for the purpose 
 of solving some of these and of clearing up 
 points which were left in a doubtful state. As 
 an introduction to this part of my subject the 
 following article, reprinted from The International 
 Psychic Gazette, of September 1916, will be 
 found useful : — 
 
 " During a recent series of experiments upon 
 table levitations, rapping, and allied phenomena, 
 I had occasion to examine pretty carefully the 
 
 18 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 19 
 
 reaction upon the medium, for upon the extent 
 and character of the reaction depends the 
 ability to form a satisfactory theory. 
 
 " In this article I wish to give the results of 
 late observations upon the character of the 
 reaction, and to state as clearly as I can the 
 points with regard to it which are definite and 
 fixed, and those which are still more or less 
 indefinite and, indeed, mysterious. 
 
 " It is well to examine as minutely as possible 
 the case of a table steadily levitated a foot or 
 so in the air: that is to say, a table which, so 
 far as observation goes, is apparently at rest 
 in the air in front of the medium, and is not 
 perceptibly oscillating to and fro, or up and 
 down. I had better say here that I have never 
 witnessed an absolutely immobile levitation, 
 for close observation always shows that there 
 are minute tremors and movements ; but in 
 good examples of the phenomenon these are so 
 small as to be practically negligible. 
 
 " Of course, the reader is to understand that 
 neither the medium nor members of the circle 
 are touching, or in contact with the table in any 
 way. They have either their hands joined in 
 chain order, and feet firmly on floor, or hands 
 on knees for experimental observations. The 
 diameter of the circle is about 5 feet, with the 
 table in the middle. I have seen many hundreds 
 of levitations under all conditions. 
 
 " Supposing, therefore, that the table is steadily 
 levitated, what have I found occurs to the 
 
20 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 medium ? First of all, and most important, 
 between 95 per cent, and 100 per cent, of the 
 weight of the table is added to the normal 
 weight of the medium : i.e., for all practical 
 purposes of calculation the effect is the same 
 as though the table were resting upon her head, 
 or as though she was holding it up with her 
 hands. Experiment, moreover, indicates where 
 the slight difference lies. For there is also a 
 slight reaction, not more than 5 per cent, of the 
 weight of the table, upon the members of the 
 circle (six in number) other than the medium ; 
 so that it is probably correct to say that the 
 effect is exactly the same as though the table 
 were lifted and held at rest in the air by the 
 medium herself, aided very slightly by the help 
 that could by supplied by, say, the use of a 
 finger on the part of each member of the circle. 
 
 " The important fact, however, is that during 
 all the experiments I carried out, nearly all the 
 weight of the levitated table was, during the 
 period of the phenomenon, added to the weight 
 of the medium. My heaviest experimental table 
 was a little over 10 lb., and the lightest slightly 
 less than 3 lb., so that great weights were not 
 involved. We therefore arrive at the following 
 law for this circle. During levitation of light 
 bodies the w eight of the levitated body is practically 
 added to the weight of the medium. This, so far 
 as 1 am concerned, is definite, and admits of no 
 doubt whatever. 
 
 " But now we come to more troublesome con- 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 21 
 
 siderations. What is the effect of the added 
 10 lb. (for the heaviest table) on the organism 
 of the medium ? Is she conscious of anything 
 in the nature of stress on her body ? Is the 
 reaction local or diffused ? 
 
 " In the first place, during levitations at circles 
 held up to about nine months ago, the muscles of 
 her arms from shoulder to wrist were absolutely 
 rigid and hard — indeed, during high levitations 
 they were iron-like in their stiffness. She also 
 experienced a stiffness all over her body, but not 
 to the same extent as in her arms. The bend 
 of the arm was chiefly affected, as well as the 
 muscles at the ankles. Gradually, however, 
 during late months this muscular rigidity during 
 levitation has been dying away, as I have myself 
 observed, until during the last few seances, as I 
 am informed by the director of the circle, it is 
 no longer perceptible. 
 
 " Miss Goligher (the medium), who is a highly 
 intelligent young lady, tells me that she ex- 
 periences now no sensation whatever during the 
 occurrence of phenomena. What has happened 
 in the interval of nine months to cause this 
 change ? Has there been a corresponding funda- 
 mental change in the character of the pheno- 
 mena ? Not so. The phenomena are of the 
 same type and as powerful as ever. 
 
 " At any rate the medium insists that she feels 
 nothing whatever during phenomena, yet I know 
 there is an added weight upon her of about 1 lb. 
 when the table is levitated. The question to con- 
 
22 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 sider is why she does not feel this weight ; why 
 she experiences no inconvenience of any kind. 
 
 " The change in the character of the muscular 
 stress experienced by the medium may perhaps 
 be assumed to be due to the reaction nowadays 
 being more evenly spread over her body than 
 was formerly the case. From being a localised 
 reaction it is now becoming a diffused one. In 
 other words, the magnitude of the reaction per 
 square inch of her body is relatively small and 
 escapes notice. 
 
 " But such an attempt at explanation can only 
 contain a small part of the truth. It might 
 suffice if the total reaction never amounted to 
 more than 10 lb. or so ; but, as a matter of fact, 
 it is often greatly in excess of this, as, for in- 
 stance, when a table being levitated a man 
 presses down on the top of it in an endeavour 
 to depress it to the floor. Allowing 30 lb. for 
 the muscular pressure of the man and 10 lb. for 
 the weight of the table, we have a reaction on 
 the medium of 40 lb. ; and there are many other 
 cases which I have not space to enumerate, in 
 which the total reaction on her body must 
 amount to at least half a hundredweight. Even 
 if such a reaction were diffused (and this is at 
 any rate not always the case), one would think 
 it would be bound to cause physical inconveni- 
 ence to the medium ; and especially would this 
 be so if the reaction were of a variable and im- 
 pacting nature, as is often the case. 
 
 " 1 am now going to offer a hypothesis to 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 23 
 
 account for the insensibility that the medium has 
 always more or less displayed to these reaction 
 forces (though this insensibility is at a maximum 
 nowadays, as I have explained) — a theory which 
 1 feel sure has at any rate something in it. It 
 may be stated thus : — During the occurrence of 
 phenomena the medium, although her brain is 
 practically normal, has a peculiar state of in- 
 sensibility upon her body, allied to the similar 
 state that can be produced by hypnosis. This 
 peculiar condition is induced, 1 think, of set 
 purpose by the operators, in order to render her 
 insensitive to the various mechanical actions 
 which have their focus on her body. That 
 something like this really occurs is rendered 
 likely by an incident which took place at the 
 circle. The medium was entranced (not for 
 physical phenomena, during which she is always 
 normal), and the control said he was going to 
 show the sitters an experiment on the insensi- 
 bility to pain he could induce. The medium 
 had a painful and unhealed burn on one of her 
 elbows, but notwithstanding this she beat both 
 elbows with some force on the arms of the 
 chair — and seemed to enjoy it. She felt no pain 
 whatever when she awoke from trance. 
 
 " A similar case occurs to me concerning 
 another medium in England. A friend in 
 whom I place implicit confidence tells me that 
 he has seen several men sitting on top of a 
 heavy dining table, which rose on two legs. 
 The medium then placed one of his feet under 
 
24 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 one of the raised legs of the table, which pro- 
 ceeded to pound his foot with tremendous force — 
 with a force which could not have failed to break 
 the bones of a normal foot. Yet the medium's 
 foot was quite uninjured, and he suffered no pain 
 then or afterwards. 
 
 " Thus it seems likely that the want of sensi- 
 bility to heavy and varied reactions which un- 
 doubtedly occur upon the medium is due to 
 some peculiar condition of her organism during 
 the period of phenomena. 
 
 " This is also borne out by the reaction effects 
 of heavy raps or blows on the floor. The 
 medium tells me — and there is no doubt she 
 speaks absolute truth — that she is totally un- 
 aware of any movements of her body while such 
 blows are occurring. Yet such reactionary 
 motions sometimes do occur. They don't always 
 occur, and the fact that they don't is one of the 
 mysteries of this kind of phenomena. But I 
 have watched her sitting quietly on a chair in 
 my own house with the red light shining directly 
 on her white blouse, while great sledge-hammer 
 blows have been occurring on the floor several 
 feet in front of her at intervals of a few seconds ; 
 and as each blow was struck I have watched her 
 whole body from the waist upwards sway back- 
 wards several inches. The blows then became 
 lighter and swifter, and with the change the 
 character of the reaction shocks also changed, 
 becoming also lighter and swifter — and finally, 
 when a regular fusillade of raps was being pro- 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 25 
 
 duced, she was under a regular bombardment. 
 I went over beside her and felt the various 
 motions of her body. Yet she is unconscious 
 of them, although quite mentally alert. These 
 slight motions are all that occur while pheno- 
 mena are in operation. During levitations last- 
 ing up to five minutes she sits on her chair as 
 firm as a rock. 
 
 " A matter that I had perhaps better mention 
 is the danger that an unobservant and unscien- 
 tific witness of the rapping phenomena might 
 uncritically conclude that the various slight 
 motions of the medium's body, referred to above, 
 betokened conscious or unconscious fraud on her 
 part. I need not labour the point with regard 
 to Miss Goligher, but I am afraid other mediums 
 may have thereby suffered in the past. Such 
 movements and body stresses are what we 
 should expect, and I for one, knowing what I 
 do about physical phenomena, would be sur- 
 prised to see them entirely absent. For the 
 whole of such phenomena — I refer to levitations, 
 rappings, movement of furniture, etc. — are 
 purely mechanical operations, and must, there- 
 fore, obey the laws of mechanics." 
 
 A matter that caused much comment and dis- 
 cussion was the fact that during levitation of 
 the table the medium had never manifested any 
 tendency to overturn. It is obvious that if the 
 cantilever theory be true, there is a fairly large 
 turning moment upon the medium even when the 
 table itself is the only body levitated, i.e. with- 
 
26 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 out additional weights, while, if a man presses 
 vertically downwards with considerable force 
 upon the levitated table, the turning moment 
 is greatly increased ; yet the medium had never 
 shown the slightest tendency to topple over. 
 
 The table usually levitates with its centre 
 about 2 J ft. from her trunk ; hence, with a 
 downward force of, say, 50 lb., the capsizing 
 moment is 125 lb. -ft., which, to say the least of 
 it, is fairly large, and should, one would think, 
 cause physical inconvenience to the medium. 
 But it is not so. The medium tells me she feels 
 nothing at all. 
 
 During ordinary demonstration seances (in 
 contra-distinction to experimental ones), she sits 
 on a fairly large wooden chair having wooden 
 arm-rests on either side, i.e. her chair is some- 
 what heavier and more massive than the chairs 
 of the other sitters. It can be shown that her 
 own weight and the weight of her chair, together 
 with the pressure of her feet on the floor, were 
 sufficient to counterbalance the greatest turning 
 moment which had so far been applied during 
 ordinary table levitation. 
 
 Experiment 1 
 
 I therefore determined to place the medium 
 on a weighing-machine, and, gradually increasing 
 the weight of the levitated body, to take the 
 reaction upon her for each weight and observe 
 what would happen. Neither the medium nor 
 

 
 
 1 ) ) 1 
 
 ) J 3 > 
 
 5 i « 
 
Experiments in /'• r 'kical Science. \ 
 
 Fig. 
 
 [To face p. 27. 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 27 
 
 any of the members of the circle suspected my 
 real intention, viz., to see if a turning moment 
 would be reached sufficiently great to pull the 
 medium off the machine. 
 
 Apparatus. — A small platform weighing- 
 machine reading to 8 cwt., and marked to 
 2 oz. ; a half imperial size drawing - board 
 (covered with a piece of dark cloth) placed on 
 the platform of the machine to increase slightly 
 its area. 
 
 Method. — The medium vacated her usual 
 chair and sat on an ordinary small-sized chair 
 placed on the platform of the weighing-machine. 
 Her hands were on her knees and she was 
 isolated from everybody. The height of the 
 platform above the floor of the room was 7| in. 
 Conditions were exactly similar to those de- 
 scribed in chapter hi., R.P.P. 
 
 I first took the reaction on the medium for the 
 weight of levitated table alone, and then I placed 
 on the surface of the table a circular 10-lb. iron 
 weight, obtained the reaction for that, added 
 another 10-lb. weight, and so on. The table 
 rested on the floor between each levitation. 
 
 Note. — Several different tables were used 
 during the experiments described in this book. 
 Sometimes, for purposes of certain tests, altera- 
 tions were made to some of these tables which 
 affected their weights a little ; but in every case 
 I give the weight of the particular table used 
 for a given experiment. 1 finally constructed 
 the table shown in fig. 7. This had no cross- 
 
28 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 bars connecting the legs, and nails, screws, etc., 
 were eliminated as far as possible. Its dimen- 
 sions were as follows : — 
 
 Length 
 Width . 
 Height 
 Weight . 
 
 Data : — 
 
 Weight of table in this test 
 
 Weight of medium + her 
 
 chair + drawing-board 
 
 22 
 
 28 
 
 m 
 
 in. 
 in. 
 in. 
 lb. 
 
 8 lb. 1 oz. 
 = 9 st. 9 lb. 8 oz. 
 
 The following were the results :- 
 
 Weight of levitated body. 
 
 Reaction on the medium due 
 to the levitation. 
 
 8 lb. i oz. (table only) 
 18 lb. i oz. (table+io-lb. wt.) 
 28 lb. 1 oz. (table + 2Q-lb. wt.) 
 
 8 lb. 12 oz. 
 191b. 
 29 lb. 
 
 The weighing-machine was not quite so sensi- 
 tive as that used in the first research, but it 
 was quite good enough for the work in hand. 
 Results may be considered accurate to \ lb. 
 either way. Of course any slight movement 
 of the levitated body in the air affects, to 
 some extent, the value of the reaction on the 
 medium, and it is quite impossible to obtain 
 absolutely steady levitation. 
 
 For the first case given in the above tabulation, 
 i.e. where the table was levitated without addi- 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 29 
 
 tional weights, there were in reality two values 
 for the reaction on the medium — (1) when the 
 table was levitated only about 4 in. in the air 
 the reaction was 10 lb. 14 oz. ; (2) when the 
 table rose to about the level of the medium's 
 knees, the reaction of 8 lb. 12 oz. was obtained, 
 and this was the minimum and steady value. 
 
 Up to a total levitated weight of 28 lb. the 
 medium felt nothing, and she had no tendency 
 to overturn ; but when I placed the third 10-lb. 
 weight on the table, making altogether a total 
 load of 38 lb., and the table levitated for an 
 instant, the medium's feet, which were firmly 
 planted on the weighing-machine, slipped away 
 from under her. She said she was moving 
 forward and could not help herself. The table 
 remained up only for an instant. I made the 
 medium place her feet as far back as possible 
 on the machine, but during the next attempt 
 by the operators at levitation, her whole trunk 
 swung forward and the table dropped. It was 
 obvious that during the phenomenon her body 
 was being pulled forward. I told her to grip 
 the back rail of the weighing-machine with both 
 hands to see if this would prevent her being 
 carried away ; but during the next attempt at 
 levitation under these conditions the whole 
 platform of the machine with medium on it 
 tilted over, as far as it could go, in a forward 
 direction. 
 
 Finally, seeing that there was no doubt what- 
 ever that the machine was tending to overturn, 
 
30 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 I got the medium's father (who sits on her left) 
 and her brother-in-law (who sits on her right) 
 each to press back on one of her shoulders, while 
 she herself gripped tightly the back rail of the 
 machine, and placed her feet as far back on the 
 platform as she could. We then obtained a 
 levitation lasting for about 10 seconds. 
 
 Weight of levitated body. 
 
 Reaction on the medium due 
 to the levitation. 
 
 38 lb. 1 oz. (table + 3Q-lb. wt.) 
 
 44 lb 8 oz. 
 
 It is to be remembered that in this case the 
 medium was not isolated, but had her shoulders 
 held back by two of the sitters, as explained 
 above, so that the 44 lb. 8 oz. is not due to 
 the weight of the levitated body alone, but is 
 accounted for in part by muscular pressure. 
 
 The main and important result of this ex- 
 periment is that for the first time a capsizing 
 moment was observed on the medium, due to 
 the levitated body. 
 
 During the actions which were occurring upon 
 her, the medium felt no kind of pressure upon 
 any part of her body. It is correct to say that 
 she felt nothing at all, except an irresistible 
 impulse to move off the weighing - machine. 
 She described the feeling as similar to that felt 
 if she were sitting on a see-saw, the end of 
 which rose and impelled her forward. 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 31 
 
 Experiment 2 
 
 To make some observations on the capsizing 
 effect on the medium during levitation when she 
 sits on her ordinary chair placed on the floor. 
 
 The medium sat on her usual chair, which was 
 standing on the floor, i.e. the chair was not placed 
 on the platform of the weighing-machine. She 
 sat perfectly still with her hands on her knees, 
 and was thus isolated from all the members of the 
 circle. I asked her to remain quite passive and 
 to report her sensations to me. 
 
 The weight of the table was 7 lb. 14 oz. 
 
 While the table was levitated I placed three 
 10-lb. weights upon it in succession, making a 
 total levitated load of 37 lb. 14 oz. The table did 
 not descend to the floor between the loadings to 
 allow me to put on the additional weights (as in 
 Experiment 1), but remained up the whole time. 
 
 Up to a total levitated weight of 37 lb. 14 oz. 
 there was no very pronounced effect on the 
 medium. Her trunk, however, swung gently 
 forward with the heavier w T eights, and she said 
 she felt herself being urged forward, though she 
 felt no kind of mechanical pressure on her body. 
 
 I then increased the weights on the levitated 
 table 2 lb. at a time up to 36 lb. (total weight 
 including the table 43 lb. 14 oz.). Several times 
 did the medium's body then swing strongly 
 forward, upon which the table dropped. I there- 
 fore told her to hold on with her hands to the 
 arms of her chair. I placed an additional 4-lb. 
 
32 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 weight on the table (total including the table of 
 47 lb. 14 oz.). When the table levitated the 
 medium's chair tilted forward on its two front 
 legs and the table dropped. 
 
 As this dead weight of about 48 lb. seemed to 
 be near the limit for this sort of levitation, I 
 removed the weights. The table then levitated 
 alone, and I pressed downwards with considerable 
 force upon it. 
 
 On some occasions (I made the experiment 
 many times), while I was pressing strongly down- 
 wards, the medium's body tilted forward, and on 
 other occasions it did not. She told me that 
 when she did not move forward, she felt no 
 inclination to tilt at all, and when she did move 
 forward, she simply could not help herself, 
 although she felt no mechanical pressure on her 
 body. This alternative tilting and non- tilting of 
 the medium's body (the two phases occurred in 
 alternations with succeeding levitations) took 
 place so often that I suspected the operators 
 were trying to bring something to my notice, so 
 I asked them if the levitating structure was some- 
 times a true cantilever, i.e. no part of it touching 
 the floor, and sometimes not a true cantilever, 
 i.e. with the free end resting on the floor under 
 the table. They vigorously assented to this and 
 demonstrated for my benefit. I said, " I want 
 you to levitate the table with a true cantilever, 
 and I will press down hard on the table." They 
 immediately produced levitation, and I found 
 that on all occasions of making the proviso about 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 
 
 33 
 
 the structure being a true cantilever the medium 
 felt an inclination to overturn and her body 
 swung forward. I then said, " Levitate the table 
 not with a true cantilever, but let the end of it 
 rest on the floor immediately under the table, so 
 that the column forms a kind of prop between 
 table and floor" (see figs. 8 and 9). They then 
 produced levitation, and on all such occasions of 
 the phenomenon under this proviso the medium 
 felt no inclination to overturn when I pressed 
 down vigorously, and her body was not moved. 
 
 Fig. 8. 
 
 Fig. 9. 
 
 The operators say that at demonstration seances 
 they rest the end of the cantilever upon the floor 
 immediately under the table, so that when a 
 strong man stands over the levitated table, and 
 exerts great pressure upon it, the medium is 
 protected from the large reaction forces, the 
 latter in this case being on the floor instead of 
 on her body. 
 
 The operators also say that they much prefer 
 to work with a true cantilever, for, when they 
 have to rest the end of it upon the floor, the 
 structure is badly strained and much energy is 
 required to maintain its rigidity. 
 
 3 
 
34 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 Therefore, for all moderate weights, say up to 
 about 30 lb., a true cantilever is employed, and 
 for greater and variable forces, a supported canti- 
 lever. Figs. 8 and 9 show the two processes 
 diagrammatically. 
 
 Experiment 3 
 
 Proof of the operators' statement given in Ex- 
 periment 2 that they can rest the bottom end of 
 the columnar part of the cantilever upon the 
 floor under the table, and thus throw most of 
 
 Fig. io. 
 
 the reaction upon the floor, instead of upon the 
 medium, when large forces are involved. 
 
 The weight of the table used was 12^ lb. 
 
 I got a pressure -recording apparatus con- 
 structed, shown diagrammatically in fig. 10, 
 which is an end elevation. 
 
 A and B are two thin pieces of wood, each 
 about 4 in. square. The top piece A can move up 
 and down on four vertical pins, two of which are 
 shown at E and F, against the pressure of light 
 springs. Two pieces of brass, C and D, shaped 
 as shown, are fixed to A and B respectively and 
 are placed in an electric-bell circuit. The con- 
 sequence is, that when a downward force is 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 35 
 
 exerted on A, the contacts C and D come to- 
 gether and the bell rings. 
 
 I said to the operators, " You say that you 
 have two methods of using the cantilever: (1) 
 where you do not allow it to touch the floor, 
 and (2) where you let the bottom of the column 
 touch the floor in order that the floor may take 
 up some of the reaction and thus protect the 
 medium, especially when a man stands over the 
 table and uses great muscular force. I wish to 
 test this statement of yours." 
 
 I placed the pressure tester on the floor under 
 the table. The height of the tester was about 
 2 in. The medium was seated on the weighing- 
 machine. I told the operators to levitate the 
 table with a true cantilever. The table levitated 
 during which the bell did not ring. 
 
 Weight of medium + chair 
 
 + board before levitation = 9 st. 12 lb. 8 oz 
 Weight of medium + chair 
 
 + board during steady 
 
 levitation . . . = io st.- 10 lb. 4 oz. 
 Increase in weight of 
 
 medium due to levita- 
 
 w^^^f ' ' = 111b. 12 oz. 
 
 Weight of table . = 12 lb. 4 oz. 
 
 The two facts that the bell did not ring and 
 that the reaction on the medium was approxi- 
 mately equal to the weight of the table, show 
 that the levitating structure must have been an 
 unsupported cantilever. 
 
36 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 I then said to the operators, " I wish you to 
 show me the second method of levitation. Please 
 levitate the table so that the bottom end of the 
 column part of the levitating cantilever rests on 
 the pressure recorder (it was on the floor under 
 the table) all the time the table is in the air." 
 
 Result. — After one or two futile attempts the 
 levitation was several times accomplished. The 
 bell always rang several seconds before levitation 
 occurred, as though the preliminary process was 
 the firm anchoring of the bottom of the column 
 to the pressure recorder on the floor. While 
 the bell was continuously ringing and the table 
 was steadily levitated, I took the medium's 
 weight. 
 
 Weight of medium + chair 
 
 + board before levitation . = 9 st. 12 lb. 8 oz. 
 Weight of medium + chair 
 
 + board during levitation = 9 st. 9 lb. 8 oz. 
 Decrease in medium's weight 
 
 due to levitation . . = 3 lb. 
 
 Weight of table . . . = 12| lb. 
 
 Thus it will be seen that the statement of the 
 operators was correct. It is now obvious that 
 when a strong man stands over the levitated 
 table and presses down on it and pushes it 
 about, that the reaction is taken on the floor. 
 As already stated, however, the operators for 
 some reason or other dislike this method, and 
 always use an unsupported cantilever where 
 possible. 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 37 
 
 Experiment 4 
 
 Impression on modeller's clay of bottom of 
 cantilever column. 
 
 I brought a little box filled with soft clay to 
 the seance-room, and said to the operators, 
 " You remember some time ago when we were 
 investigating the methods by which you levitate 
 the table, 1 found that if necessary you could 
 levitate it by putting the bottom end of the 
 columnar part of the cantilever on the floor 
 immediately under the table, so that it forms 
 a kind of prop ? " (see Experiment 2). Answer — 
 " Yes." " Well, I am going to place this box 
 of soft clay under the table, and I want you to 
 levitate the table by this method — only, instead 
 of the bottom end of the columnar part of the 
 cantilever pressing on the floor, I wish it to press 
 on the clay : i.e. I wish an impression on the 
 clay of the bottom end of the column." The 
 operators said they would try to do what I 
 desired. I placed the box of clay immediately 
 under the table and waited. In a very short 
 time the table levitated immediately above the 
 clay, the levitation lasting about a dozen seconds. 
 At its conclusion I examined the clay. There 
 was a large irregularly shaped impression on it, 
 the length one way being about 3 in. and the 
 other 2^ in. (A number of such impressions will 
 be examined in detail in a later book dealing with 
 the structures.) 
 
38 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 Experiment 5 
 
 I had often wished to discover experimentally 
 the effect on the medium's weight when an ex- 
 perimenter stood over the levitated table and 
 pressed downwards on it — not that I had much 
 doubt as to the result, for I considered that 
 muscular downward pressure was simply equiva- 
 lent to increasing the table's weight. 
 
 My wife having entered the circle, I asked the 
 operators to levitate the table, which they did. 
 I then told my wife to grasp the ends of the 
 table and to press downwards uniformly and 
 without jerks. 
 
 Data : — 
 
 Weight of table . . = 8 lb. 1 oz. 
 
 Weight of medium + chair 
 
 + board before test . = 9 st. 9 lb. 8 oz. 
 
 While my wife was pressing downwards as 
 uniformly as possible on the levitated table, the 
 weight of the medium + chair + board rose to, 
 and kept fairly steady at, 11 st. 1 lb. Increase 
 in medium's weight due to muscular downward 
 pressure on top of the levitated table and to the 
 weight of the table itself = 11 st. 1 lb. - 9 st. 
 9 lb. 8 oz. = 19 lb. 8 oz. 
 
 Subtracting the weight of the table (8 lb. 
 1 oz.), it is seen the muscular pressure exerted 
 was probably 11 lb. 7 oz. 
 
 In this case it is obvious that a simple canti- 
 lever was used — the method preferred by the 
 operators whenever possible. The total levitated 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 39 
 
 weight would require to be considerably greater 
 than 19 lb. 8 oz. in order to cause the medium 
 to topple over (see Experiment 1). 
 
 Experiment 6 
 
 In R.P.P., Experiment 55, I have stated that 
 I carried out an incomplete test with the medium 
 sitting on a weighing-machine and a compression 
 balance at the same time below the levitated table. 
 
 I showed that while the table was levitated 
 there was a large downward force (in comparison 
 with the weight of the table) upon the balance. 
 I asked the operators to drop the table suddenly, 
 and upon this being done, the downward force 
 on the balance instantly disappeared, Four 
 seconds afterwards (or thereabouts) the steel- 
 yard of the weighing-machine was heard to 
 click against the stop, and it was assumed that 
 during the levitation, in addition to a downward 
 force on the compression balance, there was also 
 increased weight on the medium. The experi- 
 ment was very incomplete, and I had not an oppor- 
 tunity at the time of carrying it out thoroughly. 
 
 Certain data obtained in later experiments 
 made me doubt the truth of the assumption 
 that during the time there was pressure on the 
 compression balance below the table, there was 
 also increased weight on the medium. On 
 further consideration I thought that this increase 
 may have been due to a momentary jerk of the 
 steelyard at the instant the table dropped, and 
 
40 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 may not have been continuous over the period 
 of the phenomenon. I therefore decided to 
 investigate the point. 
 
 Fig. 11 gives a diagrammatic view of the 
 apparatus used. W is the weighing-machine, 
 M the medium, T the levitated table, B the 
 compression spring balance, C a metal clip fixed 
 to the edge of the dial, P the pointer, and S, S 
 insulated wires (one fixed to the clip on the 
 dial and the other to the centre of the pointer). 
 
 Fig. ii. 
 
 The clip was insulated from the dial by pieces 
 of brown paper. The idea was that when the 
 pointer moved round sufficiently to touch the 
 clip, an electric bell in the circuit would ring. 
 Full details of a similar arrangement are given 
 in R.P.P., ch. vii. 1 set the clip so that the 
 bell would ring when there was a weight in the 
 scalepan of just about 19 lb. 
 
 Weight of table 
 Weight of medium + chair 
 + board before test 
 
 7 lb. 14 oz. 
 = 9 St. 9 lb. 8 oz. 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 41 
 
 During steady levitation 
 above the balance, with 
 the bell vigorously ring- 
 ing, the weight of medium 
 + chair + board . . = 8 st. 10 lb. 12 oz. 
 
 .-. Decrease in medium's 
 weight during the levita- 
 tion . . . . = 12 lb. 12 oz. 
 
 It is therefore seen that the assumption 
 derived from the unfinished experiment 55, 
 R.P.P., was wrong, and that the increase in 
 weight then noted was probably due to a 
 "kick" of the steelyard owing to the sudden 
 drop of the table. On this occasion I took 
 care to have the table descend gently and 
 almost imperceptibly to the floor. 
 
 Note. — The scalepan was pressing vertically 
 upwards on the end of the cantilever with a 
 pressure somewhat greater than 19 lb. (the ap- 
 paratus was set at 19 lb., so that good electric 
 contact would be made and the bell ring 
 vigorously), but judging from the experiments 
 described in R.P.P., the magnitude of this up- 
 ward pressure would be in the neighbourhood 
 of 21 or 22 lb. The downward weight of the 
 table on the end of the cantilever was approxi- 
 mately 8 lb., so that there was probably a net 
 upward force on the end of the cantilever of be- 
 tween 13 and 14 lb. The diminution in weight 
 of the medium of 12f lb. seems suspiciously 
 close to this. 
 
42 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 Experiment 7 
 
 The medium was seated on the weighing- 
 machine and a compression balance was placed 
 under the table. I wished to take simultaneous 
 readings of the medium's decrease of weight 
 and the reading on the balance during levitation 
 above the balance. 
 
 The weight of the table used was 7 lb. 14 oz. 
 
 In the first place, during levitation of the 
 table I took the reading on the balance. It 
 was 12^ lb. (practically the same for two levita- 
 tions). I then went over to the weighing- 
 machine and said to the operators, " During 
 the next levitation I wish you to put the same 
 pressure on the balance as you had on it when I 
 was reading it just now." They said they under- 
 stood what I meant, and would do what I asked. 
 
 The table then levitated, and I took the 
 medium's weight. 
 
 Weight of medium + chair 
 
 + board before levitation = 9 st. 12 lb. 8 oz. 
 Weight of medium + chair 
 
 + board during levitation = 9 st. 11 lb. 14 oz. 
 Decrease in weight of 
 
 medium due to levitation = 10 oz. 
 
 It is obvious that there is no certainty that 
 the reading on the balance while the table was 
 levitated the second time was the same as when 
 I read it. There may have been a few pounds' 
 difference. 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 43 
 
 Experiment 8 
 
 Medium on weighing-machine and compression 
 balance below table. In this experiment my 
 wife took the reading on the balance during 
 levitation, while I simultaneously took the 
 weight of the medium. 
 
 The weight of the table used was 8 lb. 
 (approx.). 
 
 Test A :— 
 
 Reading on balance . . . = 23f lb. 
 
 Reading on weighing-machine . = 8 st. 12 lb. 
 Decrease in medium's weight 
 
 = 9 st. 12| lb. - 8 st. 12 lb. . - 14^ lb. 
 
 Reading on balance - weight 
 
 of table = 23f-8 . . . = 15f lb. 
 
 Test B :— 
 
 Reading on balance . . . = 20 lb. 
 
 Reading on weighing-machine . = 8 st. 12 lb. 
 Decrease in medium's weight 
 
 = 9 st. 12^ lb. -8 st. 12 lb. . = 14^ lb. 
 
 Reading on balance - weight 
 
 of table = 20 -8 . = 12 lb. 
 
 Test C :— 
 
 Reading on balance . . . = 22 lb. 
 
 Reading on weighing-machine . = 8 st. 1\ lb. 
 Decrease in medium's weight 
 
 = 9 st. 8i- lb. - 8 st. 1\ lb. . = 15£ lb. 
 
 Reading on balance - weight 
 
 of table = 22 -8 . . . = 14 lb. 
 
44 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 These results may be considered correct with- 
 in a pound or so either way. I think the three 
 tests show pretty conclusively that the pressure 
 on balance minus weight of table equals decrease 
 of medium's weight. 
 
 It is to be noted that the pressure on the 
 balance is not always the same for the same 
 relative position of table and medium (see Ex- 
 periments 6, 7, and 8). This is probably due to 
 the fact that the cantilever may issue from the 
 medium's body at various heights. 
 
 The results of these experiments are very 
 satisfactory, as they solve several troublesome 
 points. They indicate : 
 
 (1) That the cantilever theory is correct so far 
 
 as it goes. 
 
 (2) That the cantilever method of levitation is 
 
 but one method (though the most fre- 
 quent one) for levitating bodies. 
 
 (3) That for heavy bodies whose levitation 
 
 would cause the medium to capsize, the 
 levitating structure rests on or grips the 
 floor underneath the levitated body or 
 between it and the medium. 
 
 In my first series of experiments I have 
 already said that no reaction was ever dis- 
 covered on the floor, and that the levitated 
 bodies were light ones. Accordingly, it was 
 assumed that a cantilever was always used. It 
 may be just possible that the operators experi- 
 mented in this simple way, so that I would not 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 
 
 45 
 
 become involved with a mass of data which 
 could not be classified, i.e. they used their 
 simplest structure so that I could advance 
 gradually and regularly. 
 
 I now return to Experiment 2, in which, at 
 a total levitated weight of about 48 lb., the 
 medium's chair (on which she was sitting) tilted 
 forward on its two front legs (fig. 12). 
 
 The dimensions of the seat of the medium's 
 chair were approximately 17 in. by 17 in. 
 
 Level. 
 
 kLGOfz 
 
 Fig. 12. 
 
 The distance of the centre of levitated table 
 from centre of front legs of medium's chair was 
 approximately 21 in. 
 
 The weight of the medium + chair was approxi- 
 mately 130 lb. 
 
 The moment of the levitated weight about the 
 front legs of chair was 48 x 21 = 1008 lb.-in. 
 
 The breadth of the medium's chair was 17 in. 
 It is somewhat difficult to say exactly where the 
 centre of gravity of medium and chair would be, 
 but it would certainly be a greater distance than 
 halfway along the seat. Supposing that the 
 
46 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 C.G. was 10 in. from front legs, we have the 
 moment of weight of medium + chair about the 
 front legs 130 x 10 = 1 300 lb. -in. 
 
 The values of these two moments are suffi- 
 ciently close to support the theory that a 
 cantilever was in this case used to levitate 
 the table. 
 
 The Mechanics of the Phenomena 
 
 Case I 
 
 A force W acting as shown at the end of a 
 cantilever ; M, medium ; S, weighing-machine. 
 
 w 
 
 Fig. 13. 
 
 The weighing-machine will indicate increased 
 weight = W. 
 
 This is the case which occurs when light 
 articles are levitated. 
 
 Case II 
 
 Two oppositely directed forces acting as shown 
 at the end of the cantilever. 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 47 
 
 (a) If W is greater than P, the weighing-machine 
 will indicate increased weight = W - P. 
 
 (*) If P is greater than W, the weighing-machine 
 will indicate decreased weight = P - W. 
 
 Fig. 14. 
 
 This (b) is what occurs when the psychic canti- 
 lever rests on top of the spring balance (see 
 Experiments 7 and 8). 
 
 Case III 
 
 When the cantilever presses downwards on 
 the floor with a vertical force W, the weighing- 
 machine will indicate decreased weight = W. 
 
 This is the case that occurs when the table 
 rests on the floor either upright or upside down 
 
48 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 and its weight is psychically increased (see Ex- 
 periments 10 and 11). 
 
 Experiment 9 
 
 Upside-down levitation of the table. 
 
 If the table is placed upside down on the floor, 
 the operators are unable to levitate it directly, 
 i.e. they cannot raise it straight upwards into the 
 air. They have to tilt one end of it at a con- 
 siderable angle, evidently for the purpose of 
 getting their levitating structure under the sur- 
 face, and such a levitation is extremely difficult 
 and rare. 
 
 Seeing that a vertical rise from the floor was 
 impossible, we thought of holding the table a 
 foot or so in the air in an inverted position, to 
 see if the operators could get their structure 
 under it, and, providing they could do so, keep 
 the table levitated upside down. Accordingly, 
 the table was lifted and held by the legs about 
 12 in. above the floor, when the operators imme- 
 diately pressed upwards upon the inverted sur- 
 face and evidently tried to grip it. It was 
 obvious they were experiencing trouble in get- 
 ting a proper balance. In a short time they 
 were successful, for on the legs of the table being 
 released, the table remained levitated upside 
 down, this occurring on two occasions, the last 
 levitation enduring for about a minute. 
 
 The table was not simply supported by an up- 
 ward force on its surface ; it was gripped. This 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 49 
 
 was apparent when the experimenter pushed 
 over on the legs during the levitation, for a 
 fairly strong resistance was encountered. 
 
 The fact that before a direct upside-down 
 levitation can occur from the floor, the table has 
 to be held off the floor, is very strong presump- 
 tive evidence that space is required to get the 
 levitating structure under the surface, hence that 
 the structure is a real physical entity. 
 
 The difficulty of obtaining a balance, referred 
 to above, was evidently due to the centre of 
 gravity of the inverted table being above the 
 surface, i.e. above the place where the levitating 
 force was applied. 
 
 Experiments on Increased Weight of 
 Table due to Psychic Action 
 
 Experiment 10 
 
 I have already mentioned (R.P.P., ch. iv.) 
 that when the table stands upright within the 
 circle space, it can be made so heavy that it can 
 only be lifted with difficulty. I wished to see 
 the effect on the medium's weight when the 
 table was thus affected. 
 
 I asked the operators to make the table very 
 
 heavy. My wife, having entered the circle, tried 
 
 to lift the table, but found that its weight had 
 
 been greatly increased. I told the operators to 
 
 keep the new weight as steady as possible while 
 
 I was taking the readings. 
 
 4 
 
50 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 Weight of table . . . = 7 lb. 14 oz. 
 
 Weight of medium + chair + 
 
 board before the test . . = 9 st. 9 lb. 8 oz. 
 
 Weight of medium + chair + 
 
 board during the test . = 8 st. 3 lb. 8 oz. 
 
 .*. Decrease in weight of 
 medium due to the table's 
 weight having been in- 
 creased . = 20 lb. 
 
 Experiment 11 
 
 In R.P.P., ch. iv., I have told how, if the table 
 is placed upside down on the floor, its weight 
 can be so increased that when an experimenter 
 grasps it by the legs he finds great difficulty 
 in raising it. The table, in fact, appears to be 
 " glued " to the floor. I wished to find what 
 happened to the medium's weight during the 
 occurrence of the phenomenon. 
 
 The weight of the table was 7 lb. 14 oz. It 
 was turned upside down within the circle space, 
 and I told the operators " to glue it to the floor." 
 This they did, and my wife grasped it by the 
 legs from time to time and tested if it was fixed. 
 I asked the operators to fix it as steadily as 
 possible and to keep the fixing force constant 
 while I was taking my observations. 
 
 Weight of medium + chair + 
 
 board before the test . . = 9 st. 9 lb. 8 oz. 
 Weight of medium + chair + 
 
 board during the test . = 7 st. 2 lb. 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 51 
 
 Decease in medium's weight 
 due to the " glueing " of 
 table to floor . . . = 35 lb. 8 oz. 
 
 This was the maximum steady loss of weight. 
 
 I also told the operators to "glue " the table 
 to the floor with various degrees of strength, and 
 on each occasion I found that the medium lost 
 steady amounts of weight during the occurrence 
 of the phenomenon (less, however, than the 35^ 
 lb. recorded above). 
 
 Experiment 12 
 
 The medium was sitting on the weighing- 
 machine. I turned the table (weight 12^ lb.) 
 upside down and placed it on the platform of a 
 smaller weighing-machine on the floor within 
 the circle. Fig. 16 represents the arrangement 
 where A and B are the two weighing-machines, 
 M the medium, and C the table. 
 
 I set the second machine so that it would 
 balance at 28 lbs. I said to the operators, " I 
 want you to ' glue ' the table to the platform, 
 i.e. to press down on the table so that the lever 
 of the machine shall just balance." In a very 
 short time they did this. I had to tell them 
 once or twice to add a little or subtract a little 
 force, but when once obtained it was marvellous 
 how steadily they could maintain the correct 
 amount. I then went over to the weighing- 
 machine on which the medium was seated. My 
 wife placed her fingers on the lever of the smaller 
 
52 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 machine and told me when the balance was just 
 about correct, and simultaneously I took the 
 medium's weight. 
 
 Weight of medium + chair + board 
 
 during experiment . . . = 8 st. 9 lb. 
 
 Decrease in medium's weight = 9 st. 
 
 12£lb.-8 st. 9 lb. . . . = 171 lb. 
 Downward force on table = 28-1 2 -J- = 1 5§ lb. 
 
 € 
 
 Fig. 16. 
 
 The result may be considered correct to a 
 pound or so either way. 
 
 These experiments pretty well clear up the 
 doubtful points about temporary increased weight 
 of the table. It is evident that when the table's 
 weight is increased, with the table either stand- 
 ing upright or resting on the floor upside down, 
 (1) the medium loses weight, (2) her loss of 
 weight is practically the same as the increase of 
 weight given to the table. This is as it should 
 be if a psychic arm from the medium grips some 
 part of the table with its free end and then 
 presses or pulls down upon it. 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 53 
 
 Methods by which the Psychic Connecting 
 Rod is used for Various Phenomena 
 
 Experiment 13 
 
 I was anxious to discover what would happen 
 to the medium if she were seated on a freely 
 running truck, or something of that sort, while 
 levitation was occurring, or while the table was 
 being moved about the floor ; was being pushed, 
 pulled, and so on. As the simplest means of 
 obtaining the kind of apparatus I wanted, I fixed 
 two bicycles together and tied a piece of flat wood 
 boarding across the mudguards of the rear wheels. 
 The board was for the medium to sit upon. The 
 bicycle combination was placed lengthwise along 
 the floor of the seance chamber. Very little 
 force was required to move it to and fro. 
 
 I arranged with the operators that the medium 
 should sit on her ordinary chair until " power " 
 was sufficiently developed, and that they should 
 give three raps when they were ready for me to 
 proceed with the experiment. In about a quarter 
 of an hour, the summoning taps being heard, the 
 medium discarded her usual chair and sat on the 
 board placed across the rear of the bicycles. 
 Her feet could just reach the floor, but she could 
 raise them when required and thus be completely 
 free of the floor. 
 
 All the tests were carried out under two ex- 
 perimental conditions : (a) her feet just touching 
 the floor, and (b) her feet off the floor ; but so 
 
54 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 high was her seat that all the grip she could 
 obtain with her feet on the floor was negligible, 
 and the results were found to be practically 
 the same as those obtained when no part of 
 her body was touching the floor. Her hands 
 were tightly held by the sitters on either side of 
 her, and, acting in accordance with my instruc- 
 tions, she sat perfectly still. I sat near her all 
 the time. 
 
 Test A. — The operators were asked to produce 
 levitation of the table. 
 
 The table was moved about the floor, 
 an end was lifted, and various movements 
 and shufflings went on for some consider- 
 able time, but complete levitation did not 
 occur. 
 
 Result. — During the various movements of the 
 table the bicycles were strongly pulled forward 
 toivards the table. I had to exert considerable 
 muscular restraining force on them to prevent 
 the motion, and give the table a chance to levi- 
 tate, for as soon as the bicycles were actually 
 allowed to move, the attempted levitations 
 ceased. Levitation very nearly occurred, three 
 legs of the table being off the floor. Evidently 
 the height of her seat and the generally awkward 
 position of the medium prevented final success. 
 My wife entered the circle and held the table a 
 foot or so up in the air, upon which the opera- 
 tors took a powerful grip on its undersurface 
 (which grip always synchronised with strong pull 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 55 
 
 in of bicycles towards table) and levitation was 
 almost obtained, for on my wife letting go, the 
 table just fluttered to the floor. 
 
 In their endeavours to obtain levitation, the 
 operators turned the table in all directions about 
 the floor and tried at every angle. 
 
 During the steady tiltings (which were many) 
 and nearly complete levitations, the bicycles 
 were pulled in towards the table fairly strongly, 
 but not so strongly as during some other move- 
 ments, such as shufflings, j limpings, dancings, 
 etc., of the table on the floor. 
 
 Test B. — The table was placed in an upright 
 position on the floor and the operators 
 were told to make it heavy, i.e. apparently 
 to increase its weight. My wife entered 
 the circle and tested the " heaviness." 
 
 Result. — Very strong pull in of bicycles to- 
 wards table during the period of the pheno- 
 menon. The bicycles had to be restrained with 
 much force. During one of my observations on 
 this test (for each test I took from three to six 
 observations) I told the operators to remove the 
 force (whatever its nature) suddenly from the 
 table. This they evidently did. for no sooner 
 had 1 made the request than the bicycles (which 
 an instant before were being pulled in strongly 
 towards the table) were released, and jerked 
 backwards a foot or so in the opposite direction. 
 (This, of course, was due to the restraining pull 
 I was exerting on them.) 
 
56 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 Test C. — The table was turned upside down on 
 the floor and the operators were asked to 
 "glue" it to the floor. My wife tested 
 it on several occasions and found it was 
 fairly strongly fixed. 
 
 Result. — During the phenomenon the bicycles 
 were strongly pulled in towards the table. 
 
 Test D. — The table was placed upright on 
 the floor near the edge of circle and I 
 told my wife to hold it by the legs and 
 press it in strongly towards the medium. 
 (This is a common test with visitors at 
 a demonstration seance, for when the 
 medium is seated on her ordinary chair 
 resting on the floor, a strong man cannot 
 push the table in towards her, and the 
 surprising thing is that if a psychic rod 
 connects the medium with the table, the 
 medium is not pushed over.) I told the 
 operators to resist her as strongly as they 
 were able. 
 
 Result. — On all the occasions of this test 
 the bicycles moved backwards towards the far 
 wall away from the table, i.e. in the direction 
 my wife was pushing. I made very sure of 
 this result, taking observations at least six 
 times. 
 
 While my wife was pushing the table it moved 
 forward with her about a foot or 18 in., i.e. it 
 kept its normal distance from the medium — 
 about 3 ft. — constant. 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 57 
 
 Test I?.— Same as D, with the exception that my 
 wife held the table in the air and then 
 pushed inwards on it, instead of letting 
 it rest on the floor and push. 
 
 Result — Bicycles moved back as in D, the 
 table following the bicycles, the distance between 
 them being approximately maintained. 
 
 Test F.— Table on floor as in D, only, instead 
 
 of pushing hard in towards medium, 
 
 my wife pulled as strongly as she could 
 
 awa y f rom medium, the operators resist- 
 ing her. 
 
 Result. — Bicycles moved in towards table, but 
 not so strongly as they moved out in test D. 
 The table also moved forward a foot or so, pre- 
 sumably to keep its distance from the medium 
 as constant as possible. 
 
 Test G. — The table was held up in the air and 
 pulled directly away from the medium, 
 the operators resisting. 
 
 Result.— Bicycles moved in towards table, but 
 not so strongly as they moved back in test E. 
 Table also moved forward a foot or so under 
 my wife's pull, evidently to maintain constant 
 distance. 
 
 During one of the observations in this test, 
 my wife gave a sudden wrench to the table, 
 when evidently the connecting link gave way, 
 for she instantly felt the opposing force vanish,' 
 and simultaneously the bicycles jerked back a 
 
58 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 foot or so in the opposite direction, i.e. away 
 from the table. (This was due to the restraining 
 force I was exerting.) 
 
 Experiment 14 
 
 I had often noted that if the table stands 
 upright on the floor at the edge of the circle, 
 directly opposite the medium and on the side 
 remote from her, and an experimenter gets 
 behind the table and presses on it directly to- 
 wards her, he cannot move it if the operators 
 so desire. I wished to find the effect on the 
 medium's weight due to this phenomenon. 
 
 The weight of the table used was 7 lb. 14 
 oz. It was placed upright on the floor on the 
 edge of the circle opposite the medium, and my 
 wife grasped its two back legs and pressed in- 
 wards in a line with the medium and in a 
 direction approximately parallel to the floor. 
 She could not shift the table a fraction of an 
 inch. 
 
 Weight of medium + chair + 
 
 board before the test . = 9 st. 9 lb. 8 oz. 
 Weight of medium + chair + 
 
 board while my wife was 
 
 pressing on the table as 
 
 steadily as possible . . = 8 st. 7 lb. 12 oz. 
 .*. Decrease in medium's 
 
 weight due to the push . = 15 lb. 12 oz. 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 59 
 
 Experiment 15 
 
 Medium on weighing-machine, and table up- 
 right on floor near edge of circle remote from 
 medium. 
 
 My wife pulled steadily on the table away 
 from medium, the operators resisting. 
 
 Weight of medium + chair -f 
 
 board before pull . . . = 9 st. 12 J lb. 
 
 Weight of medium + chair + 
 
 board during pull . . . = 10 st. 3^ lb. 
 Increase of medium's weight 
 
 due to pull . = 5 lb. 
 
 After the reading was taken my wife suddenly 
 pulled with all her strength, and consequently 
 more or less jerkily. The whole weighing- 
 machine, with medium, chair, and board, moved 
 three or four inches along the floor in the direc- 
 tion of pull. (The weighing-machine was sup- 
 ported on four little wheels.) 
 
 In order to verify the results of Experiment 
 14, my wife then pushed the table towards 
 medium, the operators resisting. While the 
 pushing force was being exerted there was always 
 a decrease of a few pounds in the medium's 
 weight. Also, on one occasion the whole 
 machine moved back several inches in the direc- 
 tion of push. 
 
 Experiment 16 
 
 To find how the psychic rod acts when a man, 
 though exerting all his strength, is unable to 
 
60 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 push the table (standing on the floor, two or 
 three feet in front of the medium) inwards 
 towards the medium. 
 
 It is obvious that if the psychic rod (or rods) 
 issued straight from the medium's body and 
 gripped the near legs of the table, the medium 
 and the chair on which she was sitting would be 
 bodily pushed back when a man (or two men) 
 stood behind the table and pushed horizontally 
 inwards on it with all their strength. 
 
 Fig. 17. 
 
 Fig. 17 will make this clear. M represents 
 the medium sitting on her chair, T the table 
 standing on the floor some distance from her, 
 and R a psychic rod issuing from above the 
 ankles of the medium and gripping a near leg 
 of the table and thus forming a strut. The 
 arrow shows the direction in which a man pushes. 
 This is undoubtedly the method used when only 
 a comparatively light pressure is exerted on the 
 table, for in this case the friction of the bottom 
 of the legs of the medium's chair on the floor 
 is sufficient to prevent it (and her) being pushed 
 back. (If the reader will turn to Experiment 13 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 61 
 
 he will find that when the medium was seated 
 on the bicycles, instead of her chair, the bicycles 
 moved back when force was exerted on the back 
 of the table, showing that simple straight rods in 
 all probability connected the medium with the 
 table in that case.) But when really great force 
 is exerted, such as when two or even three men 
 push together, it is perfectly apparent the medium 
 and her chair would be pushed back bodily ; but 
 this, as a matter of fact, never happens. So it 
 was obvious to me that for large forces there 
 must be a modification of the psychic rods con- 
 necting medium with table ; the reaction must 
 be taken to a large extent by the floor, i.e. the 
 rods must touch the floor somewhere. 
 
 When questioned, the operators said that for 
 comparatively light pressures the simple straight 
 rods are used, and that for great pressures the 
 rods issuing from the medium proceed to the 
 floor, and then go from the floor to the near 
 legs of the table. 
 
 I asked them whereabouts on the floor the 
 pressure was exerted, and moved my hand about 
 in front of the medium until the approximately 
 correct position was reached, this being indicated 
 to me by raps. This position was immediately 
 in front of the medium's feet. I placed the 
 pressure recorder (see Experiment 3, fig. 10) on 
 the floor there just in front of one of her feet, 
 and asked the operators to exert their pressure 
 on the recorder instead of on the floor. In a 
 short time the bell rang, and while it was ringing 
 
62 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 I pushed strongly inwards on the back of the 
 table and found I could not move it. The 
 experiment was carried out three or four times. 
 
 Now, I have proved to my satisfaction by a 
 multitude of observations that the psychic rod 
 issues usually from the neighbourhood of the 
 medium's ankle. Hence it follows that the path 
 of the psychic rod is approximately as shown on 
 the diagram (fig. 18), where M is the medium; 
 T, table ; P, pressure recorder on the floor ; and 
 
 Fig. i 8. 
 
 R, R the two parts of the psychic rod. In 
 other words, a short strut projects from the 
 medium's ankle to the floor, and from the floor 
 rises at a small angle and grips a near leg of 
 the table. 
 
 Although I only tested for one rod, without 
 doubt a rod issues from each ankle of the medium, 
 and each grips one of the near legs of the table. 
 It does not simply press on the legs, but grips 
 them, as can easily be discovered by manipulating 
 the table in various ways. A large downward 
 force must be exerted along the limb AC (fig. 19), 
 which makes the part C of the rod (where the 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 
 
 63 
 
 direction changes) grip the floor strongly. At C 
 the direction alters, and B is a strut connecting 
 C with the leg of table. The consequence is that 
 
 Leg of Twsls 
 
 Rod (Trips 
 
 jAaLB Leg 
 Here. 
 
 Rod Presses 
 onFLoor Here 
 
 Fig. 
 
 19. 
 
 when muscular force is exerted on the table in 
 direction of medium, B strongly resists the table's 
 motion. The part B may bend a little, but I 
 have never known it to give way. 
 
 The Table rests on the Floor several feet 
 
 DISTANT FROM THE MEDIUM. The EXPERI- 
 menter attempts to push it in along the 
 Floor towards Medium, the Operators 
 resisting. Some General Observations 
 
 (a) Exerting a push along directions about 
 parallel to A (fig. 20), I found that the 
 table was quite easily turned about K, 
 the foot of the front legs. 
 
64 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 (b) Considerable force exerted parallel to the 
 floor, such as M, could not make the table 
 
 budge an inch. 
 
 (c) When I applied a verti- 
 cal force, such as S, 
 I found that the 
 table could be easily 
 moved upwards, 
 though it did not 
 feel free, but seemed 
 to be sliding or slip- 
 ping through some 
 kind of a surface 
 which was gripping 
 ; the front legs. 
 
 ; (d) Attempts to push the 
 table horizontally 
 sideways were 
 strongly resisted. 
 
 There is little doubt that 
 the front legs of the table 
 were gripped a few inches 
 above the floor. Probably 
 in this case two straight 
 psychic rods joined the legs 
 of the table straight to the 
 ankles of the medium. 
 
 An ordinary push in 
 direction M would not be 
 sufficient to make the medium and her chair 
 move along the floor against friction, and the 
 
 n 
 
 tf) 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 65 
 
 reaction would therefore not require to be taken 
 on the floor; and I have found by experience 
 that the operators always use the simplest 
 mechanism consistent with the successful pro- 
 duction of the phenomenon desired. 
 
 An Incident 
 
 An experimenter was inside the circle space 
 and the table was levitated. He was anxious 
 to experience the various psychic resistances to 
 applied forces. Accordingly, he pushed down 
 on the table and felt the elastic resistance to 
 levitation, and he pushed inwards towards the 
 medium and felt the rigid resistance (see experi- 
 ment 19, R.P.P.). 
 
 He then asked the operators to place the table 
 on the floor and to prevent him pushing it in- 
 wards towards the medium. The table descended 
 to the floor. As soon as it reached it the experi- 
 menter heard a sucking noise on the undersurface, 
 as though a kind of sucker there was relaxing or 
 changing its grip, and simultaneously the same 
 kind of noise on each front leg, as though suckers 
 were taking hold there. The light was quite 
 good, and there was nothing to be seen. 
 
 We asked the operators whereabouts on the 
 table they had their grip, and they immediately 
 gave audible demonstration by rapping on each 
 front leg and on the undersurface. 
 
 They said they had three psychic arms out in 
 this particular case. 
 
 5 
 
66 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 They also declared that they can have as 
 many as six arms or rods out at one time. 
 
 Direct Downward Push on Scale- 
 pan of Balance 
 
 Experiment 17 
 
 The compression balance with its electrical 
 attachments (as described in Experiment 6) was 
 placed on the floor within the circle, and the 
 table was moved aside. The balance was ad- 
 justed so that the electric bell would ring when 
 a downward pressure on the scalepan of about 
 19 lb. was reached. I asked the operators to 
 press on the scalepan and ring the bell, which 
 they did with great ease. To find the effect on 
 the medium's weight. 
 
 Weight of medium + chair + 
 
 board before test . . = 9 st. 9 lb. 8 oz. 
 Weight of medium + chair + 
 
 board during the ringing 
 
 of the bell . . . . = 8 st. 3 lb. 8 oz. 
 Decrease in medium's weight 
 
 while the bell was ringing 
 
 and while, therefore, there 
 
 was a pressure of at least 
 
 19 lb. on the scalepan . = 20 lb. 
 
 It is unlikely that the operators would press 
 on the scalepan with a force much in excess of 
 that necessary to ring the bell ; hence the corre- 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 67 
 
 spondence between the weight lost by the 
 medium (20 lb.) and the downward force re- 
 quired to ring the bell (19 lb.) is suggestive. 
 
 The Psychic Mechanism employed when the 
 Medium and the Chair on which she is 
 sitting are bodily moved about the 
 Floor of the Seance-Room 
 
 1 propounded the problem some time ago in 
 Light as to the method employed by the 
 operators in sliding the medium and the chair 
 on which she is sitting about the floor of the 
 room. I asked for an indication likely to lead 
 to a solution of the mystery, but none reached 
 me, and I was not surprised. I was never able 
 myself to form a satisfactory conception as to 
 how the thing was done. 
 
 The solution of this problem, in addition to 
 the knowledge of psychic things which it gives 
 us, throws some light on what the operators are 
 able to tell us concerning the modus operandi of 
 their phenomena. For this is one of the few 
 cases in which they have informed me before- 
 hand of certain definite facts. Their statement 
 was a little vague, but was correct in its main 
 points, as I will show later. 
 
 The following is the explanation of the 
 operators, obtained from them after a deal of 
 questioning and cross-examination : The medium 
 is sitting on her chair. From each of her ankles 
 there issues a psychic rod which inclines down- 
 
68 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 wards gradually to the floor within the circle. 
 It grips the floor at the place of contact. Out 
 of this inclined rod there issues a branch rod 
 or arm which pushes backwards on a front leg 
 of the medium's chair. There are two inclined 
 rods — one from each ankle of the medium — and 
 therefore two projecting arms which together 
 exert sufficient force on the front legs of the 
 chair to push it bodily along the floor. 
 
 Experiment 18 
 
 I obtained four little metal gliders, and 
 hammered them into the feet of the medium's 
 chair, so that it could slide more easily and 
 uniformly along the floor than was the case 
 without them. The only other apparatus was a 
 piece of fairly stiff pasteboard about twelve inches 
 long by eight inches wide. I informed the oper- 
 ators that I would first see if there was any 
 downward force on the floor in front of the 
 medium while the medium and her chair were 
 being moved backwards. Accordingly I placed 
 the piece of pasteboard flat on the floor beneath 
 the table (which was standing within the circle), 
 holding the end of it remote from the medium 
 in my fingers. I could thus easily tell if any 
 downward force was being exerted on the paste- 
 board by the difficulty I would experience in 
 endeavouring to lift it from the floor. I asked 
 the operators to proceed with the test. 
 
 Nothing happened for a considerable time, and 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 69 
 
 I was beginning to think that the explanation of 
 the operators was incorrect when they informed 
 me, by raps, that an aura from my hand, holding 
 the end of the pasteboard, was interfering with 
 the phenomenon. On asking ; f I should put on 
 gloves, they answered in the affirmative, and I 
 accordingly did so. In a short time the chair 
 and medium began to slide slowly backwards 
 along the floor. 
 
 During the whole period of the movement 
 there was a great downward force on the paste- 
 board — so great, in fact, that I was quite unable 
 to raise it from the floor, although I tried my 
 hardest. I carried out the experiment again 
 with a like result. The medium's chair slid back 
 altogether a foot or so, but the location of the 
 downward force did not seem to change, i.e. to 
 recede with the chair. It thus appeared that the 
 first part of the operators' statement that a rod 
 issuing from the medium inclines downwards to 
 the floor in front of her, where it presses on and 
 grips the floor strongly, has some basis in fact. 
 
 I then went over beside the medium and placed 
 the piece of pasteboard vertically against one of 
 the front legs of her chair, resting the lower edge 
 on the floor. While the medium and her chair 
 were being slowly moved backwards along the 
 floor, I found that there was a great horizontal 
 force exerted on the pasteboard, and through the 
 pasteboard on to the leg of the chair. So great 
 was the force that, while it was being exerted, I 
 was quite unable, although I tried several times, 
 
70 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 to remove the pasteboard from its position 
 against the leg of the chair. The force appeared 
 to be exerted horizontally on the leg quite low 
 down — not more than an inch or two above the 
 floor. It thus seemed that the second part of 
 the operators' statement, that pressure is exerted 
 directly on the front legs of the chair, is correct. 
 I next placed the medium's chair on the top 
 of a drawing-board resting on the platform of a 
 weighing-machine. After some futile attempts 
 the operators succeeded in sliding machine, board, 
 chair, and medium quite easily along the floor. 
 The motion at my request was made slow and 
 prolonged. 
 
 Readings : — 
 
 Initial weight of medium + chair 
 
 + board = 9 st. 7 lb. 
 
 Weight of medium -f chair + 
 
 board while the machine was 
 
 being fairly steadily moved 
 
 along the floor . . . = 6 st. 1 lb. 
 Decrease in weight of medium . — 48 lb. 
 
 The pushing force was exerted on the chair 
 and not on the front of the weighing-machine, 
 because the chair was several times pushed off 
 the platform during the preliminary attempts, 
 and on the successful occasions it always moved 
 back of itself until it was against the back rail of 
 the machine. 
 
 Fig. 21 indicates what I consider a provisional 
 deduction from the above facts. 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 
 
 71 
 
 R is a straight psychic rod which grips firmly 
 the floor at K and pushes directly on the chair 
 leg at D. The rod is " fed " at F by a " feeder " 
 proceeding from the ankle A of the medium. 
 
 It is pretty obvious that the inclined rod R 
 grips the floor at K, and does not merely rest 
 upon it, for in the latter case it would inevitably 
 be pushed along the floor while pressure was 
 exerted on the chair leg. I have stated that the 
 downward force was so great on the pasteboard 
 when it was on the floor at K that I could not 
 
 Fig. 21. 
 
 raise it the merest fraction of an inch from the 
 floor ; and further, the force seemed to be exerted 
 at the far end of the pasteboard (with reference to 
 my position), i.e. the psychic rod was evidently 
 not only pressing on the pasteboard, but was 
 gripping the floor round about the edge of it 
 as well. 
 
 The fact that the inclined rod at its floor end 
 actually grips and does not merely rest on the 
 floor was audibly demonstrated. Several times 
 during the preliminary attempts to move the 
 weighing-machine and medium the end at K 
 
72 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 was evidently torn from its hold on the floor, for a 
 sharp, shuffling noise was heard on two occasions, 
 resembling the noise likely to be made by the 
 forcible pulling from its grip of a plastic gripping 
 material. And this occurred at moments when 
 I was just expecting the machine to move. 
 
 Let us consider the results obtained with the 
 weighing-machine. 
 
 In fig. 22 the rod R is shown, fixed to the 
 floor at K, and inclining upwards to the leg of 
 
 Fig. 22. 
 
 the chair (resting on the platform of the weigh- 
 ing-machine) at D. The force P is exerted in 
 the direction of the arrow. The height of D 
 from the floor is about 9 in. (The platform 
 and board, the latter not shown on the diagram, 
 are together 1\ in. in height, and H in. are 
 allowed for the rod to obtain sufficient clearance. 
 I showed that the pushing force on the leg is 
 applied only an inch or two from its foot.) The 
 distance MK is about 24 in., M being the pro- 
 jection of D on the floor. The pushing force P 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 73 
 
 at D can be resolved into two components, a 
 vertical and a horizontal one. With the dis- 
 tances as given the vertical component is 9/24 
 times the horizontal, and the horizontal com- 
 ponent is the one which overcomes the friction 
 and moves machine and load slowly along the 
 floor. 
 
 By direct experiment I found that with Mr 
 Morrison sitting on the machine, the horizontal 
 force required to move machine, etc., slowly 
 along the floor was 28 lb. (of course the force 
 varied somewhat, but that was the maximum 
 value while the machine was moving slowly 
 along; the starting force was about 32 lb.). 
 Now the medium weighs about a stone less than 
 Mr Morrison, so that if we say the horizontal 
 force required is 28 lb., we are on the safe side. 
 
 The vertical component of the pushing force 
 P, being 9/24ths of the horizontal component, 
 works out at 9/24 x 28=10} lb. 
 
 Now the vertical component of P decreases 
 the weight of the medium. While the machine, 
 etc., aremoving slowly back the medium's weight 
 should therefore decrease by about 10} lb. 
 Even if MK be supposed equal to MD (fig. 22), 
 the very limit conceivable, the medium's weight 
 should only decrease by 28 lb. (These values are 
 maximum and do not take account of decrease 
 of friction due to the upward component of P.) 
 
 But we find that while the machine, medium, 
 etc., are being pushed back steadily and slowly, 
 the medium really loses 48 lb. in weight. 
 
74 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 It follows, I think, that her loss of weight is 
 not wholly accounted for by the vertical com- 
 ponent of the force P. How, then, can it be 
 accounted for ? Most probably by the fact that 
 the psychic rod R contains matter removed from 
 the medium's body, i.e. that an integral part of 
 the rod is matter from the medium's body. 
 
 I think, also, that this experiment indicates 
 that the operating entity in this case works from 
 outside the medium's body. 
 
 The Question of Matter abstracted from 
 the Body of the Medium. Matter used 
 in the Construction of the Psychic 
 Rods and Cantilevers 
 
 Recent research has given the following 
 results : — 
 
 A drawing-board was placed on the platform 
 of a weighing-machine and a chair was placed 
 on the top of the board. The medium (Miss 
 Goligher) sat on the chair, with her feet resting 
 on the board. 
 
 Experiment 19 
 
 I said to the operators, " You say the levi- 
 tating cantilever contains matter from the body 
 of the medium. I want you to take out from 
 her body the matter you use in the construction 
 of the cantilever you employ to levitate this 
 table (weight 12^ lb.), and to place this matter 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 75 
 
 loosely on the floor — not to build up the canti- 
 lever, but simply to place the matter required 
 for it on the floor. Give three raps when you 
 have done this." 
 
 The medium's weight began to decrease and 
 in a few seconds became fairly steady. Then I 
 heard the three raps, signifying that the opera- 
 tion was complete. 
 
 Result : — 
 
 Weight of medium + chair + 
 
 board before the experiment = 9 st. 12^ lb. 
 Fairly steady weight of 
 
 medium + chair -f board 
 
 after the raps were given . = 8 st. 10^ lb. 
 Decrease in weight of medium = 16 lb. 
 
 It is noteworthy that when 1 carried out the 
 same test about eighteen months previously I 
 obtained the same result within a pound or two 
 (see Reality of Psychic Phenomena, experi- 
 ment 63). 
 
 Experiment 20 
 
 I asked the operators to put the matter they 
 said they abstracted in Experiment 19 not on 
 the floor, but on the drawing-board under the 
 medium's chair (the drawing-board was resting 
 on the platform of the weighing-machine). 
 They gave three raps when the operation was 
 complete. 
 
 Result. — The medium's weight showed no 
 difference from her normal of 9 st. 12| lb. 
 
76 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 This, of course, is as it should be, as any 
 actual matter taken from her body and placed 
 on the drawing-board would still be accounted 
 for by the weighing-machine, provided that such 
 matter was acted on by gravity in the normal 
 way. 
 
 Experiment 21 
 
 J asked the operators to take from the body 
 of the medium the matter they use in the con- 
 struction of the rod employed to give their 
 loudest sledge-hammer blow and to place this 
 matter loosely on the floor— not to form an 
 actual rod, but just to place the matter con- 
 tained within it on the floor, three raps to be 
 given when the operation was complete. 
 
 Result : — 
 
 Weight of medium + chair + 
 
 board before the test . . = 9 st. 12^ lb. 
 Weight of medium 4- chair + 
 
 board when the three raps 
 
 were given . . . . = 6 st. 1 2% lb. 
 Decrease in weight of the 
 
 medium . . . . = 42 lb. 
 
 The result is correct to 2 lb. or 3 lb. The 
 decreased weight could not be kept quite steady, 
 there evidently being a strong tendency for the 
 abstracted matter to fly back into the body of 
 the medium. The operators appeared to experi- 
 ence much difficulty in keeping it outside on the 
 floor, though they seemingly managed it for a 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 77 
 
 period of from eight to ten seconds. Moreover, 
 the medium became rather restless when her 
 weight greatly diminished, though up to a de- 
 crease of 20 lb. or so she did not move a muscle. 
 
 Experiment 22 
 
 I asked the operators to make the matter they 
 said they abstracted in Experiment 21 into a 
 psychic rod, exactly similar to the rod they use 
 to cause the sledge-hammer blow. I told them 
 to rest the free end of this rod on the floor — not 
 to press, but simply to rest it on the floor. The 
 operators gave three raps when this was supposed 
 to be done. 
 
 Result : — 
 
 Weight of medium + chair + 
 
 board before test . . = 9 st. 1 2-J- lb. 
 
 Weight of medium + chair -f 
 
 board when the three raps 
 
 were given . . . . = 7 st. " 1-J- lb. 
 Decrease in weight of medium 
 
 (correct to 2 lb. or 3 lb.) . = 39 lb. 
 
 Experiment 23 
 
 I asked the operators to take as much matter 
 from the medium's body as they possibly could 
 and to rest it on the floor. Three raps were 
 given when this was supposed to be done. 
 
78 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 Result : — 
 
 Weight of medium + chair + 
 
 board before test . . = 9 st. 12^ lb. 
 
 Weight of medium + chair + 
 
 board when the three raps 
 
 were given . . . . = 6 st. 
 Decrease in weight of medium 
 
 (correct to 2 lb. or 3 lb.) . = 54J- lb. 
 
 The weight decreased in fluxes, seemingly as 
 though the operators were pulling the matter 
 out against the action of something resembling 
 a spring. After about the 30-lb. mark was passed 
 the pulls on the medium's body were evidently 
 severe, as she became somewhat restless. Some- 
 times, when the maximum diminution of weight 
 was being approached, there were quick, jerky 
 decreases of weight which could not be main- 
 tained, and the lost weight flew back. But the 
 loss of 54J lb. given above (nearly half the 
 medium's normal weight) was fairly held for 
 eight or nine seconds while I was taking the 
 reading. There were fluxes of 6 lb. or 8 lb. 
 more than this, but they could not be held long 
 enough to enable me to get a satisfactory reading. 
 As 1 have said, it would seem that the matter 
 was tending to be pulled back into the medium's 
 body by something resembling a spring, for the 
 more matter removed the stronger the restraining 
 force became. 
 
 The above are a few of the results which are 
 gradually leading me to the conclusion that the 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 79 
 
 psychic rods which produce the phenomena are, 
 for all their invisibility and impalpability, really 
 packed with matter, but matter which has taken 
 on a form unknown to science. 
 
 Experiment 24 
 
 To discover if there was any reaction pressure 
 on the medium's chair, drawing-board under her 
 chair, standard of the weighing-machine, the 
 floor round the weighing-machine, or upon the 
 surface of her body, when the table was levitated. 
 
 The medium was seated on the weighing- 
 machine. 
 
 In order to test for mechanical pressure I 
 employed the apparatus of Experiment 3, fig. 10. 
 
 During periods when the table was steadily 
 levitated : 
 
 (a) I placed the pressure recorder on the 
 
 drawing-board under the medium's chair, 
 and moved it here, there, and all over it, 
 sliding it right up to her feet (which were 
 at rest on the drawing-board) ; then I 
 raised it from the board into the air behind 
 the calves of her legs. 
 Result. — No pressure indicated anywhere. 
 
 (b) I slid the pressure recorder all over the 
 
 undersurface of the seat of the medium's 
 chair. 
 Result. — No pressure indicated anywhere. 
 
80 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 (c) I placed the pressure recorder on the standard 
 
 of the weighing-machine and on various 
 other parts of the machine. 
 
 Result. — No pressure recorded anywhere. 
 
 (d) I slid the pressure recorder along the floor 
 
 right from the front of weighing-machine 
 platform to the region immediately below 
 the levitated table. 
 
 Result. — No pressure indicated anywhere. 
 
 (e) I slid the pressure recorder here and there 
 
 along the floor at the side of the weighing- 
 machine. 
 
 Result. — No pressure indicated anywhere. 
 
 (/') I placed the pressure recorder on the front 
 of the medium's body just below her neck, 
 and slid it all over her arms and chest, 
 covering every square inch of her body 
 down to nearly the base of the trunk. 
 
 Result. — No pressure indicated anywhere. 
 
 The operators did not wish me to proceed with 
 the pressure recorder any lower than near the 
 base of the trunk, and as I invariably gave heed 
 to their demands, I desisted. 
 
 From the results of this experiment it seems 
 that when the table is levitated by means of a 
 true cantilever, all the reaction is upon the body 
 of the medium, and there is none upon the 
 weighing-machine, drawing-board, chair, or floor. 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON REACTION 81 
 
 That is to say, the cantilever issues straight from 
 the body of the medium and is not fixed to, or 
 supported in any way by, the drawing-board, 
 machine, chair, or floor. 
 
 Experiment 25 
 
 I wanted to see if the operators could increase 
 the weight of the medium without acting on any 
 material body in the room, i.e. if they were able 
 to add to the medium's weight by action upon 
 her body alone. I carefully explained the matter 
 to them and told them they must not levitate 
 the table, or act on it in any way, or, in fact, 
 exert pressure on anything. Their action was to 
 be limited to the body of the medium. 
 
 Result. — Under these conditions the operators 
 were unable to increase the medium's weight in 
 the slightest degree. 
 
 6 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS 
 
 The question of electric conduciion by psychic structure — Effect of 
 medium touching the levitated table with her hands and with 
 various articles, such as glass and metal — Effect on phenomena 
 of alteration of position of medium with respect to circle — 
 Temperature measurements — Effect of screens in front of 
 medium — Psychic body of medium. 
 
 Experiment 26 
 
 To see if the end of the cantilever structure 
 which presses on the undersurface of table and 
 levitates it is a conductor of low-tension elec- 
 tricity. 
 
 About the centre of the undersurface of the 
 table I screwed two pieces of brass, A, A (fig. 23), 
 each about 1^ in. by 4 in., parallel to each other 
 and about § in. apart. 
 
 An insulated wire was bared at the end and 
 fixed to each, the wires being in an electric-bell 
 circuit. I placed the table upright on the floor 
 and asked the operators to levitate it, and, while 
 they were levitating it, to press upwards on and 
 across the two pieces of brass A, A. They said 
 they would try to do this. 
 
 82 
 
MISCELLANEOUS 83 
 
 After some manoeuvring the table levitated. 
 
 Result. — The bell did not ring. 
 
 The apparatus was tested prior 
 to the experiment and found 
 correct. 
 
 I asked the operators if they 
 had placed the end of the canti- 
 lever across the pieces of brass, ^=^^s 
 but they informed me they had ^ 
 not. They said they were unable FlGt 23 ' 
 
 to place it across and had levitated the table from 
 the region of undersurface beyond the metal. 
 
 Experiment 27 
 
 I turned the table (with apparatus fixed to it 
 as in Experiment 26) upside down and asked 
 the operators to place a rapping rod across the 
 pieces of brass A, A (fig. 23). They seemed to 
 accomplish this easily, for the rod could be heard 
 scraping over the metal . 
 
 Asked if the end of the rod were properly across 
 and touching both pieces of brass simultaneously, 
 they answered in the affirmative. 
 
 Result. — Bell did not ring. 
 
 This result seems to show that the end of the 
 rapping rod offers a somewhat high resistance to 
 a low-tension electric current. 
 
 Experiment 28 
 
 The operators having failed to ring the electric 
 bell in the manner described in Experiment 27, 1 
 
84 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 decided to substitute for the bell a galvanometer, 
 an instrument which measures electric currents 
 of very small magnitude. Fig. 24 shows the 
 arrangement, where A, A are the two pieces of 
 brass described in Experiment 26 (fixed about 
 J in. apart — somewhat closer than in Experi- 
 ment 26) ; G, the galvanometer ; B, a dry cell ; 
 and W, W insulated wires connecting the whole 
 
 in series. 
 
 The operators were told 
 to put the end of one of 
 their psychic rods across 
 both pieces of brass, or, if 
 they could not do that, to 
 pile some psychic matter 
 across. If the end of the 
 rod or the psychic matter 
 were even a feeble conduc- 
 tor of current electricity, 
 the needle of the galvano- 
 meter would deflect. 
 
 Result. — There was much 
 scraping on the wood of the table in the neigh- 
 bourhood of the brasses A, A, and it was evident 
 the operators were trying to do what was asked 
 of them. They seemed, however, to experience 
 much difficulty. By means of raps they said 
 they had trouble in getting their psychic stuff 
 across the pieces of brass A, A. I gathered 
 that the metal, whether because it was bright 
 and polished, or simply because it was metal, 
 or because it was electrified, repelled in some 
 
 Fig. 24. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS 85 
 
 manner or other the psychic stuff. However, 
 the operators said they got across A, A simul- 
 taneously two or three times. 
 
 There was on no occasion any deflection of 
 the needle of the galvanometer. 
 
 Experiment 29 
 
 Effect of medium touching the levitated table 
 with her hands. 
 
 While the table was levitated in the usual way, 
 one of the members of the circle thought the 
 medium would like to feel its great resisting 
 pressure. So she told the medium to take hold 
 of the edge of the levitated table nearest her with 
 her hands. The medium leaned over and did so. 
 The effect was startling. No sooner did she 
 touch it than the table dropped. 
 
 The table being again levitated, I seized it 
 and noted its great resistance to my muscular 
 pressure. Keeping my grip of the table, I asked 
 the medium to touch its edge. Within a second 
 of her doing so the table dropped and every 
 particle of resistance disappeared. Several times 
 was the experiment tried, and the result was 
 always the same. Within two seconds at the 
 most of the medium touching the edge of the 
 table all psychic resistance vanished. It did not 
 disappear quite instantaneously, but took from a 
 fraction of a second up to about two seconds. 
 
 What had happened ? It appears that the 
 medium, by touching the wood of the table, estab- 
 
86 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 lished some kind of a psychic circuit. Perhaps 
 the matter contained within the cantilever struc- 
 ture returned to her body via her hands and 
 arms. 
 
 Experiment 30 
 
 Effect of medium touching the levitated table. 
 
 At a date later than the occasion of Experiment 
 29, I carried out further tests on the effect of 
 the medium touching the levitated table not 
 only with her hands, but with articles such as 
 wood and glass. 
 
 The operators were told to levitate the table 
 in the usual way, but to bring it a little nearer 
 the medium than was customary, so that she 
 could easily touch it. They were asked to keep 
 the table levitated if they could, until told to 
 drop it. Each test was carried out several times. 
 
 (A) The medium touched the near edge of 
 
 levitated table with her bare hand. 
 
 Result. — Table always dropped — not quite 
 instantaneously, but taking from two to three 
 seconds. 
 
 This result is in agreement with the result of 
 Experiment 29. 
 
 (B) The medium leaned over and placed her 
 
 bare hand on the surface of the levitated 
 table near its centre. 
 
 Result. — Table dropped in from two to three 
 seconds — exactly as in test A. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS 87 
 
 (C) The medium touched the surface of levitated 
 
 table with a glass tube which she held in 
 her hand. 
 
 Result. — The table dropped in from five to 
 six seconds. 
 
 (D) The medium touched the surface of the 
 
 levitated table with a piece of twisted 
 paper which she held in her hand. 
 
 Result. — No effect. The table did not drop. 
 
 (E) The medium touched the surface of the 
 
 levitated table with a piece of wood about 
 a foot long which she held in her hand. 
 
 Result. — No effect. The table did not drop. 
 
 (F) The medium lifted one of her feet and 
 
 gently slid it up and down a near leg of 
 the levitated table. 
 
 Result. — No effect. The table did not drop. 
 
 Seeing that the table did not drop, I got the 
 medium to touch its surface with her hand 
 (simultaneously with the contact of her foot on 
 its leg), when the table dropped with a crash. 
 
 Experiment 31 
 
 Effect of medium and others touching levi- 
 tated table. 
 
 At a date a fortnight later than the occasion 
 of Experiment 30, I carried out further tests 
 on the effect of the levitated table being touched. 
 
88 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 (G) The medium touched the levitated table 
 with (1) an iron poker and (2) a piece of 
 copper wire. 
 
 Eesult. — The table dropped in both cases in 
 from six to seven seconds. 
 
 (H) The medium put on a glove (kid lined 
 with silk) and touched the levitated table 
 with it. 
 
 Result. — The table dropped in about eight 
 seconds. 
 
 (I) The medium held her bare hand above the 
 table as it rested on the floor, and the 
 table levitated until its surface came in 
 contact with her hand. 
 
 Result. — The table very quickly dropped. 
 
 (J) I clasped the medium's right hand in my 
 left, and I touched the levitated table 
 with my other hand. 
 
 Result. — The table slowly dropped, the levi- 
 tating energy seeming to be gradually sucked 
 from it. 
 
 (K) The medium clasped the left hand of Mrs 
 Morrison (who was sitting on the right 
 of the medium). Mrs Morrison touched 
 the levitated table with her right hand. 
 
 Result. — No effect; the table remained up 
 quite steadily. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS 89 
 
 (L) Mr Goligher (who was sitting on the left 
 of the medium) grasped her left hand and 
 touched the levitated table with his free 
 hand. 
 
 Result. — No effect; the table remained up quite 
 steadily. 
 
 (M) A visitor who was in the room watching 
 the experiments grasped the left hand 
 of the medium and touched the levitated 
 table with his free hand. 
 
 Result. — No effect ; the table remained up 
 quite steadily. 
 
 (N) All the sitters (except the medium) placed 
 their hands simultaneously on the levitated 
 table. 
 
 Result. — No effect. 
 
 Then the medium added her hand to the pile 
 on the table. 
 
 Result. — The table dropped in a couple of 
 seconds. 
 
 (O) The medium held her hand in the air near 
 edge of the levitated table (but without 
 touching it). 
 
 Result. — No effect. 
 
 (P) The medium held her hand in the space 
 underneath the levitated table. 
 
 Result. — Table dropped. 
 
90 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 Experiment 32 
 
 To discover the effect on the phenomena when 
 the medium sits on her chair with her back to 
 the circle. 
 
 The medium's chair was turned round through 
 180°, so that she sat with her back to the circle. 
 
 Result. — Raps were given in front of her, i.e. 
 in the direction in which she was facing, outside 
 the circle, and under her chair. No phenomena, 
 however, could be obtained within the circle — 
 not even the least movement of the table. 
 
 Experiment 33 
 
 To discover the effect on the phenomena when 
 the medium sits on her chair at right angles to 
 the circle of sitters. 
 
 The medium's chair was turned through 90°, 
 so that the side of her body was presented to the 
 centre of the circle. 
 
 Result. — The table was quite easily moved 
 about the floor, but was not levitated. The 
 operators said they were able to use only one 
 rod in this case, that one issuing from the 
 medium's ankle nearer the table. 
 
 Experiment 34 
 
 To see if it was possible to obtain levitations 
 or movements of the table with the medium and 
 all members of the circle standing. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS 91 
 
 The medium and sitters stood up. I asked 
 that the table be levitated or moved about. 
 
 No levitation was obtained, but the table was 
 quite easily moved about the floor. Raps were 
 also easily given. 
 
 Experiment 35 
 
 The effect of lightly grasping an ankle of the 
 medium. 
 
 I put my hand lightly round the right ankle 
 of the medium, at the same time asking ques- 
 tions of the operators. They answered with 
 subdued, dull raps by means of a rod evidently 
 taken — judging by the sound — from her free 
 ankle. While the raps were occurring, the 
 muscles of the ankle I was holding seemed to 
 be squirming : it is not a very graceful word, 
 but it is the only one which adequately describes 
 the feeling. The foot was quite steady ; it was 
 only the muscles round ankle and lower part 
 of calf which were trembling and vibrating 
 sinuously. 
 
 Experiment 36 
 
 To find if there is any alteration in the tem- 
 perature of the table during a long levitation. 
 
 A friend had suggested that the operators 
 may possibly abstract heat energy from the 
 table to aid them in producing phenomena. 
 This was a point of view which had not occurred 
 to me. Accordingly, I made a hole in the centre 
 
92 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 of the top of the table and fixed the bulb of a 
 thermometer tightly in it. The stem was held 
 in an upright position by an arrangement of 
 cardboard. I told the operators to levitate the 
 table for as long as they conveniently could. 
 The table immediately rose and remained in the 
 air for more than five minutes. 
 
 Result : — 
 
 Temperature just before the levitation = 24° C. 
 Temperature just after the levitation = 24° C. 
 
 The greatest care was taken to get this result 
 accurate, and I am certain that there was no 
 change of temperature exceeding J-° C. Hence 
 it would seem that no, or very little, heat 
 energy is abstracted from the table for the pur- 
 pose of producing the phenomenon. 
 
 Experiment 37 
 
 Temperature of the psychic cantilever and 
 psychic stuff generally. 
 
 The table being levitated, I held a centigrade 
 thermometer (of length about 6 in.) by the end 
 and waved it about under the table. I slowly 
 moved the thermometer across the space under 
 the table, from legs to legs, at nearly all heights 
 from floor to surface, covering practically all the 
 space below table. This process occupied about 
 three minutes, the table remaining quite easily 
 in the air all the time. The crossing of all 
 
MISCELLANEOUS 93 
 
 regions of space immediately below table did 
 not affect the phenomenon in the least. 
 
 Result. — There was practically no alteration 
 in temperature from the temperature of the 
 room. At the most there may have been a 
 decrease of J° C, but I am not quite certain of 
 it. At any rate the decrease was negligible, 
 which seems strange, as the region under the 
 levitated table often feels somewhat chill to the 
 hand. 
 
 Note. — If there was a psychic column — or 
 vertical part of the cantilever — below table, as 
 is usually the case, then I must have cut through 
 this many times with the thermometer tube 
 during the experiment. I felt, however, no 
 resistance whatever, and the levitation was not 
 affected in the least. The reader should note 
 that it seems quite possible to cut through 
 the columnar part of the cantilever without 
 affecting the phenomenon, but impossible to 
 cut through that part of the structure between 
 table and medium without causing table to 
 drop. 
 
 I placed a Fahrenheit thermometer, which 
 was clipped to a wooden frame, on the floor 
 within the circle and told the operators to touch 
 the bulb with a psychic rod, and to pile psychic 
 stuff upon it if they could. They were very 
 quickly moving the instrument about the floor 
 and apparently doing what was asked. 
 
 Result. — No difference of temperature from 
 the temperature of the room. 
 
94 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 Screens in Front of the Medium 
 
 Experiment 38 
 
 A piece of wire netting having holes through 
 it about 1 sq. in. area, height about 2j ft., and 
 some 3 ft. long, was placed in front of the 
 medium, between her and the table. The sitter 
 on each side of the medium held an end of it and 
 put his foot on the bottom of it so as to keep the 
 lower part of it on the floor. The consequence 
 was that the operators were not able to act on 
 the table except through the netting. 
 
 I asked the operators either to levitate the 
 table or to move it about. 
 
 Result. — The table did not levitate, and did 
 not move (it did move a little on two occasions, 
 but it was doubtful if the wire net were not 
 touching the table at one point at the time). 
 The operators were given plenty of time and 
 evidently made great efforts to do what was 
 asked of them. But the result was failure. The 
 wire netting itself was often nearly pulled out of 
 the hands of those holding it as the cantilever 
 arm evidently tried to get through. 
 
 Experiment 39 
 
 A fortnight after Experiment 38 was carried 
 out I tried another kind of screen, viz. a cloth 
 one. To be exact, it was a ripped-open potato 
 sack and was of very open texture. When held 
 
MISCELLANEOUS 95 
 
 up to the light the interstices between the 
 threads were sufficiently great to allow one to 
 see through. 
 
 The sitters on each side of the medium (myself 
 assisting) held this screen in their hands, keeping 
 it between her and the table. The sitters also 
 put their feet on the bottom of it to keep it on 
 the floor. The operators were asked to levitate 
 the table, or move it about (if they could) through 
 the screen. 
 
 After a few minutes the screen was pushed 
 violently outwards by the psychic rod pressing 
 on it. So great was the force applied that the 
 three of us who were holding it could only with 
 the greatest difficulty keep it in position (on one 
 occasion, indeed, it was pushed clean out of our 
 hands). The location of pressure was quite low 
 down, near the floor. 
 
 Result. — After several futile trials the operators 
 gave up the attempt, saying that they could not 
 get the structure through the screen, a fact 
 which was perfectly obvious to me. The end of 
 the psychic rod would appear to be solid or 
 M materialised," and hence could not be pushed 
 through the interstices of the cloth. 
 
 At first sight these negative results obtained 
 with the wire netting and cloth screen may 
 seem strange. For does not the structure go 
 through the clothing of the medium ? It must 
 do so if it issues from her body, and it seems 
 to suffer no hindrance when so passing. Why, 
 therefore, do quite porous screens, when placed 
 
96 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 6 in. in front of her, prove altogether impenetrable 
 to the psychic arm ? 
 
 In order to find out something about this I 
 wrapped the cloth screen (the potato sack) round 
 the medium's body in the manner of an apron, 
 tucking it round her tightly and putting it under 
 her boots on the floor, so that, if the structure 
 did issue, it must go through the screen, which 
 was thus practically a part of her dress. The 
 operators were asked to move the table about 
 the floor and to levitate it. 
 
 Result. — The table was moved about the floor 
 several times fairly easily, but could not be levi- 
 tated. The phenomenon was evidently much 
 more difficult when the medium was wrapped 
 round with the sack than when she was free 
 of it. 
 
 Other screens were tried of various kinds of 
 cloth and cloth nets of several sizes of mesh. 
 With the nets small movements of the table were 
 sometimes obtained when such nets were placed 
 upright before the medium a foot or so in front 
 of her. I do not intend to go at length into this 
 question here. Briefly, it may be shown that 
 
 (1) the free end of an ordinary sized psychic rod 
 
 cannot penetrate ordinary closely woven 
 cloth screens when such screens are placed 
 more than an inch or two in front of the 
 medium ; 
 
 (2) if, however, such screens be wrapped tightly 
 
 round the body of the medium, and 
 
MISCELLANEOUS 97 
 
 especially so round her feet and ankles, 
 fairly strong psychic action can take place 
 through them ; 
 
 (3) the closer such screens are to the body of the 
 
 medium, the stronger the psychic action 
 through them ; 
 
 (4) some slight psychic action can occur through 
 
 fairly open cloth network placed a foot or 
 more distant from the medium. 
 
 The reason for all this, as I shall show in a 
 later work, is that the materialisation of the 
 working or free end of the psychic rod occurs 
 very close to the skin of the medium, and even 
 sometimes directly upon her skin. It is this 
 materialised film of matter which, being formed 
 at a maximum of an inch or two from her body, 
 cannot pass through the screens : that is to say, 
 the end of the psychic rod is a film of ordinary 
 solid matter, and this, of course, cannot pass 
 through matter interposed in its path. The 
 thinnest psychic rods (about the thickness of a 
 lead pencil) can get through a comparatively 
 small mesh (see (4) above). 
 
 Experiment 40 
 
 The following experiment was carried out to 
 see if the operators could write a message with 
 a pencil. 
 
 A piece of brown paper was placed on the 
 floor within the circle under the table, and two 
 
 7 
 
98 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 pencils (constructed by pieces of thick lead being 
 inserted in wooden cylinders about 6 in. long 
 and | in. diameter) were laid on top of the 
 paper. The operators were soon moving the 
 pencils about, raising them and dropping them 
 on the floor, scraping with them, and so on. 
 When the brown paper was examined it was 
 found to have a large number of pencil lines 
 upon it, but no formed letters. The floor was 
 similarly marked. 
 
 Experiment 41 
 
 Attempt to weigh the psychic body of the 
 medium. 
 
 Many spiritualists and psychic investigators 
 assert that man has two bodies : the physical one, 
 with which we are well acquainted, and an im- 
 material or ethereal one, about which we know 
 nothing. The latter is supposed to be the 
 duplicate of the former as regards shape, and 
 even to be the frame upon which it is built up. 
 It is also supposed to be the vehicle through 
 which man functions after death. 
 
 The reader should note that the operators 
 themselves say that each of us possesses this 
 psychic body in addition to the physical. 
 
 I once tried to weigh the psychic body of my 
 medium. She was seated on a weighing-machine, 
 and I asked the operators to exteriorise her 
 psychic body, i.e. to remove it from her physical 
 body beyond the limits of the weighing-machine. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS 99 
 
 I wished to see if there would be any decrease 
 in the weight of the medium when this was 
 done, i.e. if her psychic body was susceptible to 
 the force of gravity. 
 
 On the operators giving three little raps on 
 the floor as a sign to me that they had done 
 what I asked, I found that the medium's weight 
 had decreased by about 8 lb., but that the de- 
 crease did not remain constant at 8 lb., but 
 became less and less, until there was practically 
 no diminution at all; and during the whole 
 experiment the operators declared that the 
 medium's psychic body remained exteriorised 
 or placed beyond the limits of the weighing- 
 machine. 
 
 I thought at the time that the experiment 
 was a failure, and I am not now sure that there 
 is much in it. It has, however, occurred to me 
 as just possible that when the operators tried to 
 remove the medium's psychic body they were 
 unable to remove it per se, but had to take some 
 physical matter along with it, i.e. some gross 
 matter was mixed with the psychic body, and 
 this was gradually returned to the medium's 
 physical body, as was evidenced by the gradual 
 return of her weight, leaving the psychic form 
 more and more nearly pure. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 ANALYSIS OF RESULTS 
 
 The experiments described complete what I 
 may call my investigation into the mechanical 
 aspects of the phenomena at the Goligher circle. 
 Upon them I rely for definite information — as 
 apart from mere hypothesis, which hitherto has 
 been the only attempt at solution — concerning 
 such problems as the levitation of bodies without 
 physical contact, the movement of bodies about 
 the floor of the room, raps, knocks, and so forth. 
 I hope later on to show how these phenomena 
 are only a special case of still simpler pheno- 
 mena, i.e. those which occur with contact, when 
 the hands of the sitters, for instance, are upon 
 the table and all sorts of violent movements 
 occur, not due, apparently, to muscular pressure. 
 And I am going now to analyse the results 
 obtained, so that future investigators may have 
 something to work upon, something which has 
 at least the merit of experimental observation 
 behind it, and is therefore more than mere 
 hypothesis. 
 
 Let us first consider the phenomenon of levi- 
 
 100 
 
ANALYSIS OF RESULTS 101 
 
 tation. All the results obtained in the first 
 series of experiments were in agreement with 
 the theory that a rigid beam or cantilever issues 
 from some part of the medium's body. I have 
 shown (see p. 45) that because the levitated 
 body in those tests never weighed much more 
 than 10 lb. while the medium was under experi- 
 mental observation, that the moment of the 
 weight of such body was insufficient to cause the 
 medium to topple over in her chair. But we 
 should expect that if the cantilever theory is a 
 true explanation of the levitation process, that if 
 the weight of the levitated body was gradually 
 increased, a moment would at length be reached 
 which would have this effect. This was found to 
 be so (see Experiments 1 and 2). Therefore, the 
 cantilever theory received further corroboration. 
 Accordingly, while not attempting to lay down 
 an absolute law which may not need revision in 
 the future, we may say provisionally that 
 
 ( 1 ) The cantilever theory is correct as explaining 
 one method of levitation. 
 
 The question then arises whether the canti- 
 lever method is the only one used during levita- 
 tion. There were several ordinary observational 
 phenomena (as apart from experimental ones), 
 which seemed to show there was another method 
 in use. For instance, I had often seen the table 
 levitated a foot or more in thea'r and a sx'rcri£ 
 man pressing down upon it with all his strength, 
 who was nevertheless quite unable to : de pi eW 
 
102 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 it to the floor. Yet the medium in this case 
 showed no signs of toppling over, although the 
 applied moment, on the cantilever theory, must 
 have been more than sufficient to cause her to 
 do so. Was another method in use ? Experi- 
 ments 2, 3, and 4 show that there was. Instead 
 of a cantilever, a beam evidently projected itself 
 from the medium's body to the floor under the 
 table, or to the floor between the medium and 
 the table ; from that point a more or less vertical 
 projection rose to the table. 
 
 The net result was that most of the reaction 
 was taken by the floor and not by the body 
 of the medium, and hence there was practically 
 no tendency to overturn on the medium's part. 
 There was, in short, a psychic strut between the 
 levitated table and the floor. The interesting 
 Experiment 2 seems to show both processes in 
 operation consecutively. Therefore, we may say 
 
 (2) For levitated bodies of considerable weight 
 a strut method is used. 
 
 This explains some of the points which seemed 
 inconsistent in the first series of experiments. 
 
 The next questions that arise are — When is 
 a cantilever used for levitation and when a strut ? 
 The answer is, that for comparatively light 
 bodies a cantilever is almost invariably used, and 
 for heavy bodies, or where the applied forces 
 ar<3 rgreat, a -strut.; The cantilever is a simpler 
 piece of psychic mechanism than a strut. It 
 is* more -eastLy constructed. It does not require 
 
ANALYSIS OF RESULTS 103 
 
 the expenditure of so much psychic energy. 
 Therefore, it is used wherever possible. One 
 has to remember that the psychic energy avail- 
 able in the seance-room is strictly limited, and 
 that the more used up in any one phenomenon, 
 the less the number of phenomena. 
 
 I have often watched the gradual petering 
 out of phenomena at a circle owing to the lack 
 of psychic energy, though often enough, on the 
 other hand, phenomena are at their best towards 
 the close of the seance-time. In the latter case 
 the original available energy was very great, the 
 circle was harmonious, and everyone was in good 
 health. 
 
 The operators themselves declare that for 
 light bodies a cantilever is used, and for heavy 
 bodies a strut, which statements, as I have 
 shown, are in agreement with experimental facts. 
 Therefore, 
 
 (3) The cantilever method of levitation is made 
 use of for light bodies or where the applied 
 forces are small, and the strut method 
 for heavy bodies or when the applied 
 forces are large. 
 
 In the first series of experiments there was 
 considerable doubt as to what happened to the 
 weight of the medium when the cantilever arm 
 rested on the scalepan of a spring balance while 
 the table was levitated above it. A very incom- 
 plete test of that series seemed to show that the 
 weight of the medium actually increased. But 
 
104 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 a number of new experiments, very carefully 
 carried out, showed that the weight of the 
 medium really decreased regularly during this 
 kind of levitation, and that, in fact, the reading 
 on the spring balance minus the weight of the 
 levitated table was, allowing for the experimental 
 inaccuracies of the case, the actual amount of 
 the decrease (see Experiments 6, 7, and 8). 
 This is in agreement with the mechanics of a 
 beam fixed to the medium's body and acted on 
 by the given forces at its extremity. 
 
 The problem as to what happened to the 
 weight of the medium when the weight of the 
 table, standing on the floor either upright or 
 upside down, was increased on demand, was not 
 solved in the first series of tests. Experiments 
 10, 11, and 12, however, show pretty clearly that 
 the medium's weight is reduced, and that the 
 amount of the reduction is equal, allowing for 
 experimental inaccuracies, to the increased weight 
 temporarily given the table. So the visitor to 
 this, or any similar circle, may be pretty sure, 
 when he finds that the seance-table has become 
 so heavy that he cannot lift it, or only lift it 
 with difficulty, that the medium's weight is at 
 the time correspondingly reduced. He is, in 
 fact, trying to raise the medium when he attempts 
 to lift the table under these conditions, though 
 in a manner which probably he never dreams of. 
 The psychic arm projecting from the medium's 
 body has hold of some part of the table with its 
 free end (sometimes the undersurface and some- 
 
ANALYSIS OF RESULTS 105 
 
 times the legs of the table) and is pulling down- 
 wards, i.e. pressing it against the floor and thus 
 apparently increasing its weight. The experi- 
 mental results agree with the mechanics of the 
 problem. 
 
 Several correspondents have written to me 
 asking why the medium and the chair on which 
 she was sitting were not bodily moved along the 
 floor of the room or overturned, when a man 
 pushed on the table as it stood on the floor, 
 horizontally inwards towards the medium. If 
 the cantilever theory is true and there was a 
 rigid psychic bar connecting the table to the 
 body of the medium, it was reasonable to suppose 
 that for large forces applied to the table the 
 medium and her chair would be forced along the 
 floor. But at ordinary observational or demon- 
 stration seances this never occurred. At one 
 seance three men pushed inwards on the table 
 with all their strength, — one even pushed back- 
 wards with his foot against the nearest wall to 
 get a better leverage — but they were unable to 
 make the table budge as it stood on the floor 
 some feet from the medium. I decided to 
 investigate the matter (see Experiments 13, 14, 
 and 16). It is now obvious that, as in the case 
 of levitation, there are two methods in use : — 
 
 (4) A simple psychic arm connects the table 
 to the medium — a bar which does not 
 touch the floor — when the pressures 
 applied to the table are light, or likely 
 
106 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 to be insufficient to move the medium's 
 chair over the floor against friction. 
 (5) An inclined psychic strut connects the table 
 to the floor, and thence to the body of 
 the medium, when the pressures applied 
 to the table are likely to be heavy and 
 sufficient to move the medium and her 
 chair along the floor. 
 
 Fig. 25 shows such a strut. It grips the 
 leg of the table at A, descends to the floor at K, 
 and thence proceeds upwards into the medium's 
 body. AK would seemingly in most cases be 
 fairly short. At K the psychic structure actually 
 grips the floor by a kind of suction effect. It 
 does not merely rest upon it. The reader can 
 therefore readily see what happens when mus- 
 cular pressure is applied to the table in the 
 direction of the arrow. The pressure is trans- 
 mitted to the floor, and so long as the bar AK 
 is stiff enough to withstand the compressive 
 stress and bending moment, and so long as the 
 grip which K has on the floor does not relax, 
 there will be practically no effect on the medium. 
 This is what occurs when, in a demonstration 
 seance, a man is invited to push on the table 
 as hard as he can. Occasionally the grip at K 
 gives a little, and in that case the medium and 
 her chair are actually pushed back along the 
 floor (see p. 59). 
 
 There is an important point about this type of 
 psychic structure which I wish now to mention. 
 
ANALYSIS OF RESULTS 
 
 107 
 
 If the arm AK (fig. 25) is fairly short, if it is 
 sufficiently rigid, and if the grip of K on the 
 floor is very firm, practi- 
 cally the whole of the 
 reaction is taken by 
 the floor. We have, in 
 brief, a short rigid strut 
 fixed to the floor at one 
 end and to the table at 
 the other. Hence it 
 follows that the portion 
 KS of the structure 
 need not be proportion- 
 ately strong ; in fact, it 
 might be absent alto- 
 gether without affect- 
 ing the magnitude of 
 the phenomenon. That 
 it is altogether absent, 
 however, is not the 
 case ; for occasionally, 
 as I have mentioned, 
 the grip which the part 
 K has on the floor re- 
 laxes, and when this 
 happens the medium 
 and her chair move 
 back bodily along the 
 floor, for the struc- 
 ture AKS becomes 
 then practically a simple unsupported rod 
 between the table and the medium, and con- 
 
108 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 siderable mechanical pressure is transmitted to 
 the medium. We have here, then, a glimpse 
 of the methods used in phenomena of a more 
 advanced type than those which occur at the 
 Goligher circle. If the mechanical pressure and 
 reactions can be thrown off the medium and 
 transmitted instead to the floor, and if at the 
 same time connection can be maintained with 
 the medium, then it is obvious that psychic 
 structure might be built up at a considerable 
 distance from the medium — at a much greater 
 distance than occurs with Miss Goligher. But 
 in phenomena of the Goligher type which 
 depend for their spectacular value on force mag- 
 nitude, these structures have of necessity to be 
 exceedingly rigid and strong, and hence much 
 psychic energy is used per unit length, if I may 
 put it that way ; therefore, although such struc- 
 tures may sometimes not be simple projections 
 from the body of the medium, such as psychic 
 arms issuing forth into space and gripping the 
 table without touching the floor, but may be 
 built-up mechanisms for transmitting mechanical 
 pressures to the floor, as shown in fig. 25, yet 
 such mechanisms, owing to the magnitude of the 
 psychic energy and matter used in their construc- 
 tion, and to the necessity of continually feeding 
 them on a large scale, can only be constructed at 
 a comparatively short distance from the medium. 
 In order that phenomena should occur a long 
 way from the medium, the two following condi- 
 tions must be fulfilled : — 
 
ANALYSIS OF RESULTS 109 
 
 (a) The phenomena must be such that direct 
 
 mechanical reaction is not upon the 
 medium. 
 
 (b) There must be no very large force magni- 
 
 tudes involved. 
 
 Sometimes it would appear that phenomena 
 involving considerable force magnitudes do occur 
 at a considerable distance from the medium, but 
 in those cases I think it will invariably be found 
 that such phenomena last only for a very short 
 period of time, and that there are considerable 
 empty intervals of time both before and after 
 their occurrence ; whereas at the Goligher circle 
 phenomena of great magnitude often endure over 
 considerable intervals of time. 
 
 The reaction falling directly upon the body of 
 the medium means that the whole structure from 
 the medium's body outwards must be of sufficient 
 strength to resist the largest direct and bending 
 stresses imposed, and this would imply that much 
 psychic matter has to be used. Therefore, in 
 order to have phenomena at any distance from 
 the medium involves the reaction being not 
 borne by her, but by the floor of the seance- 
 room. 
 
 The reader will now understand the essential 
 scientific difference between phenomena such 
 as materialisation and those occurring at the 
 Goligher circle. In the former we have a 
 psychic structure concentrated in space, with 
 mechanical reaction on the floor (due to weight 
 
110 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 of materialised body), and a long unstressed link 
 probably connecting structure to medium ; in 
 the latter we have for the most part a psychic 
 structure occupying a comparatively large space, 
 with mechanical reaction naturally on medium, 
 but sometimes with special trouble placed on the 
 floor ; and if the reaction is on the floor, only a 
 short unstressed link connecting structure to 
 medium. 
 
 It will be seen, on studying Experiment 18, 
 in which the medium was under experimental 
 observation while she and the chair on which she 
 was sitting were bodily moved about the floor 
 of the seance-room, that the only likely theory 
 which accounts for the facts is one in which an 
 unstressed, or only feebly stressed, feeding or 
 connecting link unites the actual pushing 
 structure with the medium's body. The reaction 
 is in this case taken by the floor of the room, 
 and none of it apparently finds its way to the 
 medium. 
 
 Likewise, in some of the cases of levitation of 
 the table, where there is a strut below the table, 
 and where the base of this strut grips the floor 
 adhesively, we have, in all probability, a further 
 case of an unstressed or feebly stressed link 
 connecting the base of the strut with body of 
 medium : not in all cases of levitation, remember, 
 such as where a true cantilever arm was bent up 
 at its end to reach the level of a spring balance 
 (see R.P.P., ch. vii.), but only in those cases where 
 the base of strut is firmly fixed to the floor. 
 
ANALYSIS OF RESULTS ill 
 
 I wish to impress upon the reader this 
 idea of an unstressed or slightly stressed link 
 connecting the main portion of a psychic 
 mechanism with the body of the medium. 
 Many of my experiments decidedly suggest that 
 it is present. 
 
 (6) An unstressed or but feebly stressed psychic 
 link often connects a psychic structure 
 which is " out " in the seance-room to the 
 body of the medium. 
 
 The question arises as to whether the structure 
 itself possesses weight. I may say that this is 
 a difficult matter to determine experimentally. 
 One can never be sure, when noting changes of 
 weight on the part of the medium as she sits on 
 the weighing-machine, and simultaneous readings 
 on another weighing-machine placed on the floor 
 within the circle space, whether the results are 
 wholly due to mechanical forces exerted by the 
 psychic structure, or whether they are partly due 
 to the weight of part of the structure itself. To 
 illustrate this point we will consider the following 
 example. 
 
 Fig. 26 shows diagrammatically the medium 
 M seated on the weighing-machine A. On the 
 floor about three feet beyond her is another 
 weighing-machine B. The operators are told to 
 press downwards steadily on B. We find that 
 the increase of weight on B is practically equal 
 to the decrease on A. The operators are pre- 
 sumably pressing downwards on B with some 
 
112 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 kind of a psychic structure S. We have now 
 the two cases to consider : 
 
 (a) That in which the structure S is weightless, 
 
 and 
 
 (b) That in which the structure S possesses weight. 
 
 If (a) is in accordance with fact, the down- 
 ward weight on B is due simply to mechanical 
 
 FLoos LeveL 
 
 Fig. 26. 
 
 pressure. If (b) is correct, the downward weight 
 on B is due to mechanical pressure plus pressure 
 due to part of the weight of the structure S. In 
 either case the experimental result is the same 
 and the test affords no means of distinguishing 
 whether the structure possesses weight or not. 
 
 Again, if I ask the operators simply to rest 
 the end of the structure on B, but not to exert 
 any mechanical pressure, and I then find that 
 there is a reading on B, I cannot be sure that 
 this reading is solely due to the weight of part 
 
ANALYSIS OF RESULTS 118 
 
 of the structure ; for the operators may really be 
 exerting mechanical pressure, and I have no 
 means of checking their statement that they are 
 not doing so. On the other hand, if I find there 
 is no reading on B, I cannot be sure that the 
 structure is weightless, for I am unable to say if 
 the structure is really resting on B at all. 
 
 The reader must remember that these struc- 
 tures are practically invisible even in quite good 
 red light, and that if the hand is put through 
 one of them the only thing felt is a kind of 
 disagreeable, cold, spore-like sensation, and the 
 placing of the hand in its line generally breaks 
 up the structure. The difficulty, therefore, of 
 determining if the structure possesses weight by 
 any method in which psychic pressure is exerted 
 is obvious. A method which might be used 
 would be to determine an alteration in the 
 position of the centre of gravity of the medium. 
 Her centre of gravity would have first to be 
 accurately found when no psychic structure 
 projected, and then again with the structure 
 projecting. For the latter, the operators would 
 have to be asked to project a psychic arm from 
 the medium's body into the air in front of her, 
 and to hold it in position there. I have found 
 that they can do this. If the arm possessed 
 weight the position of her centre of gravity 
 would of course alter. Such an experiment 
 would be very difficult to carry out satisfactorily. 
 I may say that the operators themselves 
 declare that their structures possess weight. If 
 
 8 
 
114 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 we could be quite sure that the operators do 
 exactly what is asked of them, for example, that 
 they simply rest a structure on the scalepan of a 
 weighing-machine when required to do so, and 
 exert no mechanical pressure whatever, then the 
 solution of the problem would be easy. For 
 always under these conditions it is found that 
 the structure possesses weight. 
 
 If the reader will now turn to Experiments 
 19-23, he will find some data having to do with 
 this question of the weight of the various psychic 
 structures. The extraordinary results there ob- 
 tained go to the very heart of the matter. It 
 will be noted that I asked the operators to do 
 various things ; 
 
 (a) To place loosely on the floor psychic matter 
 
 used for the building up of structures. 
 
 (b) To build up a psychic rod of large dimensions 
 
 and to rest the end of it on the floor. 
 
 (c) To take as much matter from the medium's 
 
 body as they possibly could and to rest it 
 on the floor. 
 
 In each of the above cases a large decrease in 
 weight of the medium was noted, amounting to 
 about half her weight in Experiment 23. 
 
 What sort of matter is this that is seemingly 
 removed from the medium's body, is used to 
 build up psychic structures, and possesses weight ? 
 Here we have the great problem connected with 
 psychic phenomena. Its solution will advance 
 our knowledge of the subject enormously. 
 
ANALYSIS OF RESULTS 115 
 
 Certainly this matter — if it be matter, and a 
 great number of experiments tend to show this 
 is the case — is not in any form with which we 
 are acquainted in a scientific sense. Although, 
 of course, the number of experiments I have 
 carried out is quite insufficient to enable me to 
 lay down any absolute law (it will take many 
 men in all probability many generations to do 
 that), yet I think I am justified in mentioning 
 some of the points which have struck me as 
 important in connection with the case ; and the 
 one thing above all others that has astonished me is 
 that this matter seems to have practically no pal- 
 pability. It is matter without palpability, but it 
 seems to possess weight. The method by which it 
 is expelled from the medium's body is a mystery. 
 Only this is certain — that it is usually expelled 
 in fluxes, not steadily, and that the difficulty in 
 expelling it increases with the quantity expelled. 
 
 (7) In order to build up the psychic structures 
 
 and to produce phenomena, matter seems 
 to be driven out of the medium's body. 
 
 (8) This matter seems to possess weight, some- 
 
 times as much as 50 lb. 
 
 (9) It seems to be present in a form with which 
 
 science is not acquainted. 
 (10) Small amounts may be expelled steadily 
 from the medium's body, but after a 
 certain amount has been driven forth, 
 the expulsion of the rest is evidently 
 difficult and is accomplished in fluxes. 
 
 j- 
 
116 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 Now, one would think that if 50-lb. weight 
 of matter was driven from the medium's body, 
 the medium would visibly shrink in size. I did 
 not notice any difference in Miss Goligher. But 
 I have seen photographs of the Italian medium 
 Zarancini while he was bodily levitated, i.e. 
 raised and at rest in the air, and in his case a 
 curious translucency of his body is observable. 
 He seems to be partly transparent, although his 
 bulk or volume does not appear to be much 
 altered. Probably an invisible psychic structure 
 is below him supporting him in the air, the 
 material for which has been driven from his 
 body in the manner such matter is driven from 
 Miss Goligher. Thus the medium's body may 
 not much alter in bulk, but its density may 
 substantially decrease during the occurrence of 
 powerful telekinetic phenomena. 
 
 I am not going into a detailed account of the 
 psychic structures at the Goligher circle in this 
 volume. It is sufficient to say here that these 
 structures are quite complicated mechanisms, 
 and by no means the simple things we might 
 have expected. 
 
 It is now necessary to consider the fact that 
 the medium never feels anything in the nature 
 of mechanical pressure on any part of her body. 
 Even in the case when she and the chair on 
 which she was sitting toppled over during heavy 
 levitation (see Experiments 1 and 2), she felt 
 nothing. She told me that the feeling was 
 exactly similar to what one gets when sitting 
 
ANALYSIS OF RESULTS 117 
 
 on a see-saw. I wondered if portion of the 
 reaction, which was apparently on the medium, 
 was not really upon some part of her chair, or 
 on the drawing-board under her chair, or on 
 the platform or rail of the weighing-machine ; for, 
 if the reaction were upon any or all of these, 
 the weighing-machine would still include it. 
 All one could say definitely was, that in a simple 
 case of levitation the whole reaction appeared to 
 be upon the medium's body, although it might 
 possibly be upon some part of the apparatus 
 in her immediate neighbourhood which was 
 resting on the platform of the weighing-machine 
 or upon the machine itself. Experiment 24 
 seems to show, however, that the whole of the 
 reaction really falls somehow directly upon the 
 body of the medium. How can it be that a 
 rigid structure some two or three feet long can 
 issue from the medium's body and support 30 
 or 40 lb. weight at its end, and the medium 
 experience no inconvenience ? If a rigid bar 
 of this nature entered some soft part of her body, 
 say the region of the stomach, the flesh would 
 be lacerated by such a leverage as that men- 
 tioned above. How, then, is it that the medium 
 is never injured by these mechanical reactions 
 and never even feels them ? A possible explana- 
 tion is as follows : — 
 
 The psychic structure where it enters the body 
 of the medium is composed of a kind of matter 
 which is unknown. Let us call it X-matter. 
 This X-matter can transmit through itself ordi- 
 
118 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 nary direct and shear stresses, but it cannot 
 transmit such stresses from itself to ordinary 
 matter. In order to accomplish this it has first 
 to be converted into another form of matter 
 which we may term Y-matter (really the kind 
 of matter visible to the eye at a materialisation 
 seance: in other words, Y-matter is what is 
 known to psychic research students as " materi- 
 alised " matter). We have then X-matter which 
 can only be converted into Y-matter (in a 
 manner analogous to water being converted into 
 ice), and stresses transmitted through the former 
 can be sent on through it to the latter. The 
 Y-matter can act on physical objects in the 
 seance-room. 
 
 The rough outline of a psychic structure is 
 then as follows : — 
 
 (a) Free end (which we will suppose is grip- 
 
 ping the seance-table) : Y-matter. 
 
 (b) Body of structure : X-matter. The struc- 
 
 ture as it enters the physical body of 
 the medium is entirely composed of X- 
 matter. 
 
 (c) Within the body of the medium the X- 
 
 matter composing the structure is again 
 converted into Y-matter. 
 
 The sequence of mechanical action is as 
 follows : — 
 
 The Y-matter at the free end of, say, the 
 psychic cantilever, grips the wood of the under- 
 surface of the table which is then levitated 
 
ANALYSIS OF RESULTS 119 
 
 Weight of table is transmitted to this Y-matter, 
 and from the latter to the X-matter of the body 
 of structure. The mechanical stress is trans- 
 mitted along the X-matter right into the body 
 of the medium. At the place where the struc- 
 ture enters the body of the medium, no stress 
 of any kind is transmitted to her flesh, because, 
 at this particular place, we have X-matter and 
 ordinary physical matter in juxtaposition, and 
 stress cannot be directly transmitted from the 
 former to the latter. Within the interstices of 
 the medium's body the X-matter of the psychic 
 structure probably ramifies, and each ramifica- 
 tion at its extremity becomes Y-matter, and this 
 Y-matter is attached to various interior portions 
 of the medium's body, which thus finally and 
 indirectly takes the weight of the table. 
 
 For the same reason, also, practically no 
 palpability is experienced when one cuts through 
 the psychic structure with the hand, or with, 
 say, a piece of wood. The X-matter of the body 
 of the structure cannot directly transmit stresses 
 to the hand or the wood. It requires first to be 
 converted into its derivative, Y-matter, in order 
 to be able to do so. 
 
 This very imperfect little sketch will give the 
 reader some idea of the problems we have to 
 attack when we deal with psychic phenomena of 
 the physical order. That something analogous 
 to the above actually occurs I have little doubt. 
 Whether the X-matter is matter existing tem- 
 porarily on a fourth-dimensional plane, or whether 
 
120 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 it is some form of matter with which we can one 
 day deal, I would not like to conjecture. 
 
 The operators themselves declare that the 
 medium is somehow protected from the ordinary 
 mechanical stresses to which she would naturally 
 seem to be exposed. But they can tell us 
 nothing at all satisfactory as to how the protec- 
 tion is afforded. 
 
 Although I have no direct proof, it would seem 
 also that during the occurrence of phenomena 
 the body of the medium is less sensitive than it 
 normally is to tactual impressions. The medium 
 is never in trance, but from late observations 
 I would hesitate to say that her state of con- 
 sciousness is quite normal. Especially at the 
 commencement of a seance she dislikes to be 
 spoken to. But if there is any abnormality, it is 
 very slight indeed, and would altogether escape 
 the notice of anyone who had not a prolonged 
 acquaintance with her under ordinary and under 
 seance conditions. 
 
 I turn now to a consideration of the strange 
 results obtained when the medium touched the 
 table with her hand, feet, and with articles such 
 as pieces of wood or glass (Experiments 29, 
 30, and 31). 
 
 The most startling fact that emerges from 
 these tests is that the levitated table drops in 
 from one to two seconds if the medium touches 
 it with her bare hands. If she touches it with 
 her gloved hands it takes longer to drop. If 
 she touches it with a glass rod or a bar of iron, 
 
ANALYSIS OF RESULTS 121 
 
 it still drops. If she touches it with a piece of 
 twisted paper or a piece of wood it does not 
 drop. When she touches it with her boot it 
 does not drop. It does not drop when she holds 
 her hand in the air above it. When the members 
 of the circle singly or altogether touch it, it does 
 not drop, but immediately the medium adds her 
 hand to the pile it drops. 
 
 What are we to make of all this ? Why 
 especially should the table invariably drop in 
 from one to two seconds after the medium puts 
 her bare hand upon it ? 
 
 The most likely reason is that there is some- 
 thing in the table which is essential to levitation, 
 and which cannot remain in the table when the 
 medium puts her hand on it, but must flow along 
 her hand and arm into her body. The experi- 
 ments would indicate that the properties of this 
 substance — I call it a substance, but of course, 
 it may not be a substance in the ordinary sense 
 — are as follows : — 
 
 (1) It must be of a very fine nature and invisible, 
 
 for nothing of it can be seen on the table. 
 
 (2) It has something to do with the medium, 
 
 for when people other than the medium 
 and not in physical contact with her 
 body touch the levitated table it does not 
 drop. 
 
 (3) The medium's bare hand is most effective 
 
 in conducting this substance from the 
 table to her body. 
 
122 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 (4) Some substances conduct it more slowly 
 
 than others, while some do not seem to 
 conduct it at all. 
 
 (5) The air does not conduct it. 
 
 (6) From several persons experimented with, 
 
 my body seemed the only one which 
 conducted it, and that only very slowly. 
 
 (7) It is essential to the phenomenon of levitation. 
 
 The following remarks are only tentative and 
 made on the chance that they may supply a hint 
 or two which will be useful to investigators. 
 
 This mysterious " something " which appears 
 to be in or on the levitated table is certainly not 
 electricity. For one thing, its rate of discharge 
 is too slow, and, for another, nothing that has ever 
 occurred in the seance-room has even suggested 
 electric action. It is most likely a form of 
 energy connected with very small particles of 
 matter. Probably these particles are accumu- 
 lated in and upon the wood of the table and 
 their inherent energy used up by the operators 
 as required. They are probably particles con- 
 nected with the nervous system of the medium. 
 
 The psychic structure seems to issue, as a 
 general thing, from the lower part of the legs 
 of the medium. These energy particles seem to 
 return via her hands. There may be a kind of 
 psychic positive pressure in the legs and feet, and 
 a kind of psychic negative pressure in the arms 
 and hands, so that there is a tendency for the 
 particles to flow back to her body via the hands 
 
ANALYSIS OF RESULTS 123 
 
 and arms if a conducting material or path is 
 supplied to them. To use an electrical analogy, 
 there is a higher psychic voltage in the neigh- 
 bourhood of her ankles than of her hands. 
 
 The reader should clearly try to understand 
 the two essential processes that occur in the 
 seance-room during the occurrence of physical 
 phenomena of the telekinetic order. A great 
 deal of experimenting has shown me that these 
 processes are as follows : — 
 
 (a) The projection by the operators into the 
 seance - room of psychic rods, arms, or 
 structures. These are only temporary 
 productions and return to the body of 
 the medium, whence they came, at the 
 conclusion of the seance ; or, more ex- 
 actly, they keep coming and going from 
 the medium, as they are required, during 
 the seance time. It seems most likely 
 that they are composed, or at any rate 
 partly composed, of matter borrowed 
 from the medium's body, and the weight 
 of this matter may, in an extreme case, 
 amount to 40 or 50 lb. But at the con- 
 clusion of the phenomena the structure 
 returns to the medium's body, and of 
 course all the matter with it. Hence 
 this kind of matter which the medium 
 supplies is only supplied temporarily, and 
 the medium at the conclusion of the 
 seance loses nothing. 
 
124 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 (b) The supplying of some kind of energy which is 
 used to enable the psychic structures to do 
 their work, i.e. to levitate tables and so on. 
 This energy seems also to be associated 
 with matter, but not with the kind of 
 matter which is used to build up the struc- 
 tures. For the matter associated with the 
 energy is a permanent loss. It is also very 
 much less in quantity than the temporarily 
 borrowed structure-matter. I have every 
 reason to believe, from a long experience of 
 the seance-room, that a physical medium is 
 a person whose physical organism is capable 
 of supplying temporarily quantities of this 
 structure-matter, and that a good sitter 
 is a person who can supply a quantity of 
 energy-matter. In other words, the func- 
 tion of the medium is to lend from her 
 body psychic matter, and the function of 
 the sitters is to supply psychic energy. 
 The reader will therefore understand that 
 it is necessary to have at a circle a number 
 of sitters, so that a sufficiency of this 
 psychic energy may be available. 
 
 At the moment, then, we are probably dealing 
 with process (b), when we consider the results of 
 experiments in which the table drops when the 
 medium touches it with her hand. Some of this 
 energy-matter has most likely been lodged in 
 the wood of the table, so that it may be available 
 by*the^operators as required. The sitters have 
 
ANALYSIS OF RESULTS 
 
 125 
 
 supplied it, but it has become associated in some 
 way with the organism of the medium. It is 
 what spiritualists loosely term " magnetism," 
 and it seems to have a special predilection for 
 articles made of wood : that is to say, when 
 placed upon wood it does not tend to dissipate 
 (see the experiment in which the medium touched 
 the levitated table with a piece of wood without 
 affecting the levitation). 
 
 I have carried out some experiments which 
 would indicate that at all sittings for physical 
 phenomena there is a permanent loss of weight 
 amongst the members making up the circle. 
 These tests seem to show that it is the sitters 
 and not the medium who lose most weight. 
 Some sitters lose more than others, some lose 
 none, while the medium as a rule loses a small 
 amount. In R.P.P., ch. viii., the results of one 
 such test with the Goligher circle are given. 
 The following are some further results of weigh- 
 ings just before and just after seances : — 
 
 Results for an ordinary table seance where the sitters' hands were 
 in contact with the table throughout. A drawing-board was 
 placed upon the platform of a weighing-machine and a chair 
 upon the drawing-board. The board and chair together weighed 
 i8| lb., and this is included in the weights given below : — 
 
 
 Weights just 
 
 Weights just 
 
 
 before seance. 
 
 after seance. 
 
 
 St. 
 
 lb. 
 
 St. 
 
 lb. 
 
 Mr X. (medium) 
 
 ii 
 
 9l 
 
 11 
 
 9i 
 
 Miss A 
 
 8 
 
 13 
 
 8 
 
 12J 
 
 Mrs B 
 
 IO 
 
 2 i 
 
 10 
 
 2 
 
 Mrs C 
 
 ii 
 
 11 1 
 
 11 
 
 lof 
 
126 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 The following are the results for the same sitters, but for another 
 contact seance : — 
 
 
 Weights just 
 
 Weights just 
 
 
 before seance. 
 
 after seance. 
 
 
 St. 
 
 lb. 
 
 St. 
 
 lb. 
 
 Mr X. (medium) 
 
 ii 
 
 io£ 
 
 ii 
 
 ioj 
 
 Miss A 
 
 9 
 
 
 8 
 
 i3i 
 
 Mrs B 
 
 IO 
 
 if 
 
 IO 
 
 if 
 
 Mrs C 
 
 ii 
 
 io| 
 
 ii 
 
 io| 
 
 Further similar results will be found in a later 
 chapter dealing with experiments on the " direct 
 voice." 
 
 As a control experiment I weighed three 
 friends. We then sat round a small table and 
 indulged in a game of cards for an hour and a 
 quarter. 1 then re-weighed them, but could not 
 find the least difference from the former weighings 
 in any of them. Needless to say, in all the above 
 cases proper precautions were taken that no 
 material object was added to or subtracted from 
 the person of any of the persons concerned 
 between the time of the first and last weighings. 
 
 Such experiments as these seem to indicate 
 that there is a small permanent loss of weight 
 amongst the members composing the circle, and 
 that the sitters are more concerned in it than the 
 medium, and that this loss is quite apart and 
 distinct from the temporary and often large losses 
 that the medium experiences during the seance. 
 I think that this permanent loss is connected 
 
 
ANALYSIS OF RESULTS 127 
 
 with the psychic energy or "magnetism" supplied 
 mostly by the sitters. 
 
 In one flashlight photograph which I have of 
 Miss Goligher, taken daring a seance, there are 
 faint traces of a dark substance issuing from or 
 proceeding into each of her fingers as her hands 
 rest on her knees. These markings appear like 
 faint prolongations of her fingers. They seem 
 to go straight down the front of her skirt to the 
 neighbourhood of her ankles. 
 
 It is also well known among people who make 
 a practice of sitting for " contact " phenomena 
 that at the commencement of the seance there 
 appears to issue from the tips of the fingers a 
 peculiar kind of gaseous substance, the ejecting 
 of which can be quite plainly felt. The fingers 
 usually become quite cold while this process is 
 going on. It always occurs at the beginning of 
 the seance and is in abeyance later on. 
 
 Again, too much sitting in circles has a bad 
 effect on the health of many people. They seem 
 to lose vital or nervous energy, the loss of which 
 appears to require a considerable period of time 
 to make good. 
 
 So that, taking everything into consideration, 
 I think there can be little doubt that upon or in 
 the levitated table there is accumulated a store 
 of psychic energy ; that this energy is connected 
 with small particles of matter ; that these 
 particles have a tendency to return to the body 
 of the medium, and that without them no 
 phenomena are possible. 
 
128 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 Experiments 26, 27, and 28 seem to show that 
 the free end of the psychic structure does not 
 conduct low- voltage electricity. But if the 
 reader will turn to experiments 80, 81, and 82, 
 R.P.P., he will find that the structure discharges 
 an electroscope. This would appear to show that 
 the Y-matter at the extremity is a poor conductor, 
 in a similar fashion to the skin of the human 
 hand, to low-voltage electric currents, but that, 
 if it touches something which is at a high voltage, 
 it causes a discharge to earth, just, for example, 
 as the hand would do. 
 
 The action of screens placed in front of the 
 medium is just what we might expect from our 
 knowledge that the free end of the structure 
 is materialised, or practically ordinary matter. 
 Unless the psychic rods are very small the 
 materialised ends cannot be pushed through the 
 interstices of the threads or wire. If the screens 
 are very close to the medium's body, that is to 
 say, practically in contact with her, an imperfect 
 kind of materialisation of the ends may be effected 
 beyond the screens, and limited psychic action 
 may occur. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 
 
 I give below a series of questions which have 
 been addressed to me at various times. I am 
 quite aware that the answers are very incomplete, 
 but they are the best I can give at this stage 
 of our knowledge of psychic processes and 
 phenomena. 
 
 (1) Q. Does the application of force by the 
 psychic structure present any analogy 
 to the way in which force is transmitted 
 by water through a tube ? 
 
 A. In some examples of phenomena it 
 does. For instance, in the case in which 
 the table is turned upside down on the floor 
 and is then apparently " glued " to the floor, 
 the psychic apparatus may be likened to a 
 tube projecting from the medium and filled 
 with water. In the medium's end we can 
 suppose there is a piston, and also a piston 
 at the other end, and that this second piston 
 presses on the table. When a force is applied 
 to the first piston, the pressure is trans- 
 
 129 9 
 
130 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 mitted through the water to the second, and 
 thence to the table. 
 
 Generally, it is possible to conceive of a 
 psychic structure as a stiff tube filled with 
 an incompressible fluid, the tube itself having 
 the power to lengthen and shorten, and to 
 move up and down. 
 
 It is also possible to imagine that raps, 
 blows, etc., could be transmitted through 
 such an apparatus. 
 
 In the case in which the medium and the 
 chair on which she is sitting are bodily 
 pushed along the floor, the application of 
 water pressure transmitted along tubes is 
 comprehensible (see Experiment 18). 
 
 It is necessary to say, however, that the 
 idea of fluid pressure transmitted along a 
 rigid tube is no more than an analogy. 
 
 (2) Q. Does the psychic structure resist pulls as 
 well as pushes ? 
 
 A. Yes. It also resists torques. When 
 the trumpet is psychically held up in the 
 air, the experimenter may grasp the end of 
 it and endeavour to turn it. He finds that 
 he can turn it through a few degrees, but 
 that the resistance to further twisting soon 
 becomes so great that he is unable to proceed. 
 The structure resists forces applied to its free 
 end just as an ordinary solid body does. But 
 the likeness of the structure to a solid body 
 does not appear to go much further than this. 
 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 131 
 
 (3) Q. Is there any possibility that some, or all, 
 of the energy required for the mani- 
 festations is a form of heat energy : i.e. 
 is it possible that the operators can 
 abstract supplementary energy from a 
 table by slowing down its molecular 
 movements ? 
 
 A, It does not seem likely. During a 
 long levitation I could not discover any fall 
 of temperature in the table (see Experiment 
 36). There is much evidence that the 
 energy required is taken only from the 
 bodies of the sitters, such evidence including 
 loss of weight, physical fatigue after a seance, 
 nervous bodily reactions, etc. 
 
 (4) Q. In a good seance do phenomena go on 
 
 continuously without periods of rest ? 
 
 A. No. They are never continuous. 
 After a burst of phenomena there is a 
 period of quiescence, as though time were 
 required for the collection and storage of 
 psychic energy. It would appear that at 
 least some of this energy is stored on or 
 within the wood of the table (see Experi- 
 ments 29, 30, and 31). 
 
 (5) Q. What do you mean when you use the 
 
 term " psychic equilibrium " ? 
 
 A. I have used this term, in default of 
 anything better, to mean that the prelimin- 
 
132 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 ary stage of instability at a seance is over — 
 the stage in which phenomena are as a rule 
 weak, sporadic, and unreliable, and in which 
 the operators would appear to be paying 
 more attention to collecting quantities of 
 psychic energy from the bodies of the sitters 
 than to producing really good phenomena, 
 and that a kind of equilibrium has been 
 established in which there is a reserve of 
 energy to draw upon. The two stages are 
 analogous, for instance, to that in which 
 steam is being raised in a large boiler and 
 that in which this process has been com- 
 pleted and the boiler is in steady working 
 order. 
 
 (6) Q. What is the medium's condition during 
 and after the seances ? Does her re- 
 spiration or pulse increase during levita- 
 tion ? Is she exhausted at the end ? 
 In fact, does she supply the energy as 
 well as the material ? 
 
 A. Her general condition after a seance 
 seems much the same as before it. She 
 does not seem in the least fatigued, although, 
 she tells me, she is inclined to sleep longer 
 than usual the following morning. I have 
 no data with regard to pulse or respiration. 
 During the seance she supplies the material, 
 but not (or only a very little of) the energy. 
 The function of the sitters is to supply the 
 energy. 
 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 133 
 
 (7) Q. Have raps ever occurred while the 
 
 medium has been asleep ? 
 
 A. Yes. On several occasions, I have 
 been informed by her sisters, rapping has 
 taken place while she has been sound asleep. 
 Most often she was not wakened thereby. 
 The members of the circle had a verbal 
 agreement with the operators that the latter 
 should not interfere with the medium at any 
 time except during seances. This arrange- 
 ment the operators loyally kept to, with the 
 exception of occasional rapping at night in 
 her bedroom, which I think was done for 
 some special reason. 
 
 (8) Q. What is your experience of clairvoy- 
 
 ance in connection with the Goligher 
 circle ? 
 
 A. Very involved, and on the whole un- 
 satisfactory. InR.P.P. I gave one example 
 of clairvoyance by a lady who is psychically 
 developed and who seems really to have 
 seen something of the actual physical pro- 
 cesses involved. A gentleman, who has 
 had a fairly good scientific training and who 
 is also a psychic, has likewise given me an 
 account which agrees to some extent with 
 several processes of which he was ignorant. 
 But on the whole the results have been 
 disappointing, at any rate as far as descrip- 
 tions of the actual psychic structures are 
 
134 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 j concerned. As at all circles, some very 
 I wonderful and impossible things are alleged 
 | to have been seen by people who were under 
 | the delusion they possessed the clairvoyant 
 faculty. Several persons declared that they 
 beheld spirits actually holding up the table 
 with their hands — a result which would 
 simplify the problem of levitation consider- 
 ably if only it were true. 
 
 With regard to what clairvoyants have 
 seen of the operators themselves, the same 
 kind of thing holds. I have heard clair- 
 voyants describe in minute detail various 
 spirit forms they said they saw in the 
 room, and, while they were giving their 
 descriptions, raps, loud and happy-sound- 
 ing, were heard on the floor, apparently 
 in confirmation of what the clairvoyants 
 saw. On the other hand, spirit forms 
 have been seen which I am sure existed 
 only in the imaginations of the " seers " 
 , themselves. 
 
 If the experimenter had to depend upon 
 clairvoyance for information concerning the 
 psychic processes at the Goligher circle, he 
 would be leaning on a broken reed. I have 
 never received the slightest help from it 
 during all the years I have been experi- 
 menting. In my experience clairvoyance 
 is a faculty not much to be depended upon 
 even in that region where we might expect 
 it to be supreme, the psychic. 
 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 135 
 
 (9) Q. What is your opinion of the question 
 of conscious or unconscious fraud at 
 stances for physical phenomena ? 
 A. While recognising that both varieties 
 of fraud exist, I am confident that they 
 have been much overrated. Even at stances, 
 such as the Golighers', where everything is 
 above suspicion, where all phenomena can 
 be demonstrated with the greatest ease to 
 be genuine to the last detail, things happen 
 which to a superficial observer might appear 
 fraudulent. For instance, sometimes the 
 medium's body, or portions of her body, 
 make spasmodic kinds of movements when 
 heavy raps or impacts are being experienced 
 far out in the circle. These are simply the 
 reactions due to the raps and are what we 
 might expect. The seeker after fraud (who, 
 by the way, is usually a person with no 
 knowledge of science) immediately puts 
 them down to imposture. My experiments, 
 conducted over a long period of time, and 
 more thoroughly than any ever carried out 
 hitherto, have proved to me beyond all 
 question that the medium's body is either 
 directly or indirectly the focus of all the 
 mechanical actions which result in pheno- 
 mena. And not only is it the focus, but 
 it also seems to supply a kind of duplicate 
 of portions of her body which can be tem- 
 porarily detached and projected into the 
 space in front of her. Thus things happen 
 
186 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 in the seance-room which, from the very 
 nature of the case, sometimes bear a super- 
 ficial appearance of fraud, though in a pro- 
 perly conducted circle it is only superficial, 
 and the true and genuine nature of the 
 phenomena can always be discovered by a 
 little investigation. I am, therefore, chary 
 of accepting off-hand any fraud hypothesis. 
 Many of the cases of fraud which have been 
 brought forward against mediums I know 
 to be untrue, and further, I know (which 
 the authors of the fraud theory do not) 
 exactly where the truth lies and in what 
 way a genuine manifestation has borne the 
 appearance of a fraudulent one. This occa- 
 sional similarity of genuine and fictitious 
 phenomena is very disconcerting to the 
 investigator when he meets it for the first 
 time, and has, I venture to say, put a period 
 to much promising work in the psychic 
 field. But the man who is not ready to go 
 thoroughly into details and hunt out the 
 ultimate causes of things is of no use in the 
 seance-room. 
 
 (10) Q. Has there been much interest shown in 
 your researches, especially by scientists ? 
 
 A . Yes. I have had letters from people in 
 all walks of life who wished some point made 
 clearer in connection with the phenomena. 
 I have had many valuable suggestions with 
 regard to experimental work from scientific 
 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 137 
 
 men in many parts of the world. And 
 I am altogether agreeably surprised at the 
 great interest taken generally in the subject. 
 To judge from the scathing articles which 
 occasionally appear in the press, an outsider 
 might be justified in concluding that psychic 
 phenomena and psychic subjects in general 
 are mere humbug, and that those who deal 
 with them are also humbugs, though perhaps 
 self-deluded ones. The superior attitude of 
 most of the press is highly amusing. It is 
 based, 1 think, on the assumption that the 
 general public know nothing of psychic 
 things, whereas the truth is that nowadays 
 eight people out of ten know something of 
 them. I should say, judging from my ex- 
 perience, that the newspaper which takes 
 upon itself the responsibility of declaring 
 everything connected with psychic research 
 to be humbug, and which even conducts a 
 campaign against it, will surely offend a host 
 of its readers. People do not go about 
 advertising their belief that a spiritual world 
 actually exists — a world whose existence 
 can to some extent be demonstrated by ex- 
 periment — but nevertheless there are very 
 many people in the world to-day with this 
 belief, and their number is steadily growing. 
 The kind of work which 1 have carried out 
 and, in fact, am still continuing, has for its 
 object the placing of as many of the processes 
 as possible connected with psychic phenomena 
 
138 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 before the educated world, so that others 
 may be encouraged to follow, whereby in 
 time such an accumulation of scientific 
 testimony and facts may be gathered that 
 no thoughtful man may any longer doubt. 
 I desire to help in the discovery of the 
 psychic laws, which are as real as physical 
 ones, so that in the years to come there may 
 be no more mystery. If there is no mystery 
 there will be no mystery mongers. 
 
 (11) Q. Is ordinary scientific experience of much 
 avail when conducting experiments in 
 the seance-room ? 
 
 A. In conducting experiments in an 
 ordinary mechanics laboratory we work 
 with certain instruments or machines which 
 can be relied upon to do what they are 
 asked to do : in other words, if we make 
 proper dispositions we can obtain a certain 
 amount of accurate results for a given 
 amount of mental and physical work. We 
 apply, for instance, a force of a certain 
 number of pounds to a certain part of a 
 given machine, and we can always rely upon 
 a certain effect due to this force. In psychic 
 work it does not follow that a given cause 
 produces always the same effect. In ordi- 
 nary scientific work our tools are obedient 
 to our commands. Unknown factors can 
 be almost eliminated. In psychic work our 
 tools are often anything but obedient to our 
 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 139 
 
 commands, and the unknown factors are 
 predominant. 
 
 The truth is that the human factor in 
 psychic work is the most troublesome and 
 unreliable. No physical phenomena can be 
 produced without the aid of a human being 
 (usually termed a medium), and in addition 
 several other human beings (called sitters) 
 are often required. 
 
 If the experimenter can overcome the 
 great stumbling block of the human factor, 
 he will make progress and will find a use 
 for his scientific knowledge. But until he 
 learns, possibly only by long experience, 
 how to control the human element neces- 
 sarily concerned in his experiments, he will 
 not make headway. I was fortunate in 
 having a medium like Miss Goligher to 
 work with. 
 
 (12) Q. In the two years that have passed since 
 the publication of The Reality of 
 Psychic Phenomena, have you changed 
 your opinion in regard to the identity 
 of the " operators " ? 
 
 A. No. I am quite satisfied in my own 
 mind that the operators are discarnate human 
 beings. Of course I am not primarily inter- 
 ested in this phase of the matter. The 
 methods by which the phenomena are pro- 
 duced are what I am chiefly concerned with, 
 
140 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 and whether the operators are what they 
 claim to be or are masquerading sub- 
 conscious elements of the medium's brain 
 does not much matter to me. It is sufficient 
 for my purpose that there are intelligences 
 of some kind in charge of the phenomena. 
 Nevertheless, I have seen and heard sufficient 
 at the Goligher and other circles to convince 
 me that man does not really die at physical 
 death, but passes on to another state of 
 existence, and that, for the most part, the 
 entities w T ho demonstrate at good seances are 
 really human beings who have so passed on. 
 
 (13) Q. What is the best form of phenomena 
 
 considered solely from the point of view 
 of obtaining messages from inhabitants 
 of the psychic realm ? 
 
 A. In my opinion, the "direct voice." 
 At a direct- voice seance people who have 
 " died " speak audibly in an objective voice. 
 Many readers will probably not believe this, 
 but nevertheless, however incredible it may 
 seem, it is a fact. Unfortunately, a good 
 direct-voice medium is an extremely rare 
 personage. I think there are not above half 
 a dozen in Great Britain to-day. 
 
 (14) Q. Is the " direct voice " more satisfactory 
 
 than materialisation ? 
 
 A . Yes, from the point of view of obtain- 
 ing messages. Materialisation phenomena 
 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 141 
 
 require such a large expenditure of psychic 
 energy that the quantity of this kind of 
 phenomena is strictly limited at any given 
 seance even with the best mediums. In the 
 case of the " direct voice," however, the 
 amount of psychic energy required seems to 
 be very much smaller, with the consequence 
 that a corresponding increase in the magni- 
 tude of results is obtained. 
 
 (15) Q. Is it dangerous for people who are not 
 
 in good health to sit in seances ? 
 
 A. Yes. The sitters supply most of the 
 energy required for the manifestations, and 
 this energy is taken in some unknown form 
 from their bodies. If a person is in poor 
 health the drain of vital energy may be 
 disastrous. 
 
 (16) Q. Has the holding of so many seances in 
 
 any way affected the health of Miss 
 Goligher ? 
 
 A. No. But great care was taken to see 
 that she did not sit too often ; never, except 
 in very special cases, more than once a 
 week. 
 
 (17) Q. What do you think of the future in 
 
 store for psychic research ? 
 
 A. I think it will have a great future. 
 All indications point that way. But there 
 will have to be organised effort, and not 
 
142 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 merely the sporadic experiments of a few. 
 The recent war, as one of its few welcome 
 by-products, seems to have opened the 
 eyes of a great many people to the import- 
 ance of the subject, and the interest thus 
 created is not likely to lapse. For, in the 
 last analysis, psychic research and psychic 
 research only is likely to determine in any 
 definite way whether man does or does not 
 continue to exist after physical death. 
 
 (18) Q. Have you found phenomena of the 
 
 physical order so rare as most people 
 think they are ? 
 
 A. No. Of course, mediumship such as 
 Miss Goligher's is rare. But I know several 
 other persons who can obtain movements 
 without contact, and I am confident that if 
 I had the time to give to them and they 
 had the time to sit regularly, good non- 
 contact phenomena would eventually be 
 obtained in their cases. As it is, I have 
 obtained some data from experiments I have 
 carried out with them. 
 
 (19) Q. How would you recommend an experi- 
 
 menter desirous of undertaking psychic 
 research to proceed ? 
 
 A. I think it would be well he should 
 confine his attention to one small branch 
 of the subject. The subject is already so 
 vast that no man can tackle it all. Time 
 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 143 
 
 should not be wasted in eternally seeking 
 to verify the actuality of the phenomena. 
 When the experimenter has satisfied himself 
 that the phenomena with which he is deal- 
 ing are genuine, he should not seek to satisfy 
 all the world, for that is impossible. He 
 should go ahead and try to discover the 
 mechanism of the phenomena and the laws 
 regulating them. Psychic phenomena are 
 quite as real as any other, and the man who 
 nowadays denies their occurrence on a priori 
 grounds is not worth wasting time upon. 
 
 (20) Q. Should not the fact that light affects the 
 magnitude of physical phenomena give 
 us some clue to the composition of the 
 psychic structures ? 
 
 A. Yes, but it is difficult to say how. I 
 once experienced the effect of light on these 
 structures at the Goligher circle in a rather 
 impressive way. The body and chair of one 
 of the sitters was casting a shadow on a 
 portion of the floor within the circle space. 
 A rapping rod was " out " and was rapping 
 on various parts of the floor. At my re- 
 quest it rapped on a portion of the floor 
 where the light was strong, and the ensuing 
 sounds were muffled and dull. It then 
 rapped a few inches further along the floor 
 within the shadow of the chair, and the re- 
 sulting sounds were hard and strong. It 
 rapped half a dozen times in the light and 
 
144 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 in the shadow alternately, and the result was 
 always as stated. It changed quickly from 
 the light to the shadow, and just as quickly 
 the loudness of the blows changed. As a 
 matter of fact, the operators were actually 
 giving me a simple demonstration on the 
 effects of light upon their structures. 
 
 The effect of light in the seance-room 
 is immediate. I think the peculiar form of 
 matter of which the structures are partly 
 composed is quickly and adversely affected. 
 Light of long wave length, like red light, is 
 least troublesome, which points to the fact 
 that the matter of the psychic structures 
 must exist in a delicate and unstable form. 
 
 At the Goligher circle we once substi- 
 tuted mauve glass for the customary red 
 glass of the illuminating lantern. We 
 waited for quite a long time for phenomena. 
 Eventually the seance-table jerked about 
 the floor two or three times. But that was 
 all that occurred. The only light we could 
 use with the certainty of getting good 
 phenomena was the red. 
 
 It is possible that light of some par- 
 ticular wave length in the visible spectrum 
 may not be injurious to phenomena. All 
 that can be said at present is that the 
 longest wave length seems best, and, in- 
 deed, the only possible. Nevertheless, there 
 may be some wave length well up the 
 spectrum which, when used alone, and not 
 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 145 
 
 in combination with other wave lengths 
 on either side of it, may be permissible. 
 But this is a matter for exact and pains- 
 taking experiment. I need not enlarge on 
 the advantages that would accrue if a type 
 of radiation could be found which would 
 strongly illuminate the seance-room and at 
 the same time not be hurtful to phenomena. 
 Only the most powerful mediums have been 
 able to produce strong physical pheno- 
 mena in daylight, and even then the period 
 of such phenomena was of the briefest. 
 Materialisation of the full form has, I under- 
 stand, only been accomplished in daylight on 
 one or two occasions, and then only after 
 prolonged sitting under the most suitable 
 conditions with a strong medium of this class. 
 
 (21) Q. Is photography likely to play an impor- 
 tant part in psychic research of the 
 future ? 
 
 A. I am inclined to think so. Indeed, 
 I think that we may look for the chief 
 advance along this line. There seems to be 
 no doubt that by the aid of a certain peculiar 
 type of mediumship, psychic " extras " can 
 be made to appear on the ordinary photo- 
 graphic plate — these " extras " being in many 
 cases pictures of deceased relatives or friends 
 of the sitters. Unfortunately, this class of 
 result is very susceptible to fraud. All sorts 
 of faked effects can be produced on an ordi- 
 
 10 
 
146 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 nary photographic plate, and the amateur 
 has little chance of discriminating between 
 the true and the false. Nevertheless, there 
 is evidence to show that genuine psychic 
 " extras " are obtained when the proper 
 quality of mediumship is present. The 
 most convincing results are seldom made 
 public. The facts of many cases have, 
 however, been placed before me in confidence, 
 and I can only come to the conclusion, after 
 thorough examination, that the " extras " are 
 indeed photographs of deceased people — 
 pictures impressed on the plate by means 
 we know nothing about at present. Our 
 ignorance of the method is of little relative 
 importance. The levitation of a table was 
 as mysterious to me as the production of 
 photographic " extras " before I took up the 
 investigation. What is required is continued 
 investigation with the object of unravelling 
 the laws — experiment and more experiment. 
 Things are incredible only when we cannot 
 understand how they are done. It is one 
 of my objects, in publishing the results of 
 my researches into psychic phenomena, to 
 induce others to take a scientific interest 
 in these subjects. 
 
 There is a kind of psychic photography 
 besides that in which " extras " are obtained 
 on the plate. I mean that in which flash- 
 light exposures are made of processes in 
 connection with physical phenomena, such 
 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 147 
 
 as levitation or materialisation. These 
 photographs have of necessity to be taken 
 by flashlight, because the phenomena of 
 this class cannot be obtained in any but 
 dim light. The photograph of the levita- 
 ting structure described in R.P.P., experi- 
 ment 87, was of this kind. 
 
 The effect on the medium of the flashlight 
 is always severe. After the flash by means 
 of which we succeeded in obtaining the 
 above picture, Miss Goligher trembled vio- 
 lently for ten minutes or more. Her arms 
 and legs kept jerking spasmodically, and 
 her body every now and then moved in- 
 voluntarily. But in a quarter of an hour 
 she was quite normal again. It is not to 
 be wondered at that the effect of flashlight 
 is severe on a physical medium when a 
 psychic structure emanating from her body 
 is " out " in the seance-room. The reader 
 who has carefully followed my experimental 
 work will understand that the structure is 
 built up of matter from the medium's body, 
 and that it is really a part of her organism 
 in a very unstable state. It is acutely 
 sensitive to practically all light, except that 
 at the bottom end of the spectrum, and, in 
 fact, cannot exist in any light except this. 
 Imagine, then, the devastating effect of the 
 magnesium flash upon this delicate struc- 
 ture. No wonder the medium trembles 
 violently and is upset for some little time ! 
 
148 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 A few mediums of the past have appar- 
 ently been able to withstand the effects of 
 the magnesium light fairly well. At least 
 no untoward results were reported. But 1 
 am satisfied that its use is rather risky for 
 the medium, and that it should only be 
 employed after careful thought and prepara- 
 tion, and in conjunction with the desires 
 of the operators. For, whether the reader 
 look upon the operators as the spirit beings 
 they claim to be, or as subconscious nuclei 
 belonging to the medium or sitters, it is 
 certain they are in charge of, and produce, 
 the phenomena, and that, therefore, they 
 may be trusted to know more about the 
 dangers incurred by the medium than the 
 experimenter. Miss Goligher is a young 
 woman, and possibly her bodily functions 
 are not yet fully developed, with the conse- 
 quence that exposure to flashlight during 
 the occurrence of phenomena would be 
 specially injurious to her. At any rate, the 
 operators were always careful that nothing 
 should be done which would in any way be 
 likely to harm her. They seemed anxious 
 that photographs of the levitated table and 
 of other psychic phenomena should be 
 secured, and we held several sittings for the 
 purpose. But they always demanded that 
 a trial of the flashlight should first be made, 
 with the object, apparently, of discovering 
 its likely effect on the psychic structures 
 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 149 
 
 and the medium. Usually after that they 
 simply refused to levitate the table again. 
 They spelt out messages to the effect that 
 if, while the table was levitated, the mag- 
 nesium flash was used, the medium would 
 probably be severely injured. It requires 
 a large and powerful psychic structure to 
 levitate a table, with corresponding drain 
 upon the medium. The structure shown in 
 the photograph (R.P.P., experiment 87) did 
 not require nearly so much psychic energy 
 and material from the medium's body, as 
 the table was not levitated at the time. It 
 was only a framework compared with the 
 structure necessary during actual levitation. 
 Yet the medium was severely affected by 
 the flash. If a heavily energised structure 
 had been present, it is reasonable to suppose 
 that the medium would have been propor- 
 tionately affected and that really serious 
 injury might have followed. The experi- 
 menter into psychic phenomena of the 
 physical order should always be careful of 
 the health and well-being of his medium. 
 He should remember that he is dealing with 
 processes of the true nature of which he is 
 completely ignorant, and that any thought- 
 lessness on his part is likely to lead to 
 untoward results. Moreover, much better 
 experimental work can be done if the 
 medium is treated considerately than if she 
 is looked upon as an insensitive machine. 
 
150 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 I think that much of the trouble in the 
 past has arisen from want of consideration 
 for their mediums on the part of experi- 
 menters. Psychic work should be a com- 
 bined affair ; the experimenter and the 
 medium should form a partnership, as it 
 were, with the object of obtaining the best 
 results possible. 
 
 There is no doubt that the operators at 
 the Goligher circle were desirous that as 
 much photographic work should be done 
 as was consistent with the health of the 
 medium. Hut, unfortunately, it was found 
 that little such work could be accomplished 
 owing to the reasons mentioned. The youth 
 of the medium was, I think, the chief draw- 
 back. Five or six years hence it will pro- 
 bably be found that she will not be so 
 acutely sensitive to the magnesium flash as 
 she now is, and accordingly photographs of 
 many phases of the phenomena at present 
 impossible will be obtained. For my part, 
 I state plainly that in matters of this kind 
 I would not go against the advice of the 
 operating entities. I have had such inti- 
 mate experience of the seance-room and 
 its manifestations that I have become 
 systematically careful of the well-being of 
 the medium. 
 
 While on the subject of the health of the 
 medium, I may mention that when the ex- 
 periments were being carried out in which 
 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 151 
 
 she temporarily lost 30, 40, and even 50 lb. 
 in weight (see Experiments 19-23), there was 
 abundant evidence that the strain upon her 
 system was becoming severe. I felt that it 
 was necessary to be careful, and I would 
 not proceed too far. The operators, how- 
 ever, were working in conjunction with me 
 on that occasion, and, accordingly, I felt the 
 more confident. 
 
 (22) Q. Is it the case, so far as your experience 
 goes, that mediums are hysterical or 
 weak-minded ? 
 
 A. It is difficult to answer this by a 
 direct affirmative or negative. Miss Goligher 
 is an extremely practical and strong-minded 
 young woman. She is not excitable, but 
 is placid and cheerful. As I have already 
 mentioned, however, her mediumship has 
 never been pressed. What might happen 
 if she were to sit three or four times a week 
 in promiscuous circles I would not like to 
 say, but I think there can be little doubt 
 that she would suffer. 
 
 Some professional mediums are, I think, 
 not exactly stable. A good many of them 
 are excitable and given to exaggeration. 
 A few are decidedly eccentric. I have 
 never met one whom I would consider 
 weak-minded, but I think, on the whole, 
 their calling is not very suitable for them, 
 either physically or mentally. 
 
152 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 (23) Q. Have you had experience of mental 
 phenomena such as trance, clairvoyance, 
 etc. ? 
 A. Yes. I have had considerable experi- 
 ence. Such phenomena do not, however, 
 appeal to me so strongly as the physical. 
 I expect it is a matter of temperament and 
 that I am unduly prejudiced. I can never 
 get rid of the feeling, in the case of pheno- 
 mena such as trance speaking, clairvoyance, 
 clairaudience, automatic writing, planchette, 
 and Ouiga board, etc., that the mind of the 
 medium has far too much to do with the 
 results. It is difficult to see how the mind 
 of the medium can lift a table weighing 50 
 lb. clear of the floor when it is placed a 
 couple of feet in front of her, but it is not 
 at all difficult to picture how her mind, in 
 its subconscious aspect, may be responsible 
 for the general inanities of trance speak- 
 ing, or what passes nine times out of ten 
 for clairvoyance. The reader should under- 
 stand that I do not decry the genuine nature 
 of mental phenomena, but that I am appalled 
 at the difficulties of sifting them. There 
 seems so little one can come to grips with. 
 Of course phenomena of the mental class 
 are much more common than those of the 
 physical, and that may account for our hear- 
 ing so much about them. For one physical 
 medium such as Miss Goligher there are a 
 thousand so-called clairvoyants. I am not 
 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 153 
 
 at all inclined to the opinion that it is by 
 means of the mental phenomena that all 
 doubt of the existence of a psychic realm 
 will eventually be removed. I think rather 
 that this will be accomplished largely by 
 the " direct voice " and psychic photo- 
 graphy, which are both phases of physical 
 phenomena. 
 
 Some people have grown accustomed to 
 look upon physical phenomena with con- 
 tempt, but I think their attitude is a mis- 
 taken one. 
 
 (24) Q. Have the phenomena occurring with 
 Miss Goligher shown any signs of 
 changing in character? 
 
 A. No. In essentials they are the same 
 now as they were four years ago. Of 
 course they are of greater magnitude, 
 variety, and accuracy, but their type has 
 not altered. We had hoped to obtain 
 materialisations, or the direct voice, and a 
 cabinet was erected for that purpose in the 
 seance-room. But nothing came of it. I 
 am inclined to think that each medium 
 possesses his or her own particular type of 
 phenomena, and that it is seldom capable of 
 varying or embracing other types, at least 
 to any notable extent. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 CONTACT PHENOMENA 
 
 I am now going to describe some experiments I 
 have carried out with " contact " phenomena, i.e. 
 those in which the hands of the sitters are in 
 contact with the table throughout the seance. 
 Hitherto, as the reader is aware, I have dealt 
 only with phenomena in which there was no 
 contact whatever between the table and the 
 medium or sitters. 
 
 Contact phenomena are quite common. Nearly 
 every family contains one member at least who 
 is capable of producing them. Some people, it 
 is true, can produce them more quickly and more 
 violently than others. All that is necessary is 
 that a few persons sit round a wooden table and 
 place their hands lightly upon its surface. If 
 the requisite mediumship be present (and the 
 medium ship required is of quite a low order) the 
 table will sooner or later shake, move about, tilt 
 up and down, and make various other motions 
 not apparently due to muscular pressure exerted 
 by the sitters. Many thousands of people have 
 had experience of phenomena of this kind. 
 
 154 
 
CONTACT PHENOMENA 155 
 
 These table movements with hands in contact 
 may conceivably be produced in three ways : — 
 
 (1) The table may be consciously moved by 
 
 muscular pressure from the sitters. 
 
 (2) The table may be unconsciously moved by 
 
 muscular pressure from the sitters. 
 
 (3) The table may be moved without the aid of 
 
 muscular action at all. 
 
 The first tests I carried out were to see if (3) 
 above was true, i.e. to see if sometimes the 
 movements of the table with hands in contact 
 were really not due to the action of muscular 
 force exerted through the fingers upon the surface 
 of the table. The person who is interested in 
 spiritualistic phenomena will recognise at once 
 that this is an extremely important matter. For 
 if it can be shown that such table movements 
 can be obtained without the direct aid of 
 muscular action, then the messages received via 
 the table must be delivered by something other 
 than the simple process of mind acting on muscle 
 and muscle on table. In short, there must be 
 some unusual process going on, which at any rate 
 is worthy of investigation. 
 
 The following tests were not carried out with 
 the Goligher circle, but with a few other friends, 
 one of whom happened to be a very strong 
 medium of the "contact" order. They were 
 carried out in my own house in a small laboratory 
 I have fitted up for the purpose of psychic in- 
 vestigation. 
 
156 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 Experiment. To see if movements of the table 
 could be obtained not due to muscular* 
 pressure, and to make other observations 
 on " contact " phenomena. 
 
 The apparatus employed will be understood 
 from an inspection of figs. 27 and 28, which are 
 from photographs of the table in position. 
 
 Four flat rectangular pieces of wood are hinged 
 to another rectangular-shaped piece of wood 
 screwed to the centre of the table. The four 
 sitters place their fingers upon the hinged pieces, 
 under each of which is a pair of metal contacts 
 in an electric-bell circuit. Each pair of contacts 
 is normally kept slightly separate by a piece of 
 spiral spring fixed to the table. A chalk line is 
 drawn across each hinged piece of wood three- 
 quarters the distance from the outside. The 
 hands of the sitters are kept beyond the chalk 
 lines. The pressure on each piece of wood 
 required to make the electric bell ring can be 
 nicely adjusted from an ounce to a pound or so. 
 From each corner of the table a cord proceeds to 
 a circular spring balance reading to 50 lb., the 
 latter being tied to an overhead beam. The 
 cords are normally adjusted so that the table 
 clears the floor by six inches or so. 
 
 The weight of the table with apparatus was 
 13^ lb., as indicated by the spring balance. 
 
 The electrical apparatus was so adjusted that 
 it was impossible for any one of the four hinged 
 wooden leaves to be pressed downwards with a 
 
Experiments in Psychical Science.] 
 
 -uri'-'muipim 
 
 Fig. 27 
 
 [To face p. 156. 
 
• >t ( 
 
Experiments in Psychical Science. ~\ 
 
 Fig. 28. 
 
 ! [To face p. 157 
 
CONTACT PHENOMENA 157 
 
 greater pressure than ^ lb. without causing the 
 bell to ring. The maximum pressure that could 
 be put upon the table without the bell ringing 
 was therefore 2 lb. Even if the leaves were 
 pressed down considerably within the chalk lines 
 with a force of ^ lb., the bell would still ring, but 
 the sitters always had their fingers well outside 
 these lines. 
 
 Seance I. — Sitters: Mr X. (medium), Miss A., 
 Mrs B., Mrs C. 
 
 The table was first placed upon the floor (the 
 suspending cords being disconnected). 
 
 In about ten minutes after the opening of 
 the stance, the table began to shuffle about the 
 floor, and in a little time lifted twice at Mrs B's 
 end. (Mr X. sat opposite Mrs B.) The bell did 
 not ring. 
 
 I n about half an hour the movements became 
 powerful. I then hung up the table from the 
 overhead beam. 
 
 I asked the operators to increase the table's 
 weight. 
 
 Fully half a dozen times the pointer on the 
 spring balance went round to 26 lb. without the 
 bell ringing. The table's weight being 13^ lb. 
 and the maximum downward force it was 
 possible to put on the table under the conditions 
 mentioned being 2 lb., we have the table's weight 
 increased at least by 26- 15|= 10^ lb. by means 
 not due to normal muscular pressure. 
 
158 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 Later on the pointer on the spring balance 
 moved slowly round to 32 lb., and then twice to 
 34 lb., and finally near the end of the sitting to 
 41 lb. This last was equivalent to a downward 
 force applied to the table of 41 - 15| = 25 J lb. 
 
 The increased weight was not put upon the 
 table unexpectedly or haphazardly, but only at 
 such times as I made the definite request to the 
 operators. Furthermore, the increase of weight 
 was a gradual process, occupying from three 
 to five seconds before the maximum value was 
 attained. Sometimes the operators were not 
 successful in reaching the value hoped for, and 
 on these occasions the weight was removed from 
 the table and other efforts made, as was evidenced 
 by the pointer again moving gradually round 
 the dial of the spring balance. The fingers of 
 the sitters were only lightly touching the hinged 
 leaves at the proper place, and many control 
 tests showed that it was quite impossible to press 
 down in the ordinary way with a total force 
 exceeding a couple of pounds without causing 
 the bell to ring. 
 
 It is noteworthy that, as in non-contact pheno- 
 mena, the most powerful results were often 
 obtained towards the close of the seance. 
 
 As a further test the operators were asked to 
 remove some weight from the table. On the 
 request being made, the pointer on the balance 
 began to move backwards towards the zero 
 mark. Several times the table was lightened 
 by about 7 lb., and on one occasion the pointer 
 
CONTACT PHENOMENA 159 
 
 on the balance went right back to zero, show- 
 ing that the whole of the table's weight had 
 been removed. With the ringers of the experi- 
 menters on the apparatus as described, it is un- 
 necessary to say that it was quite impossible to 
 accomplish this feat by either conscious or un- 
 conscious pressure from the hands or fingers. 
 
 The above tests show, as was sufficiently 
 evident already to those familiar with this class 
 of phenomena, that the movements of the table 
 when there is true psychic action upon it are not 
 due to muscular pressure (at any rate in the 
 ordinary sense), and that their cause must be 
 looked for elsewhere. 
 
 Further Incidents. — During the time the table 
 was standing upon the floor, and before it was 
 suspended from the ceiling, I stood over it and 
 raised it a little. At this time it was under 
 strong psychic action, and I was surprised to find 
 that what appeared to be more or less rigid bars 
 were connecting it low down on the legs to the 
 medium. The kind of rigidity was exactly the 
 same to the sense of feeling as the rigidity ex- 
 perienced at the Goligher circle with non-contact 
 phenomena. Especially did the table resist 
 being turned in a horizontal plane, or of being 
 pulled or pushed horizontally. But if I pulled 
 or pushed too hard the psychic link (whatever 
 its nature) gave way and I had to wait for some 
 minutes before it could be established again. 
 Many times at this and subsequent seances did 
 I, with my muscular sense, try to locate these 
 
160 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 psychic connecting links, and, to my surprise, I 
 always distinctly felt them present when the 
 psychic action was at all strong. With my 
 years of experience at the Goligher circle I could 
 make no mistake. The type of connecting link, 
 in its main characteristics, was the same both for 
 contact and for non-contact phenomena. At a 
 contact circle held with entirely different sitters 
 and in a town over fifty miles from Belfast, I 
 subsequently found that these psychic bars were 
 also present, and that they seemed to extend from 
 the leg of the table low down to the ankle of the 
 medium, who in this case said that he felt 
 during the whole seance a cold sensation on the 
 skin near one of his ankles, this peculiar feeling 
 extending over a space about the size of half a 
 crown. He said the spot on his skin felt just as 
 though it had been rubbed with menthol. The 
 sensation went away as soon as the sitting 
 was over. 
 
 It therefore seems that " contact " and " non- 
 contact " table phenomena are not so dissimilar 
 in their main processes as might be supposed. 
 
 The operators evidently found it easier to in- 
 crease the table's weight than to decrease it ; 
 they seemed able to accomplish the former as 
 often as I wished once the seance was well under 
 way, but they were not always successful with 
 the latter, and appeared only to succeed after 
 considerable trouble. 
 
 Sometimes when the pointer on the balance 
 had successfully moved round to 30 lb. or so 
 
CONTACT PHENOMENA 161 
 
 without the bell ringing, it remained there for 
 some seconds, and then, as it gradually returned 
 to its normal position of 13 J lb. or thereabouts, 
 the bell gave a ring when it was about halfway 
 back. This often happened. The bell did not 
 ring when the downward pressure was being 
 applied, but, strange to say, sometimes gave short 
 sharp rings while the pressure was being removed. 
 Sometimes, while we were not doing anything 
 in particular, the bell started ringing — long con- 
 tinuous rings, and also short sharp ones. All 
 the sitters declared they were not ringing it. I 
 asked the operators if they were responsible,when 
 immediately it was rung long and repeatedly 
 as though in affirmation. Also, the usual code 
 was employed : three rings for " Yes," one for 
 " No," and two for " Doubtful." Of course 
 there was no direct evidence that the operators 
 were really ringing the bell, as they said they 
 were, because a very slight push from the finger 
 of any of the sitters would suffice to do this. 
 The sitters, however, declared most emphatically 
 that they were not consciously doing it. 
 
 Seance II. — Sitters : Mr X. (medium). 
 Miss A., Mrs C, Mr F. 
 
 As in Seance I., the table with its electrical 
 contact apparatus was suspended from a spring 
 balance tied to a beam in the ceiling. The 
 sitters sat round it and rested their fingers on 
 the hinged leaves outside the chalk lines. A 
 
 11 
 
162 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 total downward force exceeding 2 lb. was suffi- 
 cient to cause electrical contact and thus to ring 
 the bell. 
 
 The operators many times increased the weight 
 of the table without causing the bell to ring. 
 The maximum pull down was 34 lb. (as registered 
 on the spring balance), which is equivalent to 
 18 J extra weight, exclusive of weight of table. 
 The operators tried many times before the 
 34-lb. mark was reached. The average additional 
 weight put upon the table during the various 
 attempts was about 12 or 13 lb. The absence 
 of Mrs B. seemed to affect the magnitude of 
 phenomena at this sitting. 
 
 I placed the platform weighing-machine beside 
 the table, put a drawing-board upon it and a 
 chair upon the board. Mr X. then sat upon the 
 chair, and, along with the other sitters, placed 
 his fingers lightly on the contact apparatus. 
 Weight of Mr X. + chair + board = 1 1 st. 9 lb. 
 
 I moved the rider along the lever of the weigh- 
 ing-machine so that the lever would balance at 
 a total weight of 11 st. 1 \ lb. 
 
 I asked the operators to increase the weight of 
 the table in the usual way. 
 
 I watched the circular spring balance above 
 the table, and I found that when it nearly regis- 
 tered 26 lb. (bell not ringing), the lever of the 
 weighing-machine, which was previously hard up 
 against the top stop, fell to the bottom stop. 
 The weight of the table had been increased by 
 (at least) 26-15J = 10J lb. 
 
CONTACT PHENOMENA 163 
 
 Mr X.'s weight had been reduced by 11 st. 
 9 lb. -11 st. 1} lb. = 7| lb. 
 
 Other similar experiments showed conclusively 
 that each time the table's weight was physically 
 increased the medium's weight was reduced, but 
 there did not seem to be any fixed relation between 
 increase of table's weight and reduction of Mr 
 X.'s weight. 
 
 Non-contact Movements. — 1 had known all the 
 time that Mr X. was the chief medium, but I 
 was also under the impression that Mrs B. 
 supplied some of the mediumship. That Mr 
 X. was the chief medium was, however, con- 
 clusively proved at this seance, for non-contact 
 movements occurred due to him. Towards the 
 conclusion of the stance he held the fingers of 
 one hand about two inches above his hinged 
 leaf, and on request the operators rang the bell 
 easily and often. The electric flash between the 
 contacts under Mr X.'s hinged leaf, as the bell 
 was rung, established the fact that the pheno- 
 menon was due to him. It seemed to me that 
 a psychic prolongation of his fingers was in this 
 instance responsible for the phenomenon. 
 
 Seance III. — Sitters : Mr X. (medium), 
 Miss A., Mrs B., Mrs C. 
 
 The table was suspended from the ceiling by 
 cords and the electrical contact apparatus used 
 as before. Mr X. sat on the weighing-machine. 
 I asked the operators to increase the weight of 
 
164 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 the table. In the early part of the seance they 
 seemed to experience difficulty in doing this, 
 but towards the end they accomplished it quite 
 easily, the bell not ringing. 
 
 There was some difficulty in getting the 
 decreased weight of Mr X. corresponding to 
 the increased weight of table : in fact, there 
 did not seem to be any relation between the 
 two. This much, however, can be said, that 
 Mr X.'s weight always decreased when the 
 table's weight increased. The following are 
 some readings : — 
 
 Loss of weight of Mr X. 
 
 Increased weight of table. 
 
 4 lb. 
 7 lb. 
 7 lb. 
 
 8 lb. 
 12 lb. 
 ii lb. 
 
 The last two are nearly correct, as I set the 
 rider at a certain mark on the lever, and, placing 
 one hand on the lever and the other on the 
 pointer of the balance, noted exactly the mark 
 attained by the pointer when the lever fell. 
 
 Mrs 13. then sat on the weighing-machine 
 and Mr X. took her place (which was directly 
 opposite). I balanced her weight and then set 
 back the rider along the lever. With a finger 
 of one hand on the pointer of the balance and a 
 finger of the other on the lever, I marked the 
 exact point on the spring balance at which the 
 
CONTACT PHENOMENA 165 
 
 lever of the weighing-machine fell. The follow- 
 ing is the reading : — 
 
 Loss of weight of Mrs B. 
 
 Increased weight on table. 
 
 3^ lb. 
 
 8 1b. 
 
 There was, however, a difference at this seance 
 between the results for Mrs B. and Mr X. 
 With Mrs B. the pointer on the spring balance 
 often went almost completely back to normal and 
 yet her weight remained considerably reduced : 
 that is, though the increased weight had been 
 removed from the table, Mrs B.'s weight still 
 remained reduced. Furthermore, the amount of 
 reduction of her weight seemed variable. 
 
 On one occasion, without asking for it, the 
 pointer on the spring balance went back to zero, 
 i.e. the weight of the table was decreased by an 
 amount about equal to its own weight. 
 
 On several occasions when the weight was 
 increased by about 16 lb. the table was trembling 
 violently. On these occasions the pointer of the 
 spring balance was oscillating over a small arc at 
 a great rate. 
 
 Seance IF. — Sitters : Mr X. (medium), 
 Miss A., Mrs B., Mrs C. 
 
 Table arrangements as before. Mr X. was 
 sitting on the weighing-machine. Further 
 weight tests were made. The following are the 
 results : — 
 
 Mr X.'s weight always decreased when the 
 
166 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 weight of the table increased, and it also always 
 diminished when the weight of the table decreased, 
 i.e. he experienced a reduction in weight in both 
 cases. Furthermore, sometimes when there was 
 apparently no action on the table at all, his weight 
 was temporarily reduced a few pounds. 
 
 On one occasion his weight was reduced 1 lb., 
 and on another § lb., when the table's weight was 
 decreased 4 or 5 lb. For an increase of weight 
 of the table of 3 or 4 lb. Mr X.'s weight 
 diminished about 1 J lb. It diminished 4 or 5 lb. 
 when there was an increase of from 8 to 10 lb. 
 in table's weight. 
 
 It seems that there is a much less decrease in 
 the medium's weight for a reduction in the table's 
 weight than for a corresponding increase in the 
 table's weight. 
 
 Near the end of the seance the bell rang once 
 when nobody was within a foot of the table. Also, 
 when the sitters sat round the table without touch- 
 ing it, the table several times oscillated about, the 
 movement being a psychic non-contact one. 
 
 Mrs B. sat with her hands on her knees, and 
 the remaining three sitters had their hands on 
 the contact apparatus. This arrangement seemed 
 immediately to increase the magnitude of psychic 
 results on table. 
 
 On those occasions when the table was pulled 
 down (its weight increased) and pushed up (its 
 weight decreased), the pull or push seemed to be 
 quite centrally applied to the table, for there 
 was no twisting movement. The resultant of 
 
CONTACT PHENOMENA 167 
 
 the pull or push must, therefore, be practically 
 in line with the centre of the table. 
 
 Several times after the table's weight had been 
 increased from 8 to 12 lb., and when the pointer on 
 the spring balance had returned to normal (i.e. no 
 pressure on table), Mr X.'s weight did not simul- 
 taneously come back to normal, but remained 
 several pounds reduced for a considerable time. 
 
 Seance V. — Sitters : Mr X. (medium), 
 Miss A., Mrs B., Mrs C. 
 
 All the undersurface and legs of the table 
 were covered with turpentine soot, in order to 
 see if any marks would be left due to a psychic 
 structure gripping the wood of the table. One 
 such mark was found, but it requires verification. 
 The sitting was chiefly remarkable for a message 
 which was laboriously spelled out, the table 
 turning in the air when the correct letter of the 
 alphabet was reached (I called out the letters). 
 The following was the message : — 
 
 " Clean table ; tie hands and feet of sitters to 
 their chairs, and sit nine inches back from the 
 table." 
 
 Seance VL— Sitters : Mr X. (medium), 
 Miss A., Mrs B., Mrs C. 
 
 I tied the sitters' legs together at the ankles 
 with strong cord. At first I also tied each sitter's 
 own hands together, but later altered this 
 arrangement and tied each sitter's hands to his 
 
168 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 neighbour's on' either side of him, thinking this 
 procedure would give better results. The circle sat 
 at a distance of a foot or so from the table, which 
 was suspended in the usual way. Thus no one 
 was touching the table with any part of his body. 
 Nevertheless, the table commenced to twist and 
 tilt and oscillate about. The movements were 
 not very strong, but they were genuine psychic 
 movements of the non-contact order. The table 
 moved by jerks, not with soft gliding motions, as 
 one might expect, but as though it were gripped 
 somewhere and actually shoved about — the exact 
 type of movements as at the Goligher circle, 
 although on a much smaller scale. 
 
 After some time the sitters placed their hands 
 on the contact apparatus, when immediately the 
 movements became very powerful. The table's 
 weight decreased 10 lb., and later on 20 lb., with- 
 out the bell ringing. 
 
 The phenomena without contact seemed to be 
 much of the same type as those with contact, only, 
 as I have said, on a much smaller scale. Hence it 
 seems that the placing of the hands on the table 
 simply makes the production of the phenomena 
 more easy, but does not alter its main charac- 
 teristics. 
 
 General 
 
 The chief outstanding points in connection 
 with these tests on " contact " phenomena are 
 the following : — 
 
 (1) The increases and decreases of weight of 
 
CONTACT PHENOMENA 169 
 
 the table are not due to the muscular action of 
 the medium or sitters. 
 
 (2) The medium or mediums (there may be 
 more than one in this sort of circle) lose weight 
 while the table is being psychically acted upon. 
 
 (3) The medium's loss of weight does not 
 endure only during the time the table is being 
 acted upon, but may last for some time after 
 psychic action has ceased. 
 
 (4) There is strong evidence of a psychic arm 
 or link connecting the legs of the medium with 
 the legs of the table. The characteristics of 
 this arm appear similar to that of the arm which 
 levitates the table in " non-contact " pheno- 
 mena of the Goligher type. 
 
 (5) Since in this case the "contact" pheno- 
 mena changed into weak phenomena of the 
 " non-contact " type, it is reasonable to suppose 
 that the two types have features in common. 
 
 (6) For heavy movements of the whole table 
 the psychic arm would appear to issue from the 
 lower part of the legs of the medium ; but 
 psychic prolongations can also issue from the 
 fingers, as witness the case in which the electric 
 bell rang when the medium held his fingers 
 several inches above the contact apparatus. As a 
 matter of fact I find that these physic structures 
 almost invariably issue from the extremities of 
 the medium's body either in the vicinity of 
 hands or feet. It was so with Miss Goligher, and 
 would appear to be the same with Mr X. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 DIRECT-VOICE PHENOMENA 
 
 I am now going to describe some experiments I 
 carried out on " direct- voice " phenomena, which 
 phenomena occurred during several seances held in 
 my own house. As the reader is no doubt aware, 
 the " direct voice " is a rather rare form of psychic 
 phenomenon. Voices, not apparently the voice 
 of the medium or of any of the sitters, speak from 
 the air within or around the circle. They speak 
 through thin metal cones or " trumpets " which 
 seemingly float about in the air under psychic 
 support, their function being to concentrate the 
 voice sounds and thus make them more audible 
 than they otherwise would be. I refer the reader 
 who desires to obtain a good general idea of this 
 type of mediumship to the late Vice-Admiral 
 Moore's book Hie Voices. 
 
 The medium who was responsible for the voice 
 phenomena occurring at the seances held in 
 my house was Mrs Z., a well-known public 
 psychic. There has been much controversy over 
 this woman's mediumship. Her seances, in order 
 to produce any result worth mentioning, have to 
 be held in absolute darkness, which, however, I 
 believe, is generally true of all sittings for the 
 "direct voice" with all mediums. Hence there 
 is considerable scope for fraud if the medium be 
 a fraudulent one. 
 
 170 
 
DIRECT-VOICE PHENOMENA 171 
 
 Mrs Z. has been going up and down the 
 country for a number of years, giving hundreds 
 of seances. I do not think anything definite has 
 ever been discovered during this period of time 
 which points conclusively to fraud. I have 
 heard the explanations of many people who 
 claim to describe how her phenomena are pro- 
 duced fraudulently, but when these explanations 
 are critically examined they are found to be of 
 little value. 
 
 The reader, however, must understand that 
 the experiments I carried out with this medium 
 were done under the following limitations : — 
 
 (1) They were nearly all carried out in complete 
 
 darkness. 
 
 (2) The medium was a public one. 
 
 I carried out the tests for my own satisfaction 
 and did not think of publishing them ; but, on 
 consideration, I have come to the conclusion that 
 they should be put on record, if for no other 
 reason than that the results may be compared 
 hereafter with the vast quantities of experimental 
 work that will have to be done if we are ever to 
 get at the bottom of this psychic question. 
 
 It must be distinctly understood by the reader 
 that I do not guarantee the genuineness of the 
 results given below. I did everything 1 could 
 to prevent fraud ; but in an absolutely dark 
 seance-room it is obviously impossible to ensure 
 complete prevention. The reader must draw his 
 own conclusions, or wait till the results obtained 
 
172 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 are compared with similar results from other 
 " direct-voice " mediums. 
 
 The sittings were held in my own house in 
 a small laboratory I have fitted up for psychic 
 work. The sitters were all my personal friends, 
 specially invited to the stances by myself. 
 
 Fig. 29 shows (in connection with other 
 apparatus) a photograph of the two trumpets 
 used. Each of them was made in two lengths of 
 thin tinned iron, which fitted tightly telescopically 
 together. The particulars are as follows : — 
 
 No. 1 weight, 1 lb. 2 oz. 
 
 No. 2 weight, 1 lb. 
 
 Length of each, 34 in. Apertures, f in. and 
 4 in. diameter. 
 
 Seance I. 
 
 Date— Saturday, 20th April 1918. 
 Time— 8 to 9.30 p.m. 
 
 Weights of medium and sitters just before 
 and just after the seanco : — 
 
 
 Weight just 
 
 Weight just 
 
 
 before seance. 
 
 after seance. 
 
 
 St. 
 
 lb. 
 
 St. 
 
 lb. 
 
 Mrs Z. (medium) 
 
 19 
 
 i3l 
 
 19 
 
 i3h 
 
 Mrs A 
 
 9 
 
 I3l 
 
 9 
 
 I3I 
 
 MrX 
 
 ii 
 
 U 
 
 11 
 
 4} 
 
 MrR 
 
 13 
 
 7 
 
 13 
 
 6h 
 
 Mrs Q 
 
 IO 
 
 3& 
 
 10 
 
 3 
 
 Mr M 
 
 12 
 
 4 
 
 12 
 
 9h 
 
 Mrs B 
 
 ii 6 
 
 11 
 
 si 1 
 
 The above weights include weight of chair 
 and drawing-board (13| lb.). 
 
Experiments in Psychical Science.} 
 
 Fig. 29. 
 
 \Tofacep. 172. 
 
DIRECT-VOICE PHENOMENA 173 
 
 It will be noted that there was an almost 
 general reduction in weight after the seance, but 
 that the medium lost only a quarter of a pound. 
 
 The reader will be interested to hear that at 
 a circle held about a year previously with Mrs 
 Z., one of the voices, just before the break-up 
 of the seance, gratuitously informed us that if 
 we were to weigh the medium at the conclusion, 
 we would find that she had lost 10 or more 
 pounds, due to the phenomena occurring during 
 the evening. There is no doubt that the medium 
 believed this herself ; at any rate she mentioned 
 it several times in the course of conversation. 
 But it is all rubbish. The medium loses per- 
 manently very little weight ; less, indeed, than 
 some of the sitters. And in this respect she is 
 in line with all other mediums 1 have known. 
 
 I think the origin of the medium's belief that 
 she lost 10 or more pounds in weight during one 
 of her circles came about as follows : — Some 
 years ago, in America, telekinetic phenomena 
 occurred through her ; as a matter of fact, a piano 
 is said to have moved across the room. She was 
 weighed while this was happening, and it was 
 found that she lost a good many pounds. The 
 medium immediately came to the rash conclusion 
 that this loss of weight was permanent, and she 
 has since so informed all and sundry. Of course, 
 the loss (supposing it to have taken place) was 
 merely temporary and lasted only during the time 
 the phenomenon was occurring. The reader 
 who has followed my experiments will know 
 
174 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 that these temporary fluctuations of weight 
 seemingly occur during all phenomena of the 
 telekinetic order. 
 
 But what are we to think of the voice (quite 
 evidently a "direct" voice, and not the voice of 
 the medium either in or out of trance) which 
 definitely declared that the medium permanently 
 lost a great many pounds in weight ? Did the 
 voice belong to a sub-conscious part of Mrs 
 Z.'s ego masquerading as an independent entity, 
 or did it really belong to an independent 
 spirit ? If the latter was the case, why did the 
 spirit make incorrect statements in so funda- 
 mental a matter ? If an independent spirit was 
 speaking, he must be very like unscientific people 
 here, who, in order to impress others, are not 
 very careful or exact in their statements. 
 
 Returning to my experiments, the two 
 trumpets were placed upright on the floor within 
 the circle. The red light (obtained from a gas 
 jet enclosed in a large lantern having a sliding 
 red glass front) was turned on full, and the lantern 
 was placed on a table at the end of the room 
 farthest from the medium. Nothing happened 
 for about a quarter of an hour. Then there were 
 some raps on the floor and on the trumpets. 
 In reply to questions the operators said (by raps) 
 that the light w T as too strong. I went over to 
 the lantern and turned the gas half down. A 
 feeble voice, apparently emanating from near the 
 ceiling within the circle space, was then heard 
 saying, "Sing something." Soon the swish of 
 
DIRECT-VOICE PHENOMENA 175 
 
 what might have been the trumpets flying about 
 in the air was heard (they could not, however, be 
 seen). The voice then said, " Turn the light 
 round," i.e. the light was to be turned round so 
 that it faced the wall, away from the circle and 
 the medium. This voice is from the " control," 
 who is supposed to be a daughter of the medium 
 who died many years ago, and who now acts as 
 chief guide or control at her mother's circles. 
 Her voice is very much in evidence at all Mrs 
 Z.'s circles, and it has a peculiar timbre not 
 easily mistakable. The light was turned round 
 as directed, which had the effect of making the 
 room practically dark. There were then heard 
 some facetious remarks from the control with 
 regard to the experimental apparatus in the 
 room, and various voices spoke which gave 
 names, but no evidence of identity. 
 
 What I wished, however, was to see if the 
 trumpets were really moving about in the air, 
 as they seemed to be doing from the various 
 directions in which the voices were speaking and 
 from the peculiar way in which the trumpets 
 apparently touched sitters in different parts of 
 the circle. But it was now evident that only 
 the feeblest light was possible with this medium. 
 So I inserted a yellow screen in front of the red 
 glass of the lantern, which I again turned round 
 facing the medium. (It is to be remembered 
 that the lantern was on a table right outside the 
 circle of sitters, and perhaps seven feet distant 
 from the medium.) The screen had the effect 
 
176 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 of practically extinguishing the light, there only 
 remaining the dullest glow visible just in front 
 of the lantern. Mr M., who was holding the left 
 hand of the medium, then said that he could see 
 the trumpets moving in front of the lamp. 1 went 
 over beside him and saw shadows crossing and 
 re-crossing the dull glow produced by the light. 
 These shadows seemed to be due to the trumpets, 
 for their outlines were visible crossing both in a 
 vertical position (sometimes small end up and 
 sometimes large end) and in an inclined position. 
 
 At the conclusion of the seance, when the 
 lights were turned up, a fresh mark was found 
 on the plaster of the ceiling of the room which 
 would appear to have been made by the end of 
 a trumpet. This mark was more than ten feet 
 distant from the chair on which the medium was 
 sitting. After the medium had departed we 
 tried if it was possible to make such a mark 
 fraudulently, even with the aid of both trumpets, 
 but nobody could see how this was possible. 
 (Thesmall ends of the trumpets were of practically 
 the same diameter and would not telescope into 
 each other.) I may say also that I had heard 
 voices speaking from the vicinity in which the 
 mark was discovered. 
 
 During the whole seance Mr M. had hold of the 
 medium's left hand. Mrs A. had her right hand, 
 but this was occasionally free for a few seconds. 
 
 This seance showed that practically no phe- 
 nomena could be obtained with this medium even 
 in the feeblest of light. The trumpets could not 
 
DIRECT-VOICE PHENOMENA 
 
 177 
 
 even be made to move in the air round the room 
 except in the dullest of dull glows. With Miss 
 Goligher's mediumship the trumpets floated about 
 in strong red light, and could be examined in detail 
 (see R. P. P.). 
 
 Seance II 
 
 Date— Sunday, 21st April 1918. 
 Time— 7.30 to 9.15 p.m. 
 
 Weights of medium and sitters just before 
 and just after the seance : — 
 
 
 Weight just 
 
 Weight just 
 
 
 before seance. 
 
 after seance. 
 
 
 St. 
 
 lb. 
 
 St. 
 
 lb. 
 
 Mrs Z. (medium) 
 
 20 
 
 2| 
 
 20 
 
 2i 
 
 Mr R 
 
 13 
 
 6} 
 
 *3 
 
 6| 
 
 Mr M 
 
 12 
 
 H 
 
 12 
 
 8 
 
 Mrs S 
 
 IO 
 
 6 
 
 IO 
 
 4| 
 
 MrsT 
 
 9 
 
 i of 
 
 9 
 
 io| 
 
 Mrs A 
 
 IO 
 
 I* 
 
 IO 
 
 i 
 
 Mrs Q 
 
 IO 
 
 5l 
 
 IO 
 
 5 
 
 The above weights include weight of chair 
 and drawing-board (15% lb.). (The chair used 
 at these seances was not always the same.) 
 
 Experiment to find the Effect on the Mediums 
 Weight while a Voice was speaking 
 
 The medium sat on a chair which rested upon 
 a drawing-board placed on the platform of a 
 weighing-machine. The medium is a heavy 
 woman, and she found it difficult to make herself 
 comfortable on the machine, yet she sat upon 
 
 12 
 
178 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 it for nearly an hour. I exactly balanced her 
 weight, so that the lever of the machine was just 
 quivering between the stops. The machine just 
 balanced at 20 st. 2\ lb. The two trumpets 
 were placed upright on the floor within the 
 circle. The medium sat with her hands on her 
 knees. The lights were turned completely out 
 and the seance commenced. I stood at the 
 back of the machine with my right hand upon 
 the lever, so that I was sensible of its slightest 
 movement. With my left hand I felt the back 
 of the medium from time to time. 
 
 Nothing happened for a quarter of an hour or 
 so. Then the lever of the machine fell lightly 
 on the bottom stop, indicating that the medium's 
 weight was decreasing. Very carefully I moved 
 the rider back along the lever and obtained a 
 new balance. Although it was dark, this was 
 quite easily accomplished by my sense of touch. 
 The medium's original weight had balanced at 
 20 st. 2^ lb., so that the rider had been at the 
 2|-lb. mark beyond zero on the scale. I found 
 that by almost exactly moving the rider to zero 
 the lever just balanced again. The decrease 
 in the medium's weight was, therefore, within 
 an ounce of 2j lb. Immediately after I had 
 surely obtained the new balance, the control's 
 voice, issuing apparently from somewhere near 
 the roof within the circle, cried out " Weigh me," 
 and a trumpet dropped with a crash to the floor 
 within the circle. The medium's weight then 
 immediately returned to the original value. 
 
DIRECT-VOICE PHENOMENA 179 
 
 About a quarter of an hour later the same 
 thing happened: the medium's weight suddenly 
 decreased almost exactly 2| lb. ; the control's 
 voice called out from near the ceiling, " Weigh 
 me " ; a trumpet dropped with a crash to the 
 floor; and the medium's weight immediately 
 returned to normal. 
 
 The whole experiment was carried out in 
 absolute darkness, only the senses of touch and 
 hearing being of any use to the experimenter. 
 What, then, are the chances that the decrease in 
 the medium's weight was due to genuine psychic 
 action and not to fraud ? 
 
 (a) With the exception of the occasion when 
 her weight decreased as described, there 
 was absolutely no action on the weighing- 
 machine. The lever was very delicately 
 balanced, and I could note, by my sense 
 of touch, if it moved the smallest amount. 
 I am perfectly satisfied in my own mind 
 that the medium, far from moving off the 
 machine, or touching, or pushing on, or 
 lifting extraneous bodies, hardly moved 
 a muscle all the time she was sitting on 
 the machine (possible exceptions, of course, 
 being during the two periods of decreased 
 weight). If she had done any of these 
 things the delicately poised lever would 
 have given it away. Moreover, the 
 medium is a large heavy woman, and any 
 movements she would make, especially 
 
180 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 from the small platform of a weighing- 
 machine seven inches above the floor, 
 would most likely be of a clumsy nature. 
 Therefore any fraud attempted was only 
 during the periods of decreased weight. 
 
 (b) If the medium lifted a trumpet with a hand 
 
 or foot and held it out in the air, the 
 weighing-machine would register increase 
 of weight equal to weight of trumpet. 
 The medium's weight, however, decreased 
 on both occasions. 
 
 (c) If the medium put out a hand, grasped the 
 
 end of a trumpet and pressed the other end 
 of the trumpet on the floor, her weight 
 would decrease. In order, however, to 
 make the decrease almost exactly 2^ lb. 
 on two separate occasions, she would need 
 to have a very nice sense of touch. 
 
 (d) If acting fraudulently, the medium, during the 
 
 period of the fraud, must have been doing 
 something with the trumpet, for it crashed 
 on the floor as soon as the voice spoke, and 
 then immediately she regained her lost 
 weight. It is certain she did not lift the 
 trumpet clear of the floor at any time, for 
 at no period was there the slightest increase 
 in her weight. Yet the voice spoke from 
 near the ceiling. If the trumpet had been 
 pressed on the ceiling by the medium she 
 would have gained weight, and during the 
 time she was lifting it from floor to the 
 ceiling she would have also gained weight. 
 
DIRECT-VOICE PHENOMENA 
 
 181 
 
 Taking it on the whole, I am inclined to think 
 the phenomenon was genuine, and that the de- 
 crease in weight of % 2\ lb. was due to psychic action. 
 
 As practically no phenomena were forthcoming 
 while the medium was sitting on the weighing- 
 machine (with the exception of those noted), 
 I finally removed the machine, and the medium 
 sat on a chair placed on the floor. The medium 
 said that the iron of the machine was hindering 
 the production of phenomena. Voices in fair 
 number then spoke, but nothing in the way of 
 tests of identity was given. 
 
 I asked the control if, during the experiment, I 
 had been weighing her or the trumpet. She did 
 not seem to know, for she told me to " find out " 
 for myself. 
 
 Seance III. 
 Date— Saturday, 27th April 1918. 
 Time— 8 to 9.30 p.m. 
 
 Weights of medium and sitters just before 
 and just after the stance : — 
 
 
 Weight just 
 
 Weight just 
 
 
 before stance. 
 
 after seance. 
 
 
 St. 
 
 lb. 
 
 St. 
 
 lb. 
 
 Mrs Z. (medium) 
 
 20 
 
 6 
 
 20 
 
 it 
 
 Mrs A 
 
 IO 
 
 3 
 
 IO 
 
 MrM 
 
 13 
 
 of 
 
 13 
 
 of 
 
 MrU 
 
 IO 
 
 13* 
 
 IO 
 
 I3I 
 
 MrW 
 
 II 
 
 aI 
 
 II 
 
 4£ 
 
 Mrs S 
 
 IO 
 
 6f 
 
 IO 
 
 6h 
 
 Mrs T 
 
 9 
 
 12$ 
 
 9 
 
 12J 
 
 The above weights 
 
 includ 
 
 e the w 
 
 'eight ( 
 
 )f chair 
 
 and drawing-board (18f lb.). 
 
182 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 Experiment to determine if the " Direct Voice" 
 could be registered on a Phonograph 
 
 In order that the medium might not be able 
 to move the trumpets with her feet, I devised 
 an electrical apparatus which effectually pre- 
 vented this. A photograph of it is shown (fig. 
 29). It consists of a couple of flat boards hinged 
 at their back ends to an under board which is 
 screwed to the floor. An electrical contact 
 device and springs are so arranged to each that 
 normally the contacts are closed and an electric 
 bell in the circuit rings. If a person sits on a 
 chair and places a foot on each of the flat hinged 
 boards, the contacts are opened due to the weight, 
 and the bell ceases to ring. Each foot-rest 
 operates independently. Between the two foot- 
 rests is a vertical board sufficiently high to pre- 
 vent one foot from being placed across both rests 
 simultaneously. Many control tests showed 
 that neither foot could be raised for an instant 
 without the bell ringing. 
 
 When Mrs Z. came into the seance-room and 
 saw the foot electrical apparatus she seemed 
 annoyed and nervous (I had not previously told 
 her of it). She said I should have made arrange- 
 ments with her guides, i.e. spirit controls, before 
 it was used. It took a lot of coaxing before she 
 would consent to sit on a chair above the appa- 
 ratus and put her feet on it. 
 
 A friend of mine, Mr Stoupe, sat on her left, 
 and Mrs Mills on her right, throughout the whole 
 
DIRECT-VOICE PHENOMENA 183 
 
 seance. The medium placed a hand on each 
 knee. A minute or two after the light was put 
 out each of these sitters linked the little finger 
 of each of the medium's hands with their own 
 hands, and I have their word that except during 
 the times the light was subsequently lit (it was 
 lit twice) they held tightly and that the medium's 
 hands were never free. On the occasions upon 
 which the light was temporarily lit I examined 
 the situation and found each of the medium's 
 hands properly gripped: in fact, they were 
 gripped so tightly that it was necessary, during 
 the few minutes the light was on, to relax hands 
 temporarily in order to give relief to the fingers 
 of medium and sitters, which had become 
 cramped. But before the light was again ex- 
 tinguished the medium's hands were again 
 tightly held. 
 
 As I have said, Mrs Z., although obviously 
 nervous and ill at ease, eventually submitted 
 to all the test conditions. The trumpets were 
 placed upright on the floor within the circle and 
 the light was extinguished. 
 
 Within four minutes from the commencement, 
 the control's voice was heard from the air within 
 the circle. I was surprised at this quick starting 
 of phenomena, as at the previous seances they 
 had been much slower in getting under way. 
 Is it possible that the control, being a real spirit 
 entity, desired to give her mother confidence 
 and to show her that there was no reason for her 
 nervousness? At any rate this was the effect 
 
184 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 produced, for the medium immediately became 
 quite cheerful. 
 
 The phonograph was resting on a table outside 
 the circle of sitters, directly opposite the medium. 
 The horn of the instrument was more than seven 
 feet distant from her. 
 
 The control seemed to be in charge, so I ex- 
 plained that I wished her to bring the mouth 
 of the trumpet, through which the direct voice 
 would speak, right up to the horn of the phono- 
 graph, as otherwise the voice might not be 
 clearly reproduced. She rather discourteously 
 replied that "she would do what she liked." 
 
 However, in a short time she said she was 
 ready. I told her to wait until she heard the 
 buzzing of the machine and then to speak into it. 
 Before I pulled the lever which started the 
 machine (it was an Edison " Standard," kindly 
 loaned me by Mr Edens Osborne of Belfast), 
 
 I asked the sitters on either side of the medium 
 if they had tight hold of her hands, and they 
 replied in the affirmative. The cylinder had only 
 made a few revolutions when the control com- 
 menced to sing a song into the horn. This 
 song was three verses in length, and at the end 
 of each verse she interjected remarks such as 
 
 II How's that ? " etc. I told her to sing a little 
 louder, and during the third verse she sang quite 
 loudly. 
 
 I plainly felt the movement of the air just at 
 the mouth of the phonograph horn as the song 
 was being sung, which would seem to indicate 
 
DIRECT-VOICE PHENOMENA 185 
 
 that the end of the trumpet was moving to and 
 fro at the spot. Moreover, the control's voice 
 emanated from a position just at the mouth of 
 the horn. I did not attempt to touch the 
 trumpet, as I knew from experience that if I did 
 so it would be likely to drop. If an end of 
 the trumpet was thus right at the mouth of 
 the phonograph horn, as it appeared to be, the 
 nearest distance of the other end of the trumpet 
 from the medium must have been well over four 
 feet. At the conclusion of the song, and after 
 I had stopped the instrument, I asked the sitters 
 on either side of the medium if they still had 
 hold of her hands, and they replied in the affirm- 
 ative. These sitters afterwards told me that 
 during the taking of the record the medium's 
 hands were vibrating rapidly, as though they 
 were under great nervous stress. 
 
 Then occurred the incident of the silk coat 
 (discussed later). 
 
 The control asked that the light be turned on, 
 which was done. I tried the record and found 
 the voice satisfactorily recorded. 
 
 Another blank record was put on the machine, 
 the medium's hands were held, and the light was 
 put out. The control, at my request, this time 
 spoke into the horn of the phonograph, instead 
 of singing, and again the voice was recorded. 
 
 There is internal evidence in the records 
 themselves that the voice must have been speak- 
 ing right into the horn of the phonograph and 
 not from some distance away. Amongst people 
 
186 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 who are continually making records it is well 
 known that if the voice to be recorded speaks 
 too close into the horn a kind of tinny, metallic 
 sound is produced which spoils the quality of the 
 reproduced voice. Phonograph manufacturers 
 call this effect " blasting." In several places 
 in the two records of the control's voice this 
 metallic " blasting " is heard, indicating that 
 the voice must have been very close to, if not 
 indeed within, the horn of the phonograph. 
 
 At the conclusion of the experiment the elec- 
 trical foot apparatus was tested and was found 
 to be working perfectly. 
 
 The Coat Incident. — At the commencement of 
 the seance the medium wore a knitted silk coat 
 having sleeves reaching down to the wrist. 
 There was a silk belt fastened round it at the 
 waist. 
 
 Just after the first phonographic record had 
 been taken I heard a peculiar fussling noise near 
 me (on the side of the circle remote from the 
 medium). When the light was turned on, the 
 coat and belt were found neatly hung over the 
 arm of one of the men (Mr W.), sitting opposite 
 the medium and perhaps five feet distant from 
 her. They had previously landed on Mrs TVs 
 hands, and had then seemed to take a leap on 
 to the gentleman's arm (so at least says Mrs T.). 
 One sleeve of the coat was found turned outside 
 in. The belt was found undone and separate 
 from the coat. At the time the coat was thrown 
 or lifted on to Mr W.'s arm, both Mrs Mills and 
 
DIRECT-VOICE PHENOMENA 
 
 187 
 
 Mr Stoupe were holding one of the medium's 
 hands, and her feet were on the electrical 
 apparatus. But there was a minute or two at 
 the beginning of the seance, while the hands of 
 everybody were supposed to be resting on knees, 
 during which the medium's hands were free. 
 Hence there is nothing of test conditions about 
 this incident, and I only relate it as a matter of 
 interest. 
 
 Seance IV, 
 
 Date— Sunday, 28th April 1918. 
 Time— 7.30 to 9 p.m. 
 
 Weights of sitters just before and just after 
 the seance : — 
 
 
 Weight just 
 
 Weight just 
 
 
 before stance. 
 
 after seance. 
 
 
 St. 
 
 lb. 
 
 St. 
 
 lb. 
 
 Mrs Z. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mrs A. 
 
 
 
 IO 
 
 i* 
 
 IO 
 
 i| 
 
 Mr M. 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 u| 
 
 Mr W. 
 
 
 
 II 
 
 5 
 
 I I 
 
 5 
 
 Mr U. 
 
 
 
 ID 
 
 n\ 
 
 IO 
 
 J 3i 
 
 Mrs Q. 
 
 
 
 ID 
 
 A 
 
 IO 
 
 8| 
 
 Mrs P. 
 
 
 
 IO 
 
 4 
 
 IO 
 
 4 
 
 The above weights include the weight of chair 
 and drawing-board (18f lb.). 
 
 There was very little phenomena at this seance, 
 and the reader should note that the decreases in 
 weight of the sitters are not so marked as in 
 previous sittings. 
 
188 EXPERIMENTS IN PSYCHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 Experiment with a Photographic Plate 
 
 The medium held a dark slide containing a 
 half plate in her hands for half an hour. There 
 were noises as though the slide was being opened 
 and closed, and the medium may have been 
 doing this. The control's voice was heard saying 
 that she was trying to put something on the 
 plate. 
 
 Result. — Negative. Nothing whatever on the 
 plate. 
 
 Experiment with Curtain Rings 
 
 Two wooden curtain rings were placed on the 
 floor with a request to the operators to interlock 
 them. (This would have amounted to the pene- 
 tration of solid matter by solid matter.) 
 
 Result. — Negative. 
 
 Experiment with Clay in Sealed Box 
 
 A wooden box about 12 inches square and 4 
 inches high was used. Into this some modeller's 
 clay was placed and nicely smoothed. The lid 
 was then placed on it and the whole roped and 
 sealed. The operators were asked to make an 
 impression on the clay inside the box without 
 breaking the seals. 
 
 Result. — Negative. 
 
DIRECT-VOICE PHENOMENA 189 
 
 The Municipal Technical Institute, 
 
 Belfast, 
 
 6th May 3 918. 
 
 1 hereby declare that during the whole time 
 the control was singing and speaking into the 
 phonograph, I had firm hold of Mrs Z.'s left 
 hand. Her hand was resting on her knee and 
 my little finger was tightly twisted round her 
 little finger. Dr Crawford asked me just before 
 each phonograph record was taken and just after 
 it was taken if I was sure I had tight hold. I 
 replied that I was sure. 
 
 (Signed) Seamus Stoupe. 
 
 Bray, Co. Wicklow, 
 
 1th May 19 18. 
 
 I hereby declare that during the whole time 
 the control was singing and speaking into the 
 phonograph, I had firm hold of Mrs Z.'s right 
 hand. Her hand was resting on her knee and 
 my little finger was tightly twisted round her 
 little finger. Dr Crawford asked me just before 
 each phonograph record was taken and just after 
 it was taken if I was sure I had tight hold. I 
 replied that I was sure. 
 
 (Signed) Marian Mills. 
 
LIST OF EXPERIMENTS 
 
 Experi- 
 ment 
 Number. 
 
 Subject. 
 
 9 
 10 
 
 ii 
 
 12 
 13 
 
 14 
 
 15 
 16 
 
 18 
 
 Capsizing moment on medium 
 
 »J JJ ... 
 
 Effect of base of cantilever column resting on 
 pressure recorder ..... 
 
 Impression on clay of base of cantilever 
 column ....... 
 
 Effect on medium's weight when experimenter 
 presses downwards on levitated table 
 
 Effect on medium's weight when the base of 
 the cantilever rests on the scalepan of a 
 spring balance under the levitated table . 
 
 The table levitated upside down . 
 Effect on weight of medium when table's 
 weight is psychically increased 
 
 Effect of ihe phenomena on the medium 
 when she is seated on bicycles . 
 
 Effect on weight of medium when the experi- 
 menter presses on the table in the direc- 
 tion of medium 
 
 Effect on weight of medium when the experi- 
 menter pulls outwards on the table away 
 from medium ...... 
 
 How the psychic rod acts when a man, 
 though exerting all his strength, is unable 
 to push the table, resting on the floor, 
 inwards towards medium .... 
 
 Downward psychic pressure on scalepan of 
 balance > . 
 
 Movement of medium and chair along the 
 floor 
 
 190 
 
 Page. 
 
 26 
 3i 
 
 34 
 
 37 
 
 38 
 
 39 
 42 
 
 43 
 48 
 
 49 
 5° 
 5i 
 
 53 
 
 58 
 59 
 
 59 
 66 
 68 
 
LIST OF EXPERIMENTS 
 
 191 
 
 Experi- 
 ment 
 Number. 
 
 19 
 
 20 
 21 
 22 
 23 
 
 24 
 
 25 
 26 
 
 27 
 28 
 29 
 
 30 
 
 3i 
 
 32 
 33 
 34 
 
 35 
 36 
 37 
 38 
 
 39 
 
 40 
 
 4i 
 
 Subject. 
 
 Weight of matter used in the construction of 
 psychic cantilever .... 
 
 Psychic matter placed on drawing-board 
 
 Psychic matter used for largest rapping rod . 
 
 Psychic matter built up into a rapping rod . 
 
 Maximum weight of matter taken from 
 medium's body ...... 
 
 Reaction pressure on medium's chair, draw- 
 ing-board, standard of weighing-machine, 
 etc 
 
 To see if the operators could increase the 
 weight of medium by direct action upon 
 her body 
 
 To see if the free end of the cantilever 
 structure is a conductor of low-tension 
 electricitv . 
 
 77 >> 5 3 
 
 The effect of medium touching the levitated 
 table with her hand 
 
 The effect of medium touching the levitated 
 table with her hand and with various 
 substances ...... 
 
 . _ .. . ». . » j) 
 
 Medium sitting with her back to the circle . 
 Medium sitting sideways to the circle . 
 Effect on phenomena of medium and sitters 
 
 standing ....... 
 
 Effect of grasping ankle of medium 
 Temperature of table during a long levitation 
 Temperature of cantilever and psychic matter 
 Wire netting in front of medium . 
 Potato sack in front of medium 
 To see if the operators could write a message 
 
 with a pencil ...... 
 
 Weight of psychic body of medium 
 
 "Contact" phenomena 
 
 Experiments on the " direct voice " 
 
 Page. 
 
 74 
 75 
 76 
 
 77 
 
 77 
 
 79 
 
 83 
 83 
 
 85 
 
 86 
 
 87 
 90 
 90 
 
 90 
 91 
 9i 
 92 
 94 
 94 
 
 97 
 98 
 
 154 
 170 
 
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 1965 
 
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